What are YOU thank you for?

We started a tradition this holiday season where we try to remember every day to say something we are thankful for.  Zoe seems to really like the tradition because she is usually the one to remember to ask me what I'm "thank you" for.  It's really nice because it really makes me think every day about the little things that really make me happy.  Mine and Nathan's usually center around family and kids and Zoe's are always pretty different...sometimes thoughtful: "The great sun", sometimes sweet: "Owen" and sometimes kind of strange and abstract: "For someday when I will run with Owen."  At lunchtime today she asked me what I am "thank you" for and I said "I am thankful for good books.  What are YOU thankful for?" and she said "Today I am thank you for that Mommy isn't grouchy today."  Ooo, ouch!  I then resisted the urge to say in my most sweetest Mommy voice "Well, Zoe maybe that's because you aren't pushing my fricken BUTTONS today." But, I apologized for being grouchy and moved on.  Then to add insult to injury, at dinner she said she was "thank you for lovely weeks with Daddy."  Ah, well.  I'll take the hint and go back to my Zen mothering place..or work on it, anyway.  :-)

Also, at dinner out of the blue she said this:

"Mommy, I had a dream.  Daddy was with us when we went to the swimming pool and I didn't have NO swimming suit on.  But when I got onto the boat, I DID have my swimming suit cuz I just walked out of the water to get my swimming suit on.  But the boat could fly into the air from the water cuz there was a waterfall and it flew all the way up to the ceiling.  And I flew out of the boat onto the sidewalk.  Not ONto the sidewalk, but INto the sidewalk.  It. Was. Funny."

And then when I was washing dishes she came in and asked:

Zoe:  "Mommy, did Jazz (our old cat) died to Vermont?"
Me:  "Well, he was living in Vermont and then he died."
Zoe:  "Died to where?"
Me:  (Seriously doubting the wisdom of my decision to be straight forward with her on such matters) "Well, to nowhere."
Zoe:  "Is it strange inside?  Is it noisy?"
Me:  "Inside where he died?"
Zoe:  "Yeah"
Me:  "I don't know, I've never been."

Thank goodness, that was the end of it!  I think I'll have to read a few books on talking about sex with your kids before she starts asking so I don't back myself into another uncomfortable "nothing but the truth" corner with that one.

Anyway, in addition to having funny conversations, we continue to spend the cold days inside "arting" but mostly the past few days she's been drawing and I've been experimenting.  I worked on a couple of projects that I think are too "old" for her, but I know that on the right day she will be able to bust out a 3 year old version of these two.  The round one is the "Cut Tissue Paper Stained Glass Circles" from Pink and Green Mama http://pinkandgreenmama.blogspot.com/2011/02/kids-craft-cut-tissue-paper-stained.html and the star is just crayon shavings ironed between wax paper.  Grandma and Zoe picked out the colors last weekend and shaved the crayons.  I'm excited to play around more with the crayons because I love how that looks and something about melting the crayons is satisfying to me...