Bittersweet

How can Anne be almost four?  Time goes by too fast!  She is so excited about her upcoming birthday, and related to that, she had some hilarious things to say last night when we were all lying in bed, trying to go to sleep.  (Time change not conducive to "early" bed time, but I do LOVE the longer evening light SO much.)

She's been listing off what she wants for her birthday for some months, and in the last few weeks she added a dog to her list.  I've told her repeatedly that she's not in danger of getting a dog any time soon, because a dog is a lot of responsibility, and she needs to learn to be friends with the cats we already have first.  "I chase them and yell at them!"  And she also wants fish in a tank.  And not too long ago she wanted snails in a terrarium.  And maybe a bunny.  Anyway, about the dog... She went with Jared to the pet store yesterday to pick up more food and litter, and she saw a dog being groomed.  So in the dark last night she's detailing more of what she'll do with her dog when we get her one.  "I need a table and something to tie my dog to it, and then I'll shave it.  And then I can knit and sew with the fur."  (And she already collects "Beaner furs" when we comb him, but she just basically rolls them into wads and stores them in her bed.  And I throw them out when I find them.)

Also, she informed me, "When I'm four, I'm going to sleep wean."
Me: "You're already night weaned."
Anne: "No, I mean, I'm not going to sleep any more.  I don't like sleeping."
Me: laughing uproariously "Good luck with that!  You're welcome to try it out."
Anne: laughing uproariously "I'll get really tired."

The other things on the birthday wish list are:

• a doll carseat with a hood (she saw one of these on the clearance shelf at Target when I was pregnant with Lazarus and had a meltdown when I didn't get it for her)
• a doll that talks and cries like a real baby (she read about one in a book once)
• a toy kitty that meows and purrs (a kid in the checkout line at Target was getting one when I took Anne there last, and she was showing Anne all the features)

So basically Anne loves Target, and I should never take her there, because she wants to buy.  Everything.  And she's incredibly sad to leave behind the things she Really Wants.

It's likely I'll get her a doll carseat for her birthday, since she's been asking about that for so long, and she's been using a basket for the purpose and it doesn't quite fit in her doll stroller....  And she has several dolls she rotates through:  Paola Baby, Teacher Dale Baby, and the latest is Elsa which Grandma and Grampa gave her for Christmas.  She is delighted with Elsa, because she'd "always wanted a baby whose eyes open and close."  She also has two hand-sized dolls - one which was mine when I was small who is still nameless, and one named Augusta which my student's sister gave her when Lazarus was born.

We've also been talking about her cake since her third birthday, and some months ago we settled on making a farm cake.  It's going to be chocolate and square.  And we're going to put her tiny John Deere tractor on it and make rows.  And I'm not exactly sure how we're going to do the crops, but I'll come up with something.