Just before leaving

I had given her her last kiss, and was about to leave.

"Daddy," she whispered, "This is what I wrote."

I have no idea what she is talking about, but I watch and listen as she slowly starts to recite her writing.

"H....A......P......P.......B...P.B..P...B... no, P...new word"

She keeps on, "B....(pause - her mouth moves, eyes staring off)....R.TH...d.d..D.....A.. Ms. Renee. Ms. Kim wrote Renee on the board. Renee is really hard Daddy." She continues, filled with awe, "It has three "E"s." Her eyes are huge.

"Yeah," I say with feigned enthusiasm, "'R', 'E', 'N', 'E', 'E'." I spell for her. I now realize that she is talking about a birthday card she wrote for her principal.

"Three "E"s," she repeats not having heard anything I said, "And," with complete consternation, "Where are they? I mean, there aren't any "E"s!"

Knowing how she would spell Renee, I say, "Yeah, I mean, there is an "R" (I make the rrrrr sound), an "N" and an "A" -- where are the "E"s?"

She is in complete agreement.

I give her a kiss on the head, and tell her she's amazing.

Leaving, I say, "Sweet dreams Tahlia."

"Sweet dreams, Daddy."

But I already have them.

Not a good trick

Asher was climbing into his car seat today, and Mommy noticed that he was wearing a different shirt. Mommy decided to find out why.

"Asher," she inquired, "what happened to your shirt?"

"I got pee on it." He sat down in his seat.

"Was it your pee, or someone else's pee?"

"My pee." One arm was now in a strap.

"How did you get pee on your shirt."

"Alex," one of his classmates," Said it would be a cool trick to pee in the same urinal." He finished buckling himself. "But I peed on myself. So it wasn't a cool trick."

Bike riding

When he was three and a half, Asher asked to have his training wheels taken off. And he gave it a shot.

Although it was a tough go, mostly because he is like his dad in that he has to pay attention to everything that is going on around him, which results in a boy who is riding down an empty alleyway with his head whipping back and forth as his bike zigs this way and zags that way with a father shouting "Look forward! Look where you're going" just prior to him slamming on his breaks so his bike slides to the right like he is driving the General Lee just prior to approaching a bridge that they wouldn't be able to jump to come to a sudden stop.

For three days, he rode sans training wheels. Then, because he wanted to go "super fast" the wheels went back on.

Who is that child?

Today, Tahlia told Mommy that she was going to teach a song that she made to her music class. Mommy smiled and wished her luck.

She has created a song, it is called "Cherry Cherry Bim Bam". It has its roots in a Jewish song that she learned at her preschool, but she made up the rest. Over the summer, we have heard this song in varies stages of creation.

So how does it go?

"Cherry Cherry Bim Bam"

Cherry Cherry bim bam

Cherry Cherry bim bam

the mouse ran into the house

the mouse ran out of the house

the mouse ran on to a car

the mouse ran off of a car

the mouse ran back in teh house

Cherry Cherry bim bam

Cherry Cherry bim bam

Cherry Cherry bim bam the mouse

Mommy and I didn't expect that she would sing it. But, when she climbed into the car today, Mommy asked how music went. Evidently, she told Mr. O that she wanted to sing a song that she had made up. He asked the class if they wanted to hear a song that she had created, and the said yes. So, she sang it. By her account, after she finished singing Mr. O told them to clap, and they did.

Would Mommy have done this as a child, or I? No.

It's pretty amazing to see a child who is all her own.