"When I'm a grown up I'm going to play at the park."

Every night when it's starting to get the dark and the moon is beginning to peek out, Ellie pulls down her  flowered blankets, grabs her Lulus and *indubitably* asks for "just one long story.....PLEASE!"

So tonight I read "Thank you, Amelia Bedelia!" while skipping chunks of pages.  We've only read that particular book a few times, but when we were getting to the end Ellie reminded me that we forgot the part where Mr. Rodgers' shirts get checked.  So I went back and read that part. 

Then she reminded me that we forgot the part where the sheets get stripped, so I went back and read that part, too.  At that point it had taken longer to go back and find the pages that I skipped then it would have to just read the entire book the first time straight through.

Finally, after sixty some pages of double entendres, our story came to a close when Mr. and Mrs. Rodgers forgot all about Amelia Bedelia destroying their house when they tasted one of her fantastic pies.  If only.

Ellie decided that tonight one Amelia wasn't enough and she needed another story.  We compromised and decided I would tell her a story.  I didn't get far into the story of Elizabeth Grace's day when she interrupted me.

"You're right.  It doesn't look like fun to sit on a bench and watch people play."

She was referring to one of our many conversations about the pros and cons of being a grown up.  In that conversation she was wanting to grow up fast and I mentioned that sitting on the bench and watching the kids play wasn't really all that fun when you could be the kid playing.

"So when I'm a grown up I'm still going to play at the park.  Did you know that Daddy swings high on the big kid swings and sometimes jumps off?" {No, I did not.}  "That's what I'm going to do.  I won't sit on a park bench, I'll keep playin'."

I begin talking more about swimming in the pool, having dinner when she interrupts again...

"And wine.  When I'm a grown up I'll get to drink wine.  And there will be three grown ups in our family.  And then four because Madeline Claire will get to be a grown up two years after me.  So now that we'll have a family of four grown ups, who will be the kids playing at the park?"

There may have been a tiny tear in my eye when I told her that her kids would be the kids playing at the park and she would be the mommy and I would be the grandma.  But she liked that.  That we could be grown ups together and there would still be kids to play with and push in the baby swings.

Ellie received a pink stuffed elephant for her first birthday that has a button to push to record a message and another button to push to play it back.  For the last few weeks she has been telling me what to say to the elephant so she can have someone to talk with when she is in her bed all by herself. 

Tonight I said, "Goodnight!  I love you, Best Friend Ellie!" into her pink elephant and left the door "just a tiny bit open" for my big girl to dream about preschool, dance class and swinging on the swings as a grown up.