young love and fake doggie doo doo

"mommy, i want a roller coaster for christmas, okay?"

"well, you can't have a roller coaster for christmas zach, because where would we put it? but maybe we can go somewhere that you can ride a roller coaster. how about we have your birthday party at a place like that?"

"no, we have to have my birthday party at austin park and pizza, because that is where i told sammy it's going to be and i love sammy, she has to be there."

"sammy? who is sammy?"

"she is the most beautiful girl i know. she is prettier than beautiful. i love her so much it makes my stomach hurt."

"um, wow. who's class is she in?"

"she's in my class. i like to sit next to her because i love her, and she is nice and pretty. she is my kiss heart girl. i squeeze love'n to her. i just love my sweetie love heart girl!"

"okay. i don't know who that is, what color is her hair?"

"it's yellow, and her eyes are blue. she is the prettiest girl in the class. she's prettier than beautiful."

"yes, i know. okay."

long silence

"okay then mom, i want fake doggie doo doo for christmas."

captain underpants!

the book fair has been at z's school this week. first the kids preview the books and come home with a list of titles they are interested in. then, parents are invited to shop. i was more excited about the shopping experience than zach. i have a real weakness for books. some of zach and my most enjoyable and memorable moments are when we snuggle up to read a stack of books. there are so many amazing, sweet, funny, silly, gross, educational, heart warming and thoroughly entertaining children's books. i was like a kid in a candy store... seduced by colors, pictures, rhyming words and the smell of fresh cut paper. instead of z asking me for books, i was talking him into them.

"what about this one..."

"mom, we have three books already."

"i know, but look at this one."

unexpectedly he was drawn to chapter books. i wasn't prepared for this. chapter books, at his age? there are no pictures! surely he couldn't be interested in reading a chapter book.

but he was persistent. he wavered over a few different series... but settled on captain underpants. i believe it helped that the cover is of a boy in only underwear and a cape.

could i do this? chapter books... already? i gave in and we began reading the series instead of our usual stack of colorful and clever stories.

if you don't know about the books, they star two mischievous young boys who, among other things, write comic books. their most popular books are of the superhero, captain underpants. to my surprise, zach has been enthralled, anxious to go to bed at night and hear the next installment of captain underpants. i have really enjoyed them as well, and have been reminded that you don't need pictures to have a colorful story.

today, as i was working, z kept coming up to me with atypical questions...

"mom, how do you spell hit?"

"mom, what letter makes the uh sound?"

"mom, can you please write this word for me?"

i wasn't sure what he was doing, but it seemed educational.

tonight, as we snuggled down to read, he presented me with his very own comic book. written and illustrated by zachary.

amazing. simply amazing!