back when I was three...

As the world all knows, Ada turned four this past August. We made a big deal about this around our house - mostly so we could use it to guilt her into doing things she was a 'little bit nervous about', like going potty by herself, or turning on the lights in her room, fetching a fork from the kitchen on her own.. you know the basic things in life.

Well we apparently made such a big deal about this milestone in her life that Ada has now put down three as an anchor point in her life.

I'm sure behavioral scientists or childhood developmental experts would have some sort of explanation for this, like she is hitting some sort of normal developmental milestone. How boring...

Me, I like to think about the world that just opened up in her mind. Imagine not having a reference point in life, everything just goes together, and you know you are getting better, or that you are going through something for the second or third time but you can't really place it. And then all of a sudden you have a stake in the ground, a reference point. For a kid who goes through life observing and filing away data like it is chocolate bars, I can only imagine how exciting this clarity was to her little mind.

And she isn't afraid to tell us about it either...

"Back when I was three I was in the monkey class"

We went to Sea World and she said "We came her before, back when I was three"

We took a trip to Saskatchewan and she said "I was here before, back when I was three"

We go out to eat and she says, "I had the chicken nuggets here, back when I was three"

She found her Elmo legos amongst her toys, she says "Hey, I got this for Christmas, back when I was three."

Ada's commentary on life is pretty much non-stop and these jaunts back into her early childhood are some of the most endearing parts.