Speaking of the kids (were we?), Sophia said the funniest thing today.

Darin stayed home today because he felt sick. Anyone who knows him knows how often that’s happened. So we’re all in various places in the house and Sophia told me she wanted something to eat. I said, “We’re going to have lunch with Daddy.”

She ran over to Darin and said, “Daddy, it’s the weekend!”

Because on weekends, you see, we have lunch with Daddy.

Darin explained to her about “sick days” and how he’d be going to work tomorrow (he hopes—now that he’s seen the house in full chaos mode during the day).

Today I dropped Sophia off at preschool and spent a little time talking to one of her teachers about how she’s doing, what she’s interested in, etc. Then I wandered around looking for Simon (who, every morning, gives me a look like, Yo, I get to stay here too, right?). Sophia came over to me and said:

Mom, can you leave? ‘Cause I need to play.

Ouch. Ouch.

This morning I came downstairs to find Darin making a pot of noodles for the kids for breakfast. Sophia was in the kitchen, watching.

                     DIANE
         You're going to have noodles for
         breakfast?
                     SOPHIA
             (with hands flung out for
              emphasis)
         It's called pasta.

I can see I’m in for a very tough lifetime.

Sophia’s teacher told me the funniest story.

Evidently some prospective parents were touring the preschool today, and the teacher wanted to demonstrate how they talk about parents. (Or something. This part I’m not clear on.) So she asked, “Who here misses their mommy?”

Sophia answered loudly and proudly: “I don’t!”

Not quite the answer anyone was expecting. So then the teacher asked the kids, “Who here loves their mommy?”

Sophia thought about this for a few seconds and then shouted, “I do!”

(I’m supposing that all the children said “I do!” as well.)

The teacher explained to the parents that Sophia is a very independent soul.

The teacher said to me that Sophia is definitely one of the most independent and self-confident children she’s ever met, and she’s going to miss her a whole bunch when we leave.

Today I was drawing on the white board with Fia. In the absence of any requests—a long-time favorite was “Draw a baby sun!” as in the baby sun from “Teletubbies”—I drew some waves. Then I drew a boat on the waves.

Fia came over to inspect it. “Put Daddy. And Mommy. And Sophia.”

“Anybody else?”

This seemed to stump her.

“Simon?”

She nodded. “Put Simon.”

I dutifully drew all crew members on deck.

“Okay, now draw the shark underneath the boat.”

Hmmm. The…shark?

“The shark’s going to swim up to the boat and eat everyone up.”

I’m beginning to see why parents everywhere worry about what their kids seem to get into when the parents aren’t around. Where did she learn about sharks? That they swim under boats? That they eat the people on the boats?

Okay, maybe Sophia is a little smarter than I’ve given her credit for, and trust me: I’ve given her plenty of credit.

Coming home from dinner tonight, from the back seat we heard:

Hey guys
You know
Red means stop
And green means go!

My daughter, La Poète.