family matters

With all of our family together recently, Esther got plenty of chances to be confused about our relationships with each other.  It is hard to assimilate that, for example, her grandpa is my dad!  One morning, Esther wanted to wake up my mom.  So she went to my dad and asked, "Can you wake up your grandma?"  He replied, "She's not my grandma, she's my wife!"  So Esther went to Tim and asked, "Can you wake up Mommy's wife?"  (She has continued to try to figure out these relationships even with my parents gone, and is making some progress on husband and wife.  Tim told me that the last time he took her to daycare, she waved to me and said, "Good-bye, Daddy's wife!")

Another time we had the following conversation:

Esther (in the other room):  Mommy, mommy!

Mommy:  Yes, Esther?

Esther:  Not you; I'm looking for Daddy.
It reminded me irresistibly of the time a Chinese student acquaintance initiated a google chat while I was using Tim's e-mail account.  Upon being informed that she was chatting with me and not Tim, she responded, "It does not matter.  To me, you two are one."  (I thought that was a nice compliment!)

Esther has now reached the stage of making embarrassing observations in public.  When we were at my grandma's house last weekend, Esther informed a visitor, "You're very fat!"  Fortunately he has several small grandchildren of his own and took it in good humor.  But after he left, I felt it important to educate Esther about the fact that some people don't like being told that they're fat.  I suggested that next time she wanted to say that somebody was fat, she could just whisper it in my ear.  So she leaned confidingly close to me and whispered, "Mommy, you're fat!"  (At which point I completely cracked up, probably giving her the impression that it was the cutest thing she could possibly have said.  Oops.)

Now that Tim is a professor, he needs to attend graduations decked out in a fancy schmancy Ph.D. gown, hood and hat.  He recently ordered his set of academic regalia (which was not cheap! yikes!), and we all looked forward to seeing how he looked in it after it arrived.  Esther was as excited as any of us, and it was a hoot to hear this little three-year-old talking breezily about "Daddy's academic regalia."  When the big try-on day arrived, she duly admired Daddy's new look, and then exclaimed, "I have academic regalia in my playroom!"  And she ran off to get it, returning with a graduation gown left by a former occupant of the house.  So she got to try on her own academic regalia.  Aren't they cute?