There were two situations which really surprised me during our vacation last week.

First, one afternoon when we were in the car and Rita was entertaining herself with singing and self-conversation I recognized that she was saying "nine" and "ten" in russian. So I asked her to count from one to ten in Russian for me. She counted in english. I asked her to count in russian. She started again in english. Only when I prompted her with each russian number she could say it after me. I just about started to cry.

During this trip we visited with three families. Our first family visit was to see one of my best friends from college. She had a baby last Fall. I explained this to Rita. On our way to their home, totally out of the blue (we've never talked about anything like this before), Rita asked if she came from my tummy. At first I thought I misunderstood her and asked her to ask her question again. Same question. I said "no" that she was never in my tummy but she came from her first mom's tummy. Then she asked if I ever had a baby in my tummy. I said "no". She asked why and I said that it was because I wanted her to be my daughter.

She asked me this same question about five days later when we were out for a walk in Seattle. I reminded her that she didn't come from my tummy. And then the next day, she wanted to be held like a baby and then proceeded to poke at my stomach and ask if there was a baby in there.

(....Um no, just happened to be the day after we went to Piroshky Piroshky. And my seventeenth meal with french fries.)

Our conversations are definitely getting more interesting!