Almost four-year-olds

I just had to add one more thing to my post today...

Rachel is at the age where she pretty much verbalizes every thought that goes through her head. It's very cute as you really get to know what she is thinking. Unfortunately, she has reached that embarrassing stage where she will tell anybody anything. You moms know what I am talking about. Your child starts to talk and inwardly you start to cringe, getting ready to redirect your child's line of thinking, or better yet, laugh off the comment in the way of "oh, she's just making it up!"

This story is not an embarrassing one, it just describes Rachel's thought process-to-conversation. Yesterday I took Rachel to the library for a couple of hours. We walked; it was a gorgeous day and I always bring the stroller in case she starts to get tired. It's a fairly long walk, about 20-25 minutes, along the Niven trail, then on the sidewalks downtown. Anyway, I digress. There ended up being a couple of young girls at the library, with their fathers. Rachel was playing on some beanbags around a corner of bookcases, so I could hear her but not see her. I wandered away a few rows to look at books for me and I heard the following running commentary, uninterrupted, by my daughter to one of the fathers:

"My mom wants to have another baby, you know. It will take a long time, but she wants another baby."
Then:
"My mom's name is Vanessa Vandewater" (although the way Rachel pronounces it sounds more like, "Binessa Binderwater"). "Her middle name is Lee. Her whole name is Binessa Lee Binderwater. My middle name is Gwen. My name is Rachel Gwen Riley, but people call me Rachel." The dad didn't comment, and I was glad I didn't have to say or do anything.

Part of me has relaxed a little bit. So what if Rachel tells people I want another baby? (Although the reality is that Rachel is the one who wants another baby).

The other thing I am noticing is the grown-up-ness that is occurring in my not-even-four-year-old. When she greeted one of her friends yesterday, she said, "Like what I'm wearing, Anna?" And put her hand on her waist, no joke, and stuck her hip out with one hand on her hair, twirling around.

And one day she came home from school, saying, "Sage said I'm not her best friend." She was quite upset. And so was I! Can it be starting already? Before I thought about it, I said, "Well, you just tell her you don't need her to be your best friend anyway," which Shane admonished me for saying. But you know? That is something I wish I had had the nerve to say when I was faced with these issues at school. Girls can be so mean. Anyway, the best I can do is instill a sense of strong self-worth in my child, so that silly comments like that aren't taken seriously.