Five

You know, five-year-olds are pretty awesome.

My five-year-old, for example, has now mastered the use of air quotes for emphasis. She said to me just the other day, "Mom, I thought there was something in that box, and then I looked inside and there was 'nothing' inside!" And she used air quotes with her fingers.

She recently told her brother to say a prayer for forgiveness when he took a toy away from the baby. And he did. Because he's learned that you don't mess with that particular five-year-old and her rather rigid sense of Jesus' justice. I swear, I teach the mercy part. She just likes the justice part better.

She cries at every episode of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition". She loves those families like they are her own. If she sees a commercial for it, she'll say, "Oh, look, another sick kid we need to help!" like she's a part of the design team.

She innocently passes on the gossip from school. She recently told me a story where a boy named Ethan told the teacher during floor time that he thought there was a red fish. The teacher said (with I can only imagine was a great deal of sarcasm), "Oh really? I think there's a "ZIP IT" fish." I can't imagine her teacher wanted that particular story told over dinner.