On the lighter side

My darling, precocious 4-year-old.

Recently, the girls and I have read aloud several times, "The Berenstain Bears and the Week at Grandma's".  The premise of this particular story is that Mama and Papa are going on a 2nd honeymoon back to the resort where they honeymooned many years before; and, Brother and Sister are going to stay the week at Gramps and Gran's house. 

So, this morning while were are driving home in the van from dropping Isabella off at school, Arianna brings up the subject of honeymoons and I explain that Mama and Papa Bear go on their 2nd honeymoon as a type of fun vacation years later after the 1st honeymoon and that the kids stay with the grandparents while the parents are away.  Arianna then proceeds to declare that she will leave her children with me when she goes on her 1st honeymoon.  Which leads to the second explanation of the morning:  that you get married first, go on your 1st honeymoon, then have kids, and can go on a second honeymoon later, if you would like.  This gets the girls thinking and Arianna tells me that she has decided where she is going for her 1st honeymoon with her husband when she grows up and gets married, and, that she will tell me the special location when we arrive home.  As soon as we walk in the door of our house, I ask her if she would like to whisper to me this secret.  She says, "No, Selah can hear this, too.  I am going to PARIS (with great emphasis) on my 1st honeymoon!"  (All said very enthusiastically and with a twinkle in her eye).   

I find this all to be quite hilarious!  Arianna, my middle child that is sandwiched in between the other 4 girls, is very opinionated, decides what she wants and does it, and rarely changes her mind.  So, to watch her set her mind on a honeymoon destination at the age of 4 tickles me pink.  I wouldn't be surprised if she ended up going to Paris on her honeymoon someday.  The other aspect of this conversation that is neat is that Arianna still thinks that whatever Mommy and Papi do is still cool.  Augustus and I went to Paris last summer with just Livia (and 9 months after coming back, Dakota was born) and when we came back, the other 3 girls heard all about our trip and constantly look at our Paris pictures on the computer.  As a mom, it is special that my kids are still interested in what their parents do and want to go and do likewise (at least for now).