Greenbuild!

When I hit September and didn't get my new path laid out in gold for me, I chose to go at it alone. And maybe piece by piece. So piece #1 was Greenbuild Chicago. Just the idea of skipping responsibility for the day after so many days of playing double-parental duty made me a bit guilty. I did however at least leave a list for Jorge. And pack lunches for the finickies.

Drove in. Blech. What an ugly state. I'm sorry, but after learning that the actual scenery can actually soothe you while you drive long distances in Washington state, I always shock myself driving through factory areas where speeders fly by in the shoulder. Ignore the scenery and focus on the white knuckles and getting over to the lane where you need to be, which may or not be the one GPS tells you with all this construction in this town. If I had not looked up where I was supposed to be, I would have been overwhelmed by McCormick Place so score one for me for knowing what I was doing instead of trying to read a massive sign while driving.

Happy day, loved it. Loved the seminars, big and small. Yes they are tree-huggers. But I know that type, they live in Seattle often. Even more of them live in Portland. :) And man, those guys/gals at MIT are pretty crazy, but it looked so cool and out there, I'll take it.

Went to 4 seminars. Only thing that was weird was not having someone to share it with, but I did strike up a conversation or two along the way. And made myself go to the social event at the end, despite the potential of helping Jorge out by picking the kids up. Love the kids up, but I've had 80% of the parental duties this year, so kids, here's your dad. Jorge, here's your watch. It's 5:30, normal people leave at this time of the day and live in the same state as their wives. And he did it like a champ. At the social event I had great conversation, which I started, so it was awesome.

Happy day. Love this world of green, but even more than that, it made me miss my intellectual school days. Seven years of college and then one day the learning ends. Well, in some firms you continue. My new goal is to figure out ways to keep up the learning. Despite the company that employs me. Ideally it would be some great company though right? :)

4 Year Old Preschool

Sylvie likes to call her year of preschool "4-year old preschool." It has been a whirlwind year so far and while nothing is earth-shatteringly funny she does make me laugh, worry and cry.

Here are some highlights:

-Storytelling. Ellen had a wolf visit her house. Alex got bit by a REAL vampire. Emily saw the real monster that lives at Great America.

-Best Friends. She has been having issues keeping in the clique of girls. She spent the first few months concerned about who sat next to her, who liked, her, who talked to her, etc. My goodness she came home and threw temper tantrums left and right from the stress of it all. I've volunteered and it's insane at times. However, it does seem to be calming down. She gets out of school and obsessively wants to go over to the flagpole for her one on one time with Allison. I was really upset at her behavior until I understood that she spent the day fighting for attention and this was special friend time. Preschool can be rough! But on the plus side she's making some really long-term good friendships.

-She's good with the boys. Having a brother has taught her how to talk about Star Wars, and how to not freak if a boy talks to her.

-They call her Chivis (the kids, not the teacher) which I think is hilarious and she likes

-Every day is a fashion parade for Sylvie. She spent the first months wearing dresses and skirts, mourning days she had to wear gym shoes and having massive numbers of outfit changes. Then this week she wore jeans. Twice. With heeled shoes and a sparkle shirt. She keeps the teachers laughing. She wore two pigtails but wanted one clipped to the side to look like a side ponytail.

-Introducing the "I want for lunch exactly what my friends have for lunch." Which can be great because I know I can get her to eat a sandwich for the first time ever. And horribly disastrous when you pre-order hot lunches in September and she has a meltdown about it. And packs a lunch anyway.

-She's more patient with the process of getting to school, waiting for Logan's turn, and the walking it takes to get it all accomplished. As long as mom is right by her side. Woe to the family member who has to take her to school, her world is not okay on those days. I had to beg my office to let me change my hours just to keep the peace. Ah, kids:)

She's keeping me laughing, keeping me guessing, and throwing tantrums like a true 4-year old can pull off.

Life today....

Today I have been weepy. Probably hormonal, but it's kind of nice. I like being able to really "feel" strong emotions some days. Not being on cruise control. Or just being satisfied with something like a clean kitchen. Seeing life's big picture and really assessing it. I worry sometimes that some big crisis will come crashing into our lives, we have this beautiful life and I want it to stay good, great really. Happy, loving, and sweet. Joyful. Who would want to rock that boat? I always feel like I am asking for better and I'm always worried about how can one not feel guilty for complaining about anything in their perfect life while thereare miners stuck 2000 feet below the earth's surface for over 60 days, and friends who left the earth leaving their children behind, and babies who left the earth leaving their moms behind. All that seems so life-shattering and crazy and I hope nothing like that enters our daily bubble.

But life is life and we churn through dishes and losing weight and meal planning and parenting. And smiling in disbelief that our kids are so smart and get 100% on all their papers. And spend a long time coloring the perfect picture. And make mini-laptops out of paper and leave them all over the house. And tuck their dolls into a hand-me-down American Girl bed. I want a new job and had given myself a September deadline to accomplish this task but for all the hours spent trying, this recession is either double-dipping or just not coming up for air just yet. So knowing how firms are in this career, I'm trying to grieve the loss of this happiness I wanted for myself and make do with the new reality of our real fall schedule.

Not that I'm in this terrible place. I'm just so stubborn that I want what I want when I want it thank you very much. And I thought things were going to be one way and they are another. So I'm trying to make the best of things.This week I stood up to a head person to ask for something I knew they would not like. And when his mouth formed the word 'no' and every ounce of his body language said the same, I had to step it up, fight for what I wanted, and sell it. I got it. Phew! I also played the work game, you know the one where you run into an issue and instead of banging your head against your desk you find just the right person to get an answer from with the added bonus of sympathy for your plight? Plight. I learned that word ages ago in grade school and did a whole report on the Plight of some group or another.....always loved good words....

Seeing my kids in school is bringing back memories aplenty of life back when. When the cool song everyone wanted to listen to on Walkmen was "Toy Soldiers" by Martika. When the cool thing was to make fun of the music teacher. My son is making fun of the music teacher and I asked him why and kind of leaned over and said "well, she's not really that bad" which leads me to believe he doesn't quite know why the kids say she's mean, but he'll happily jump on that bandwagon anyway. Poor music teachers!

I'm trying to just enjoy what life is bringing my way this fall instead of making my own path, because it doesn't seem to be going that way. I do have to say some big decisions seem to be coming clearer and I'm pretty happy with that. Sometimes I think it takes being a peace with what you have before you can take on something new. And not knowing if you want something is overwhelming. But feeling at peace with a future plan is so liberating. For now, I'll share some of the little things that made me smile today....

Do we really have to get rid of all of these leaves? I am LOVING them. They make everything so pretty. My favorite is the bright pink/red trees that show up when you round a corner and take your breath away.

Logan, my sweet soul, was getting into a habit of bringing every friend he owns downstairs and now he's narrowed it down to a few "best friends."

Sylvie has rejuvinated her mothering role. She has a few American Girl knockoff type dolls she's loving on. Abuelita collected this doll bed back from a neice and Sylvie really loves it. I can't wait to introduce her to Jamie's twins this weekend and see what she thinks.

We have a house built in 1946. A brick Georgian. It has its perks, its quirks and its frustrations. But when we went looking for a house I really really wanted a staircase. And while a ranch house would be good for laundry I won't regret the stairs. The window and the paintings from Mexico make me smile each time. The wood stairs are warm, and warmer with white paint. I always think about the fact that we are creating a baseline for our kids on what they see as "home." I can see us dragging our kids to an ultra-modern urban condo someday only to see them buy their first home with their spouses that looks just like this one.

My sweet dog. Jorge and I both had cocker spaniels growing up and wanted one as our first "together" dog. She's full of spunk and can push my buttons worst than Sylvie but I do love her as a walking companion, and a sweet friend who is at my feet.

William and Pink

Logan: "William at my school is funny."

Sylvie: "I have a William at my school too. He teaches Gym. Mr. Williams."

Logan: "I have another teacher named Mrs. M."

(I was surprised because I haven't heard of this teacher before.)

Me: "Logan, what does Mrs. M teach? Spanish, speech, music, library......."

Logan: "I don't know what she teaches, but she's really fast at sharpening pencils!"

I seriously laughed out loud, then he got upset, then he got curious. So I had to explain that it was surprise that made me laugh, that I was laughing with him not at him. (don't know why the font went all funky on me).

++++++++++++++++++++

Sylvie: "Mommy, I can't wait til we learn about the letter 'pink' so I can bring this Barbie with me for Show and Tell."

Lapbooks

I have heard about this from the homeschooler-crowd and it was right up my alley as a fun and educational Sunday activity. I am eternally grateful to websites that help moms out with freebies all ready to print. It took awhile to get my printer to produce this, and I was right there with my big scissors cutting things for the kids (it would have been a LOT of cutting), but they had a blast!

I think the idea is to focus on one subject and create 3D games, activities, etc. all based on that subject. Sylvie had a book telling her Three Little Kittens Story. Logan got to act as a reporter and interview Sylvie for his Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs theme. I flashed some pictures of a summer activity we did on the computer to jog their memory, and then had him ask the questions "who, what, when, where...." that were listed on his reporter notebook to write down the answers.

Sylvie loved this. She was all about the games we made, the almighty glue stick and the sing-songy story. She loved completing the project and went back later to continue decorating it more.

Logan was a bit worried about the idea of being a "reporter" but really enjoyed writing down words all over his lapbook. I did give him the option of drawing pictures and he chose words- that was pretty exciting!

This is where I got our free lapbook printouts, by subject, by age group, etc. A lot of them are based on a book you would read, and then do a lapbook to summarize it. They also had a great list of additional activities. It was great being able to print and make the whole thing this morning, but some of the ideas would take a day or two of prep, supplies, etc. Next time i'll find the lapbook, get the book and read it, and then do the lapbook activity after. A lot of Logan's lapbook involved reiterating vocabulary words from the actual book, which is a great idea.

http://www.homeschoolshare.com/Lapbooks_at_HSS.php

Don't worry mom....

Logan: "Don't worry mom, I won't ever leave this house. I'll live here forever and take care of Abby (the dog). Sylvie can still feed her, but I'll take care of her. "

Me: "Well, if Sylvie feeds her, what will you do to take care of her?"

Logan: "I'll play with her."

Me:"What about walking her? Like around the block on a leash all by yourself?"

Logan: "Maybe I can do that when I'm 10. And an adult."

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Sylvie on Monday :"I know what I'm going to be when I'm an adult. I'm going to be Merliah. With a Tail." (that would be a mermaid tail)

Sylvie on Tuesday: "I know what I'm going to be when I'm an adult. I'm going to be Barbie Fashion Fairytale. With a Tail."

Sylvie on Wednesday: "I know what I'm going to be when I'm an adult. I'm going to be Rapunzel. With a Tail."

Sylvie on Thursday: "I know what I'm going to be when I'm an adult. I'm going to be a Cowgirl. With a Tail."

Sylvie: "Mom, when I'm an adult I'm going to have my own house. So I can buy all the things I want to buy and you can't say there isn't room for them."

Yep, that about sums up their personalities right there.

Bonus: Sylvie gave Logan 2 princes to play with while we all played Polly Pockets.

Sylvie: "Logan. This is the Prince from Snow White and this is the Prince from Sleeping Beauty."

Logan argues.

Sylvie: "No Logan. I'm really serious here. I know what I'm talking about. That is the prince from Snow White. I'm sure (pronounced "sir"). I know all about the princes and princesses."

I show them the pictures on the computer to confirm that they are indeed both actually right.

Logan: "I knew it. I just looked next to my eyes and I thought about it and I could see the picture and it was right there from when I watched the Snow White movie."

Voices

Sylvie talking .....

Sylvie "Hey, I talk like someone at school."

Me: "Oh yeah, like who?"

Sylvie: "I don't know. Dylan."

Me: "Do you like talking like your friends?"

Sylvie: "Yeah. I do. I'm an Ac-tor."

What a ham!

Clubs

Logan:"Blah blah blah clubs. Sylvie, are you gonna.....blah blah clubs? Mommy are you gonna blah blah clubs? Sylvie, come blah blah blah blah blah blah........"

Sylvie gets annoyed, irritated and I see a temper tantrum coming on like the other 5 she's had since 2:30 (it's only 6 pm, my poor mom!!!! )

Me "Logan, we're not playing that game. Sylvie has had enough already tonight. You are asking questions that 6 year olds love and 4 year olds hate. Please wait til tomorrow to ask those questions to the other 6 year olds in your class."

Laughter from Logan, peace from Sylvie, whew!!!!!

Early Learners

Sylvie: "Mom, Jamie's babies are gonna read!"

Me: "How do you know?"

Sylvie: "I heard it on tv."

Those "Your Baby can read" commercials are getting a bit ridiculous!!!!

Trilingual

Logan: "Mommy, I'm learning 3 languages."

"China, Mexico and Sign Language."

Me: "What about English."

(he ignores me)

Sylvie: "What about spanish?"

Logan: "Yeah, I'm learning that one too!"

I will call you....

Sylvie: "Logan, stop being a doody bop!"

Logan :" "No."

Sylvie: " Logan, if you can't stop being a doddy bop I will call you a butthead!"

Me: "Sylvie, that's not nice. What is a butthead?" (I couldn't resist)

Sylvie : "It's a head, with a butt on it."

Logan: "I f you say butthead one more time, then I will cancel our parties every time."

Me: "Sylvie, do you think it's worth it to stop calling Logan mean things so you can go to his parties?"

Sylvie: "No, Logan you are a butthead."

Logan: "That's it, all the parties are cancelled."

Sylvie: "Aw, no, I'll stop saying things. Puh-leeeeease?"

Logan: "Sylvie, don't touch my penis!"

Okay this blog post has to end and I now need to go talk to these kids instead of typing what they say.......

Okay, false alarm. But they are now put to bed. Not that it means much, Sylvie has already come back down here and I now mush shoo her back upstairs. Crazy kids!

A touch of red brings.....

This house has both the formal living room and this amazing family room. It was outdated and needed some TLC when we got it, and it has changed the most often through the 6 years we've owned our Casa Barrero. It takes a bit of vision to see the whole picture,...when you can buy things one piece at a time. This room is the most heavily used and abused, tumbled on, rolled around in, and oh...my....the TOYS! They are the bain of my clean house I tell you. So this is just one more round of "arranging the family room" with some new IKEA furniture, but I am so happy to have walked through the store without too much of an idea except the sizes and functions, and found exactly what will help. I have some different chairs picked out, but they were out of stock, these are borrowed from the dining room. Don't tell the kids but there is a MOUND of toys downstairs I've been sorting through for the past month, and bags of broken pieces I've tossed. Anyway, just wanted to share my fun new family room and record THIS family room moment. Because it may never be this clean again!!!!!

Snippets from home....

Being around these kids is hilarious and some day they will be whiney unreasonable teenagers with somewhat more adult behaviors so I'd like to write down some of the sillies that they do just being at home on a Thursday and Friday without school.....

*Sylvie has covered her legs, arms, and fingers slowly with bandaids over the past 2 days. Every time she walks by she has more.....

*Logan randomly got bored, rolled the legs up on his jammies, then rolled them down and walked around like a duck with his jammies and undies around his ankles.

*They both fought over who would get to keep the yellow power ranger (with a skirt) long-term. As in their house when they are adults.

*Sylvie put makeup all over Logan. Logan tied Sylvie's dress. Sylvie got Logan's silverware. Logan got Sylvie a snack.

*Incessant fart jokes.

*Sylvie was showing me a castle she said belonged to mermaids. She flipped it around and showed me the living room, the bedroom for mermen and mermaids and the bathroom. Then she giggled and said she wondered how the mermaids pulled their tails down to pee. Then she said maybe there is a special hole on their tails for that. She's smart as a whip I tell you.

*We were watching a scene from Epcot where they have a globe and Sylvie wanted to know how we can tell what the earth looks like when we're standing on it. Logan and I said the astronauts see it. Logan said "but, that earth on tv is made of lights. The astronauts see the earth that is green and blue." So I asked him to clarify why it looks green and blue for Sylvie. He said the green is trees and grass, but "the astronauts are so far away they can't tell the difference between grass and trees." And then I explained the Ozone Layer to the kids. And then Sylvie told me she absolutely positively needs to go back to the Apricot (Epcot ball) and do the ride there. Soon.

*We're going away to a hotel with bunk beds and I showed the kids so they would be prepared. Logan helped me ease her mind about not being the kid to sleep on the top by reassuring her that all the ocean dreams happen on the bottom. Then Sylvie decided that princesses sleep on the bottom and Mermen hang out on top.

I love these kiddos!!!!! And as a side note, how the heck did they go from looking young to old in 6 months since the Disney trip!!!!

School-ish Evening

After a very physical day of running, playing, ballet and los Abuelitos, the kids played here and then easily transitioned into school-time. I found a great Kumon workbook for numbers and Sylvie flew through it. It's great practice writing and recognizing the numbers, with connect the dots up to 20. She did really well!

Logan found his Transformer Sight Words workbook and the tasks are complex but he's doing well with them. We also have some flashcards and he matched up all the upper and lower case letters. Dd, Pp, Qq and Bb gave him a bit of trouble, but to his credit, they all looked the same in this font to me as well!

Anyway, I love when they are feeling engaged in an activity, and if it's a learning one, even better. And since I took my thyroid pill later today my attention span is still here at 8 pm. Kinda crazy how much I notice the difference!

Feeling Sappy

.....and sad to see different phases of my kids' lives pass. They are growing up so quickly. Their awake hours are not 100% ours so they come home with all these things to tell us, show us, and make us laugh. Tonight both kids were showing us how they can do cartwheels, splits while in a handstand, and walk on their hands!!!!! After years of "My Gym" they are moving quickly through the ranks of Flying High Gym. Sylvie is in the kinder-stars class already, and Logan is moving up to the next level as well.

Miss Sylvie had her ballet recital that was just adorable and Logan is getting so good at golf. A huge piece of all these extracurriculars is my in-laws doing. They are doing the legwork, the signing-up, the paying and keeping the kids' spirits up about attending all of these lessons. It feels like the world is in front of them, they are being exposed to all these amazing things. In school they are just learning so much, given so many opportunities to better themselves, and push themselves. Even religion is coming into their vocabulary. And we are getting all the million "how does the world work" type questions from our free-thinkers.

They are real little people with real personalities and real goals. Things like "do I push for them to go to college or be happy with them following their dreams" and "Do I help them with their homework" are entering my mind. Today we were talking amongst the moms about when they get married and that person entering our families as "daughter- and son- inlaws." Not that these things are anytime soon, we have a virtual lifetime ahead of us. And so many experiences.

I was reading an article about the experiences of 2 French High School exchange students. They were saying in America we are pushed to think, to have ideas, to have an opinion. We have clubs, teams and so many ways to form the hours of our lives. I got Logan's yearbook and there are so many clubs to be joined as early as this upcoming year! The French students also spoke of America not having as strong of an educational base. I know it's not as important for life or all jobs, but I think having a general knowledge of life, culture, other places, other people, and current events, is important. I was at lunch with co-workers and some new interns and felt like I was discussing things others had never even considered experiencing. And they were all right here in Chicago. Maybe it's the fact that I lived elsewhere before, I appreciate what Chicago has, just as I voraciously ingested what Seattle had to offer, I want to soak it all in here as well. We got a list from the art department on what there is to do in the area and I plan to bring the kids to many of the places.

I feel our kids are lucky and blessed to have so many people, places, experiences and so much love in their lives daily.

Silly-Inquisitive-isms

Sylvie: "Mom, why don't people feel that the earth is moving?"
"Oh, you know what? I know why the clouds are moving, because the earth is moving!"

Sylvie: "When I grow up, where will we all sleep in this house?"
Logan: "When I grow up, I'm going to live here."
S:"When I am a princess, I will live in Disney World."
L:"I'm not going to live in Disney, I'm just going to visit. I'm not going to work when I'm an adult." Me: "What are you going to do for money?"
L: "I'm going to work at Legoland."

Sylvie: "Logan, how does the juice get out of the battery?"

Letters and Reading

With the school year coming to a close, I'm focused on keeping those brain cells alive with not only a love of the outdoors and all things physical, but school things as well. Logan has really made strides this year and is on the cusp of actually reading, I do not want to lose this! So I bought the "Teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons." For Sylvie, the first 50 seem to make sense, going over letters and sounds. So far she has proclaimed this all "boring" but we shall see on another day. Perhaps I should skip her ahead to lesson 20?:)

Logan was all gung-ho to do this book and we did approximately 12 lessons in a very short time, just reading sounds he was interested in reading, and then reading the corresponding words right after that, and then the sentence.

When I opened the book I thought it looked a bit silly and jibberish but what it does have going for it for Logan's skill set is he is at that point where all words starting with a "th" are automatically "The", and the literature at the front of the book talks about getting past that habit. It might be perfect timing!

Each letter has a dot, and a long line if the vowel is long. This will be great for his speech as well, this is exactly the sort of activity his teacher recommended. He really took the time to sound out each word, put it together in the sentence, still sounding it out, and was quick to recognize some of his sight words from school. Also, the letters are rather large, about the size he writes them himself.

All in all, I recommend it highly for your 6 year old between words and sentences!

A day of sports

Logan and Jorge went out golfing with Bill, their "private trainer" this morning. Jorge said Logan's improving quite a bit, and Bill (friend of his mom's) has helped him correct his own swing as well.

We spent a lot of the day outside on this hot hot spring day and finally by evening, the kids were running amuck again the house. Time to go outside once again. It was still 89 or so degrees, but we went over to the park hauling some equipment.

Logan was super intense with the tennis balls and his metal bat, throwing, catching, hitting, enjoying. Sylvie joined in and using a plastic bat and tennis balls, really started getting the hang of things. Now I think I need a "personal trainer" to teach me to throw so I can pitch to my two cuties!

We headed over to the tennis courts and both kids practiced swinging a racket and Logan worked on a back and forth game with Jorge.

Logan gets so keyed up, working hard, concentrating, listening to your advice, and not giving up. If anything, it's hard to keep up with his intensity. Sylvie did pretty well for herself, kept at it even when things didn't go easily. I'm impressed! It was a lot of fun but very sweaty and humid. It's fun to have more sports in our lives.

The Parisian

I know I haven't posted on our Paris trip. It was an amazing experience for so many reasons, and I feel like I'm trying to blend my experiences into my current life and see where it all fits in.

I keep having this image come back to my head of the last full day. It was rainy, chilly and a great day to be hopping in and out of shops wearing a raincoat and an umbrella. We settled down for lunch at an indoor cafe. Dark wood interior, wall of windows closed against the weather, old tin signs for Coca-Cola. I ordered a salad I had wanted to try since reading about it in Rick Steve's- egg, tomato, proscuitto and some additional things. Goodness.

As we filled our tummies and warmed ourselves, I couldn't help but look around at our fellow cafe-goers. On either side of us were two women and I was fascinated. What was their story. They looked like locals. One looked to be about 50. She sat and drank an espresso out of an impossibly small cup, book in hand, facing the window and us coincidentally. I couldn't actually tell if she was listening to our conversation, but she looked happy. Content. I don't know if she was retired, on break from work, alone or enjoying a moment of peace in life of chaos back home.

The whole time we were in the upper end of the Latin Quarter, I tried to picture who lived here, how did they live. They stopped at the fresh corner store, picked up flowers and groceries, opened their windows to let in the social noises in the street below. These women seemed to fit that life. Enjoying the little moments.

The older woman at the window drank a mid-day glass of wine. She ate steak and frites and had walking shoes on. She probably walked the park all day, every day, she looked hearty but was not eating low-fat, low-carb, low-taste food. She even ordered a mousse, and this huge smile spread across her face as she took that first bite.

I think what struck me was the lack of reaching out. I find myself in solitude looking for everyone around me, they are happy, they are with their friends, enjoying their children, judging my own experience of the moment on what I am NOT doing that everyone else IS doing. I would like to keep that image of the other women in my mind as a reminder to enjoy my quiet moments, enjoy the solitude, the routine and the daily moments that make up our life, and not always be looking for the newer, bigger, next, better and more fulfilling. The stuff of life is what makes the happy moments. And, I would like to remind myself that sometimes, it is okay to order dessert. Or drink wine at 1:00 in the afternoon. Because, really, the endorphins it releases must at some point outweigh the damage it does to our figure, especially if we walk more and drive less.
The

Logan's conversation.....

typed as I'm listening to it....

Logan: "Mom, want to know what kind of superhero I'm going to be? I'm going to be one that flies."

Logan: "I'm going to live with you forever mom."

Me: "Logan what will you do when you're an adult?"

Logan: "Mom, when I'm an adult I'll feed Abby (the dog) her food whenever it runs out."

Logan:" I'm going to do what Abby does. Relax at home while you and daddy are at work."

Logan: "When I'm at school, can you drop me off?" (we always walk in together)

Me: "What kind of job will you have?"

Logan: "The job is to take care of Abby at home. I'm going to do all the Abby work. Clean up her toys, get her something to eat and something to drink. When I'm an adult. Hey Sylvie, you don't have to do any work when you're an adult. Sylvie, will you live with mom when you're an adult?"

Sylvie: "Yes."

Me: "Sylvie, what about when you are an adult"

Sylvie: "I'm going to be Melody (a character from a Barbie movie)."