Dorothy complained that Allen at school "always wants his lunch to be the best. He doesn't like my lunches." "What in your lunch does Allen not like?" I asked. Dorothy answered, "He always says 'Uhhh, yogurt?! Uhhh, a spoon?!'"
Dorothy likes to sing new words to familiar tunes, and then explain, "That was based on...", as in "That was based on Mary Had a Little Lamb."
Dorothy picked up a summery lotion with a beachy pink flamingo graphic. She asked, "What is this?" "Lotion," I answered. "Is it supposed to smell like flamingoes?" she asked.
Dorothy was wearing two stickers; one said "I love Unicorns" and the other said "Believe". At the same time, I was listening to my own music and paying half-attention to her. Dorothy asked me, "What does this say?" and I, thinking she was asking about lyrics, answered honestly, "Live fast. Die young. Bad girls do it well." "Oh," she said. I looked up and she pointed to her second sticker and asked, "And what does this other one say?"
Dorothy spent the full hour at the pool jumping off the side into the water, climbing out, and jumping back in. On the way home, I complimented her. She responded, "Dad said I'm not supposed to jump off the side of the pool until I can swim without my floaties." I asked, "Oh? Then why did you do it?" She answered, "Well, the first time I did it, I was in a hurry to get to the mermaid toy, and I forgot that I wasn't on the steps. Then you said, 'Good job, Dorothy!' and I thought 'Hmmmm...'."
I'm not a pool person, but I'm getting a routine at our neighborhood pool and it's getting easier each day. On the first day, I had to take Dorothy to the pool bathroom, and upon entering I even uttered, "This is a nightmare." A few days later we needed to visit the pool bathroom again. Upon entering this time, Dorothy asked, "Mama, are you still having your nightmare?"
I showed Dorothy a picture of Rosie the Riveter; unfortunately for feminists everywhere, she said, "I've seen that picture before on boxes of washing detergent."