Things Jemma Says: Half-Birthday Edition

J: "Mommy! Guess what? Mimi knows how to drive a car, too!"

Me: "Yep. Most grown-ups know how to drive a car."

J: "When will I be a grown-up?"

Me: "You'll be able to drive a car when you're sixteen."

J: "When will that be?"

Me: "Well, right now you're three, then four, then five . . ." and we count together all the way up to sixteen.

J, triumphantly: "That's only in FIVE WEEKS!"

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Every. Single. Day: "Mom, put your hair in a ponytail!"

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J, grumpily getting into her carseat, post-pool: "I am not happy!"

Me: "Why not? It was a lucky day! We got to get treats at the coffee shop AND go to the outside pool!"

J, scowling: "Well, OK, I am happy. But I am NOT overjoyed."

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At 9:45 p.m., after she's been tucked quietly in bed for an hour and a half: "Mommy!!!! Come into my roooooom!!!! I have to tell you something!!!!!!!"

Me, reluctantly going into room: "What?"

J: "I looked out this window by my bed and I saw a firefly right there! And it lit up! It was really cool!"

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She asks hilariously inappropriate questions about which meal is next - wondering aloud, for example, what we will have for lunch when in fact we have already eaten lunch hours ago, or asking if it is dinnertime when we are just coming home from a morning outing. She once asked if she could have some yogurt to eat while she was actually eating yogurt; Jason and I just looked at one another with a mix of alarm and amusement. She smothers us with hugs and kisses in the morning, at bedtime, and lots of moments in between. She spontaneously announces from the backseat that it looks like it's going to be a sunny day, or a great day for the pool, or a good day for taking a bike ride to the store, or a great day to have a picnic. If any book, television show, song, or person speaking references purple, she interjects, "I love purple!"

She turned three-and-a-half today, and we celebrated by taking a quick post-church trip to Kava House to let her pick out a treat while we drank some coffee. "This cookie sure looks like it has a lot of M&M's in it!" she said. We spent the afternoon at a family reunion in Grand Haven, and when people asked her how old she was, she said, "I'm three and a half!" with a sparkle in her eyes. Then she swam in the pool wearing just her underwear, because her bad mommy forgot to pack her swimsuit.