Rachel the sensitive one

This morning I attempted to go swim at the local community center, but the pool was too crowded and I went at night. Pool was still crowded, but it cleared out at 7 p.m. leaving me exactly 15 minutes to swim. (We tried to turn that into a math lesson for Rachel at dinner, but failed).

As I left this morning, Rachel stood by the window next to Drew and said:

"Goodbye, Mommy! Be careful! You don't want to be dead!"

And as my car pulled away from the driveway she said, "...And there she goes!"

***

Rachel is fascinated with the song "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and is constantly asking us to sing variations of it. Today she noted, "The other reindeer were being like the stepsisters. But they weren't as bad because they gave Rudolph things. Each reindeer did. The stepsisters were mean for the whole time."

(The stepsisters, of course, being the ones from "Cinderella.'").

***

Devin, Rachel's little friend from preschool, apparently said something mean to Rachel today -- something along the lines of calling her "stinky" because she hadn't taken a bath.

Rachel told us she yelled at Devin and then she walked away. I suggested that next time she tell her, "I'm not going to listen to you. You can't play with me," and walk away.

***

Rachel's a girl, all right: We now have quite the collection of princess and cupcake Band-Aids; now add Hello Kitty to the mix. I have no idea where this comes from (probably from her friend Tessa at preschool, who is very into Hello Kitty), but Rachel is now a big Hello Kitty fan. She has offered me numerous Hello Kitty Band-Aids to cover the owies from my bike accident. I think that's her way of telling me she loves me and is worried about my health.