Dinosaurs

N: Mom, there were no dinosaurs left when you were born right?

Mom: Yeah, they had been gone for millions of years by the time I was born.

N: Yeah, they were here way back in the 1950's.

Su Hua

N: Hi.
Mom: Hi.
N: I'm going to pretend to be someone else. (runs away)
Mom: Where are you going?
N: (from other room) I'm at my home in China!
(Nat runs back into the kitchen) Hi! I thought I'd come over for a visit and see your town.
Mom: Welcome to our home, you can stay as long as you like, what's your name?
N: Su Hua. I'm from China. I've never seen this kitchen before.
Mom: Wow. You traveled a long way.
N: I went on a plane. It was longer than planes to Michigan.
Mom: Would you like a snack, Su Hua?
N: Yeah. I like snacks at my house in China what snacks do you have at your house?
Mom: Well, my daughter, Natasha, likes to eat yogurt with blueberries in it, does that sound good to you?
N: I've never had that before. Sounds great!
(Mom starts yogurt prep)
Mom: So tell me about where you live. Do you live in a city?
N: No. I live in the desert.
Mom: Do you have any animals?
N: Just camels. Three of them. I know a lot about camels so you can ask me any question about camels and I can tell you about them.
Dad joins in: Do camels really spit?
N: Noooo! That's not real. Most camels are really friendly.
Mom: Wow, camels in China, who knew. Do you have any brothers or sisters?
N: Nope. No Mom or Dad either.
Mom: No mom or dad? Are you a grown up or a kid.
N: I'm all grown up. I'm eight.

The tale continued and N made up an entire biography of this eight year old camel-riding Chinese orphan raised by good friends in a desert in China. She remained in character for almost three hours including going to the grocery store and commenting that everything was different "in your town" that it was in China and asking which aisle had "camel food" so that she could take it back with her. She also invited us to visit her in China which involved a "plane flight" to the back of the house and introducing her to her camels and helping her name them.

Daddy has two daddies

Nat: Did you know that Daddy has two daddies?
Mom: Yeah, I guess he does.
N: Grandpa Moon AND Grandfather. Some people have two moms, or one mom and one dad, or one mom. But Daddy has two daddies. That's unusual. Families come in all shapes and sizes. (hand on hip and head nodding galore).

Stretching

N: Wanna watch me do this stretch?

Mom: Sure.

N: If I don't stretch I'm kind of smaller.

The mark of the calendar

Mom: There, now we have it on the calendar so we won't forget.
N: Can I have that pen?
Mom: Sure, do you have something else to write down?
(N makes a big squiggly drawing in one of the squares of the calendar.)
N: There. All set. I'll try to do it in the other squares just for revelations.

Scary Whiskerland

This picture is about the legend of the scary whiskerland. It's very scary because there are lots of bats flying around and monsters are inside the castle. And there are scary whiskers and a cat that hisses at you and monsters that go roar and a king that doesn't know you. There's also the Legend of the Sillywhisker castle. Its' got some funny cows and whiskers inside it.

Big Plans

N: Mom, I have some plans.
Mom: Oh? Tell me your plans.
N: I want to skate on ice sometime.
Mom: That sounds like fun. Maybe if we visit Michigan in the winter we can skate on ice. I've never skated on ice outdoors before.
N: And I want a sleigh with horses.
Mom: Wow. That's more elaborate. I don't know about that.
N: Or a sleigh with reindeer.
Mom: Do you mean like Santa Claus?
N: Yeah. Are reindeer real?
Mom: Yes, but they can't fly in real life; that's part of the make believe story about Santa Claus.
N: Why?
Mom: That's a good question. I don't know why the reindeer have to fly in Santa Claus' story. I guess to explain how he can travel all over the world in one night.
N: Mom?
Mom: Yeah.
N: I want to live in Alaska when I grow up.
Mom: Sounds good. There are a lot of things in Alaska that you want to see. I can understand that you want to live there.
N: Are there reindeer there?
Mom: Yeah. But they're called caribou in Alaska.
N: Do people have sleighs?
Mom: I bet a lot of people do. I've only been to a small part of Alaska once and I didn't see any sleighs but I bet there are.
N: I want to go there when I'm a kid, get a house and then move there when I'm a grown-up.
Mom: Any other plans you want to tell me about while we're at it?
N: I'm taking Mona with me.