almost three

The baby has all but vanished and there is now a little girl in the house.  She asks questions like "do birds have tongues?", and I find myself surprised that we're already there.  I did know the answer to that one (yes, yes, they do), but there will be many more questions that I'll either not so gracefully flounder through or to which I will have to just honestly suggest we seek out the answers together.

She remembers so much more than I expect her to and she can be shockingly articulate at times.  I can see the gears turning as she asks questions and makes connections like "is that man burning his leaves because the garbage truck won't take them?  because they only take trash?"  And I watch her play, changing voices as the dinosaur in her left hand talks to the cow in her right, (the dinosaur sounds very menacing but assures the cow that he is quite nice. the cow sounds rather prissy) and gently explaining to my little doll (who asked her little gnome to play ring around the rosy) that he (the gnome) couldn't, because he doesn't have any hands.  That was actually accurate and not just some morbid imagining... the gnome is made out of a wine cork and is really just torso and head.  He still played with the dolly, though.

Anyway- the shifting of her interests and the new depth of her pretend play has been so fun to witness, and I just can't wait to see what is next.  She will be three in a few weeks.  I hear three can be challenging, but isn't every age challenging in it's own way?  Bring it, three.  Bring it.