Q & A with Annie

So, Annie's been asking a lot of truly interesting (and difficult) questions lately. It started a couple weeks ago with, "Why do grown-ups have hair on their bottoms?" (Luckily, this very issue is covered in my trusty child-development book, Touchpoints by Dr. Brazelton, so I knew just what to say). She's been more curious and inquisitive every day, and here are a few of the recent stumpers:

-"Why do you do that? It looks like it hurts." (While tweezing my eyebrows. Good point.)
-"Why is poop stinky?"
-"Where's Ben's house?" (This seems easy, but is actually difficult to explain to a 2-year-old.)
-"What does 'warm' mean?"
And then, saving the big one for last:

-"Where is Miss Louise?" Miss Louise, by the way, was our spunky 93-year-old next door neighbor who passed away about 6 weeks ago. I am a little ashamed to admit that I dodged that one by hurrying her into her carseat. I feel like she's too young for the whole dead/alive/heaven conversation! At some point, though, I'm going to have to explain that Miss Louise is not there any more. Any advice, readers? Child psychologists, anyone?

I continue to be on a cooking hiatus this week, which I am thoroughly enjoying. After having a couple weeks where I was very ambitious about making something new and interesting almost every night, I have declared this week my summer cooking vacation. We're eating leftovers, ordering take-out, and generally being lazy in the nutrition department. It's a nice change.

I'm becoming positively giddy because my annual Girls' Weekend with friends from college is coming up in about a month. We're going to be here in GR this year and I'm beside myself just thinking of all the things I always want to do on weekends - we'll have Sunday brunch! We'll sit outside at Kava House and talk! We'll go to the Farmer's Market and cook a big meal after! We'll get pedicures and go shopping without children! Really, anything we do will seem like a big treat just because we're together. I can't wait.