SLOANE SAYS

Things Sloane has said these days! She is almost five (in August) and what I want to remember most about her these days is the way she listens with rapt attention for read aloud, how she takes responsibility for her little sister, and the questions she asks. She has been asking me such wonderful questions about how things get made, why things are the way they are, what she was like when she was a baby, and wonders aloud about things big and small.

Some of the most precious times is when we snuggle in her bed at night. She whispers stories to me from her day - stories that she forgot to tell me on the way home. Stories about a worm project they are working on, stories about what she and her friends thought were funny. She also tells me things that she is excited about, and ends by saying "Mom, you can't fathom how much I love you." She also likes to remind me (or Ken) every night: "How many times do you want to check on me? Once or twice? (And we get to choose) Ok, make sure to ask dad how many times he wants to check on me, once or twice. Tell him to come check on me immediately after you leave; if he is doing something he can come after he finishes doing it. Oh and remember, leave the hallway light on and the door a little open. And tell dad that too."  Every night.  

The other day she asked me some question (probably having to do with dinosaurs) that I didn't know the answer to. She said, "Mom, just ask your super duper phone."

Out of nowhere: " I just thought of something very dangerous - what if a kid walked across a string over a river ?" 

As we passed by a yellow school bus, "Oh, mom I'm so excited to ride the school bus all by myself!" 

During the days where she was pretending to be Belle from Beauy and the Beast: "Did Belle not want to marry because she wanted to have more adventures?"

"Mom, I know what a ninja does ! They go out into the night...and check for spiders."

"Oh, mom I love the orchestra!" 

She's been interested in the planets and after some questions about the sun and the earth, she said "Mom, do you ever wonder if the earth will bump into the sun ?" 

While in the car: "If you keep honking the car horn will you run out of honks?"

"I wonder how God made all the trees and our skin. I wonder how God made grass." I asked her what she thought and she said, "Maybe he made our skins out of cloth. It sort of feels like cloth. And after all the dinosaurs died, he used dinosaur bones to make human bones." 

I had to go see the doctor the other day because of a lingering cough and I took her along with me. The wait was long, and after about 40 minutes, I contemplated just leaving. I told Sloane that and was surprised to find how insistent she was that I stay and wait: "No you have to stay and do your appointment! The doctor needs to get the cough out of you! Just wait a little bit longer mom!" And then while we continued to wait: "How will he get the cough out? Maybe he will scare it out of you?" 

"Mom after you change Logan into pajamas, can she come to the playroom so she can play for a little bit with me while you go do something else ?"

"Mom, how can Jesus see everyone?" 

"What do you think, Sloane?" 

"Well, I'm thinking about a big eye that can see everything."

"Yes, maybe it's like that. God is unlike anything else. Sometimes he's small, sometimes he's really big. Some things we can understand about God and some things we can't."

"Mom, we can't fathom how big he is?" (We love that word, "fathom", around here these days.)

"Right, we might understand things if we keep wondering, but probably not everything. And that's ok."

"Mom, I love wondering!"