Jessica is like a cat

Well, like one cat in particular: Cassie.

Whenever I get up from the couch, even for 10 seconds, the cat immediately jumps onto where I was sitting, presumably because it's warm.

Interestingly enough, Jessica does the same thing. Probably for the same reason. Although she *says* "I'm saving it for you." Saving it from whom?

At least Jessica moves with a verbal command to do so. I have to practically sit on the cat to get her to move.

"You know we're going to beat it with a bat, right?"

Jessica's birthday party is coming up. She asked me, oh, 3 or 4 MONTHS ago to have a pinata at her party. I said yes, at the time. She then wanted to pick one out 3 or 4 MONTHS ago. I told her there was no way I was buying a pinata until it was closer to her birthday.

Now it's closer to her birthday. We were in Target yesterday and she spotted the pinata section. She picked out a horse/pony/donkey type pinata. Apparently it's a girl and is going to have babies. While she was bonding with the pinata, I told her, "you know, we're going to beat it with a bat, right?" She said yes, and continued to bond with her papier-mache animal. After a bit of conversation with it, she told me that the pinata was okay with being hit with a bat.

I hope she feels the same in two weeks.

Remorse

Yesterday we were at the mall and Jessica really wanted to go into the little play area they have, so we did. It was mid afternoon and there were a lot of kids there. Now, technically Jessica is too big for this play area, which says maximum height of 42" and I measured her just this week at 43". But she was far from the tallest kid there.

Anyway, I was reading a parenting magazine which the kids played when all of a sudden I became aware a little girl about Xander's age was crying. Her mother was sitting next to me and I heard her say to someone else "No, she didn't fall down, she was pushed" and give me a dirty look.

I called Jessica over. "Did you knock over that little girl?" She wouldn't answer. I asked her 3 or 4 times before she nodded, unable to speak.

"You need to say you're sorry." Again, I needed to ask her a few times. Finally she whispered, to me, "I'm sorry." At my insistence, she repeated it ago more loudly in the direction of the little girl and her mother.

Then she burst into tears. Such a sensitive soul! I managed to console her enough so she was able to resume playing.

Bedtime ritual

Jessica and I have developed a very satisfying bedtime ritual. After the usual (pajama changing, tooth brushing, book reading), she gets into her bed. I stand on the ladder next to her (I got into that top bunk with her exactly once and almost didn't get out alive). Then we do Hugs and Kisses. She decides how many hugs and kisses she wants. It's different every night. I'll kiss her on the cheeks. She'll kiss me on the cheeks. Then I rub her back for a couple of minutes. It's so sweet. Whenever she doesn't want to get into bed by herself, I just say, "But we have to do Hugs and Kisses," and that's usually enough to get her in.

Lies lies lies

Jessica has an annoying habit of saying Hari or I are lying if we say something that, by mistake, turns out not to be true. Twice this week, she's accused me of telling her a "cruel lie."

I have no one to blame but myself.

Last year, for the second year in a row, Jessica broke the plastic zipper on her winter coat. I went out and spent the extra money on a Lands End jacket which not only has a coil zipper which is much less likely to break, but also will repair/replace the jacket if the zipper breaks.

However, I went a bit too far in trying to save money. I bought a lime green jacket, thinking Xander can use it when he's older. Green--gender neutral, right? And it looks GREAT on her. She has gotten so many compliments on that jacket. Plus I got it last year in size 5/6, since size 4 was just a bit too small, thinking she could wear it for 2 winters, and then Xander can wear it for 2 winters.

The problem? In Jessica's girly-girl world, green is a "boy color." So is yellow. In fact, the only colors that are *not* "boy colors" are pink and purple. I think this stems, in part, from when she was 3 years old when pretty much her entire wardrobe (my choosing) was pink and purple. Anyway, I spent half of last winter begging her to wear the jacket. Now it's getting colder again and I'm already getting complaints in anticipation of wearing the green jacket.

I give up. I can't spend the next 2 winters explaining to her that green is not a boy color. So, I just went online, found an overstock deal from Lands End for a winter jacket in deep rose. Problem solved.

Plus I got few pink dresses while I was at it.

Isn't that obvious?

Some time ago, I noticed Jessica had grown a lot in a short period. I told her she was growing like a weed. She thought that was the funniest expression. Recently, we were talking about how much she's grown, and I prompted her "You're growing...."

"Like a seed!" she said. Well, you know, that works too.

Now when I prompt her, I say, "You're growing" and she says, "Like a seed and a weed." She likes to cover all her bases.

Another expression that seems obvious to a 4 year old is the opposite of inside-out. For some reason, I've always said, "Right-side out." I don't even know if anyone but me describes it like that. But Jessica's way of describing it is "Out-side out." I like that better than my way.