Pre-ballet slippers!

Drew took Rachel to buy ballet slippers yesterday while I spent the afternoon with my friends Deni and Miriam. Deni's husband spends half the year in Africa leading various seed-cleaning projects (he and Deni farmed organically in Oregon way before the movement took hold and got out of it years ago, with the only remnant of that life being the amazing produce they grow in their backyard in rural Canby. Deni is a fabulous cook and interior decorator; going to her house is like visiting an elegant B&B) and she gets lonely when Coop (her husband) is gone, so she invitied Miriam and me to sample some of the amazing soups she's made and frozen this year.

We had a great time, topped off by many mimosas and a soak in Deni's hot tub before everyone tried out a new spice cake recipe I used to make spice cake with frosting. We all loved it; it will be my go-to dessert this winter, I think. Plus I get a lot of sound child-rearing advice from Miriam (whose daughter is a few years out of college) and Deni (who has grown kids and almost-teenage grandkids) and they get a kick out of hearing Rachel stories.

When I got home Rachel insisted I help her put on her ballet slippers, which she wore all evening. We practiced "pizza feet" (first position) and holding our hands in a graceful arch above our heads. I plan to accompany her and Drew to ballet class one Saturday and watch her be cute as can be.

Rachel sayings. This relates to the fact that she peed in her sleep on Saturday night but somehow didn't wet the sheets:

"I was shouting and shouting 'cuz I need to tell you I goed pee in my pants. I didn't pee on the sheets. I didn't want you to get upset. I had an askidenk."

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When it looked like the sun was going to come out briefly on Sunday morning:

"Hello, golden sun! Come out and play with us! I want to see how pretty you are!"

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We are introducing Rachel to little logic puzzles of our own making. So on Sunday, Drew asked her the classic question: "If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, did it really fall?" She was so delighted by this that she insisted we go around the table and make up a couple more.

Here was her offering:

"If a scone breaks and a little girl says, 'it's OK!' then it's still there."