Rachel has a rough night

I got home late from work tonight to find a solemn Rachel in the kitchen. Drew was kind of quiet, too.

"What's the matter?" I asked, immediately sensing the mood.

Drew informed me that Rachel had accidentally dropped her little red plastic chair because she wanted to help Drew make dinner, and she dropped it on her toe. She yelped. Then a little later, she accidentally dropped Drew's salad and started crying. "I'm worried you'll be mad at me," she said.

"Sweetie, I'm not mad at you," Drew said soothingly. "Everybody has accidents. But the important thing is to figure out why you had the accident and to figure out how not to have it in the future. Because anybody can have an accident, but only some people can learn from their accidents. And if you're one of those people, you'll be better off than everyone else. Do you understand?"

She nodded her little head and Drew gave her a kiss.

***

Last night Rachel and I were reading books by the firelight (she brought in two books from her bedroom and said I could read one book and she could "read" the other. I ended up reading her both, of course).

One book was "Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes," a book about all the babies who are born in the world. It used to make me cry while I read it to her as a baby, because there's a part that talks about a baby that was "truly divine, because THIS little baby is mine, all mine," and it captured exactly what I felt about Rachel.

Then I read the first "Knuffle Bunny" book, which made me teary-eyed. I was also completely exhausted from lack of sleep over the past week or so. I drew Rachel in to my lap and whispered, "please don't grow up too fast, OK?"

"Okay," she said cheerfully. "I probably won't grow up because I don't eat my vegetables."

I, of course, cracked up.

***

When Drew picked Rachel up from preschool today, she was playing with a kid in her class named Andrew. He marched right up to Drew and said, "Can I come to your house and play with Rachel? It'll be a playdate!"

Drew said he'd have to arrange it with Andrew's mommy and daddy. If it happens, it will be the first boy playdate we've had (besides Noah, of course; he and Rachel are really fond of each other). Good to see that Rachel doesn't think all boys are "awful," although she does tend to take my side against Drew when he does something, um, boy-like.