Christmas

Ever the well rounded kid, the two things Julia most wanted for Christmas were a locket and a Darth Vader talking mask. Happily she woke Christmas morning to find both under the tree. When I asked her whose picture she would like to put in the locket, she was surprised. Although she wanted one because Isabel had one and loved that it opened and closed, she had no idea that it could hold a picture. I explained that you should put a picture of someone who is special to you inside. Hoping (but knowing her well enough to not entirely expect) it'd be her dad and I, I asked whose picture she will put in there. Darth Vader was her reply. I should have known. What little girl doesn't want a photograph of the dark lord in her locket?

Lunch

On a recent Saturday, Julia asked if she could make her own lunch. I gladly obliged as I am all about encouraging independence. I floated around but tried to mostly stay out of the kitchen area. I heard the pantry door open and the familiar sound of her retrieving a step stool. She took it over to the kitchen sink. Cabinets opened and a plate came out next. Then to the fridge. Back and forth a couple of times from the fridge to the sink with the water running. Knowing what a cucumber and tomato junkie she is, I assumed she was rinsing the veggies. A few minutes later she hollers something to me but I can't hear her over the running water. I enter the kitchen and walk up to the sink to find her holding a dripping piece of bologna over the plate. "Well," she says, "I just washed the first piece of bologna."