Catching up...

aSorry I've been out of pocket the last few days. Blogger was down last night and I've been busy producing a video testimonial for the dean of the law school, who is stepping down. It was shown at a dinner last night and the response was amazing -- he wiped tears from his eyes, other members of the audience were sniffling; the assistant dean (and soon-to-be new boss of mine) made a point of introducing me as the video producer. "We thought we hired a writer; turns out we hired a video producer!" he exclaimed. This morning we got a request to screen the video AGAIN for the entire Willamette University Board of Trustees meeting tomorrow.

So, basically, I am a ROCK STAR at work.

But this blog is about Rachel, right? Here are some cute things she's said the last two days or so:

On the way to and from Salem these last few days, Rachel has been throwing temper tantrums and I've yelled at her (yes, gotta work on that). Here's what she said, apropos of nothing, on the way to work on Wednesday:

"I don't like you when you scream at me. "I love you so, so much. That's not OK. You're not a baby; you're a mommy. Mommies don't yell."

***

We were talking about work and school, and Rachel informed me she has a job.

"What's your job, sweetie?" I said.

"My job is cleaning the house," she announced. (The feminist in me winced. Is this all she sees me as? Someone who cleans the house all the time?) "And I eat a bagel for lunch and I eat French fries for lunch and cheddar bunnies and chocolate chips. My work is all that stuff, and I got on the school bus."

***

I'm learning more and more about the house Rachel shares with Abby Cadaby, Bob and Delly. It's brown. They have a multicolored car -- purple seats, brown doors (I'm not even going to get into the imagery that leaves me with, yech).

"We have four chairs," she said. "I put them to bed very early. I wake them up late, like at 9."

***

"Mommy, I wanna tell you a question," she said last night. "Can Abby Cadaby and Bob and Delly go in the pool?"

"That's a lot of babies in the pool, Rachel," I replied. "Who's going to hold the babies?"

"Grandma can hold Abby Cadaby," she said. "And Grandpa can hold Delly, and Daddy can hold Bob."

Grandma & Grandpa, are you up for this?