Dem bones.

Jesse: "Guess what, Mommy?  Did you know that skelestons have bones?"
Love it!

Butterfly Catchers

On Friday, as Jesse-Lee and I were driving home, we were surrounded by thousands upon thousands of white butterflies, all fluttering in sort-of the same direction.  Heaven only knows where they came from, or where they were going, but we fully intended going out and catching some of them that afternoon when we arrived home.  A butterfly capturing expedition, as it were.

Donning our comfy shoes and sharing a fishing net, out we pranced in unison, certain that a variety of beautiful butterflies would soon be safely ensconced in our nifty plastic container.  

"Butterfliiiiiies, come little butterflies! I will be your friend!"

It took less than four seconds for us to discover that the pesky buggers are damn-near-impossible to catch! 

There I was, prancing around like a mad fowl, jumping in the air and spraining muscles in an attempt to catch just one butterfly mid-air. Meanwhile Jesse-Lee "neak neak" (which is Jesse-Leeze for sneak sneak) catches not one but TWO butterflies (coitus interuptus) with her bare hands. 

"Mommy, Mommy, they were sitting there holding hands and I just neak neak catched them!"

"I will name this one 'Orangey,' and I will name her friend 'Orangey Friend'."

My bonnie child

There is a Barney Show coming to town.  I had seen the posters up and had attempted to take preemptive evasive action.  Think driving 4km's further en-route to our destination to avoid the street littered with the purple monster.  But the posters.  are.  everywhere.  And my daughter has eyes like a hawk.  She can always be relied on to eye-spy something that I had hidden away.

And so she noticed the one lone poster on the streetpole that I was unable to avoid.  

Our conversation went like this:

Jesse:  "Please Mommy, sing the Barney song for me?" Me:  "How does it go, Jesse?" Jesse sings, "My Barney lies over the ocean... My Barney lies over the sea... Oh bring back my Barney to me!" 

Wahahahaha! She's hilarious!

Of stories and namings

We have a routine that we stick to in the evenings with Jesse-Lee:

Supper.  Bath.  Bed.  Bedtime Story.  Lights Out.  Two songs.  Kiss.  Hug.  Happy.

That way, she gets her 10 hours of sleep, and we get our 10 hours of peace.  In which I do my happy dance pull on my stretchy pants and raid the pantry cupboard, eating all manner of treats that we don't usually allow Jesse to eat.  

It's a win-win situation really.

Long before bedtime she already starts asking which story I'll be reading to her that evening. I love to surprise Jesse with new and amazing stories that will set her imagination alight and pull her into dreamland thinking happy thoughts.

The night before last was no different to our norm.  The bedtime story was new to Jesse (the one where Jesus raises Jairus's daughter from the dead).  When we got to the end of the story, there was a picture of Jairus and his wife hugging their daughter, while Jesus looks on.  Jesse immediately piped up and asked, "Mommy, what is the little girl's mommy's name?"  I answered that I didn't know.  Upon which she stated categorically:  "Well, I think it should be Strawberry Deck."

I shudder to think what my grandchildren will be named one day.

Thankfully that's at least 52 years in the future.

I'm nothing if not optimistic, y'all.

The one where we forbid boyfriends

Its been about a year and a half now that Jesse has been going to Nursery School, while the parentals are hard at work.  Needless to say, this has instigated many an interesting conversation, as Jesse watches the other children at school, then brings her endless quest for knowledge home.

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Something else that she brought home with her was a sudden interest in little boys.  Which was never more pointedly obvious than one day not too long ago, when I arrived at her school to collect her.  

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A little boy with pouty lips & a missing tooth came running up to Jesse-Lee and myself, then promptly informed me that Jesse-Lee is his girlfriend. I stuttered out an "oh really???" just before he put his arms around her, puckered up & planted a big pouty kiss on her lips! 

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Then, with his arms still rather comfortably draped about her shoulders, he stood there beaming at her with his toothless grin & big soppy eyes.

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At this point I might or might not have been gasping desperately for oxygen and clutching at my chest while seeing stars and imagining the ground opening up and sucking him in.

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After I had extricated his tentacles from around my girlchild's shoulders, I made for the exit sign with the dust beating at our heels.

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Once in the car, I said to Jesse: "Girly, WHO is that boy???"

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Her reply:  "That is Thomas.  He's my boyfriend!"

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Lots of near-fainting on my part.

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Later, when the dear hubsband arrived home, I tell Robin the "boyfriend" at school story. 

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Lots of laughing ensues. 

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Later, he casually says to Jesse, "Jesse, you mustn't kiss the boys at school." 

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Jesse: "No, Daddy, I really like it!" (At this point, lots of dizziness and hot flushes)

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Robin: "You are not allowed to kiss boys until you're 35 yrs old!"

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Jesse:  "No, Daddy, I can kiss boys."

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Robin: "Don't, girlie. Boys have germs!"

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Jesse: "Ew! I'm never ever kissing boys ever again!"

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Scare tactics. They work. Hehe!

She speaks Jesse-Leeze

Me:  "Jesse, what do you want to become when you grow up one day?"
Jesse:  "A princess."
(I didn't have the nerve to tell her that Kate had already stolen that spot.  And Harry isn't tying the knot any time soon)
Me:  "And after you become a princess?"  
Jesse:  "A sunflower."
Alrighty then.