Busy last couple of days

Still fighting this stupid cold, and I've gone to bed really late the last few nights. I can feel my body is worn out -- not just from anticipating Drew's return, but over the whole last 10 months. It's as if my whole system knows that relief is on the way, permanently, and so it's deciding to shut down.

But you don't care about me, you want to hear about Rachel, right? So I'll try to sum up the last couple of days.

We got invited to Suzanne and Steve's house for dinner tonight; they're the parents of Lila, Rachel's favorite friend in the whole wide world, and I promised to bring dessert. So I told Rachel we were bringing dessert and asked her what she thought we should bring.

"Chocolate," she said.
"Chocolate what?" I asked. "Cake or cupcakes?"
"Cupcakes!" she said.
"OK, what kind of frosting?" I asked (and yes, I know I was setting myself up for a lot of work, but I figured it would be good practice for her birthday, when I plan to bake a whole bunch of chocolate cupcakes for her preschool class and bring them there the day she turns 3).
"White!" she said. "With green sprinkles."
So, last night found me gorging on Barbara Walters' special about the royal wedding (between Prince William and Kate Middleton, of course!) and then, at 11 p.m., baking the cupcakes. They turned out absolutely perfectly. The frosting, not so much -- I followed the recipe exactly, and it turned out to be a gummy mess. But Steve, Suzanne, Lila and Anne (Suzanne's mom) loved the cupcakes and asked for seconds, so I guess there's no accounting for taste....

***

More Delly news: Rachel informed me late this week that she and Delly live in their own house with their own fire truck that they park in the garage. When I asked her who takes care of Delly, she says that she does because she's Delly's mommy. Then she described part of Delly's day.
"Ohhh, she cries," Rachel said, sounding for a minute like someone oh, 30 years older. "And then I have to wash her hands because she has marker all over dem."

Today she said, "I'm a good mommy."
"I bet you'll be a GREAT mommy when you have your own kids," I said. "Can I cuddle your babies?"
"Yeah," she replied.
"Can I take care of them?"
"No," she said.
"Can I please come and clean your house?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because I'M a MOMMY!" she answered.
(Let's hope she marries a great spouse who helps around the house!)

***

Rachel has taken to praising me for the oddest things. I changed her crib sheet today -- a task I detest because it's so difficult to manage with the bolster, and one of the chores I will gladly delegate back to Drew when he returns -- and she offered to help, as usual. I finished it in 15 minutes, and then we went on to our usual Saturday chores of dropping off dry-cleaning, grocery shopping, etc.

In the car as we were running around town today she said, "Did you change the crib sheet all by yourself?"
"Um, yes, I did, sweetie!" I answered.
"GOOD JOB, Mommy!" she said.
That made my day.

***

Also as we were driving around today she said, "I have one and two babies, and Bob, and Delly."
"FIVE babies, Rachel?" I laughed. "How do you take care of them all?"
"Because I'm a MOMMY!" she said indignantly.

***

Tonight as I was putting her down to sleep, Rachel said, "I like you, Mommy!"
"I like you too!" I replied.
"I love you, Mommy!"
"I love you too!"
Then we got into a discussion about mommies and daughters. As I said above, Rachel is convinced she's a mommy -- Delly's mommy -- so she said, "I'm not a daughter, I'm a mommy!"
"You can be a daughter AND a mommy, Rachel," I explained. "I'm your mommy, but I'm also Grandma's daughter....you will always be my daugther, Rachel. You may be somebody's wife, and somebody's mommy, but you will ALWAYS be my daughter. And I will ALWAYS remember you as a little girl."

I was in tears.

Then Rachel piped up: "But I'm a MOMMY!"