Small Life, Slow Life: 35/100 {H is for “hippo.”}

Tonight was the night I just really didn’t want to blog. I had nothing to say, I didn’t feel like it. I just wanted a free pass. I’m just over a third of the way through this #100daysofblogging challenge, and I was getting nervous that I’m already running out of things to say.

“Letter Q, letter R,” V was saying, during our bedtime conversations.

I mumbled some kind of affirmation, still thinking about what the heck I was gonna blog about.

“Number H,” she said next. She’s been confusing what numbers and letters are lately.

“Number eight?” I asked.

“Number H,” she said.

“Oh, letter H,” I said back. “H is for…?”

“Hippo.”

“That’s right!”

“Hippo in the boat with Nana.”

Huh?! I wanted to say. What the heck was she talking about a hippo in a boat for? With my mom?

And then I realized.

She was remembering our trip to Disneyland a few weeks ago.

Tears!!!!

The hippo that you can see from the boat of The Jungle Cruise. We rode this ride with my mom, who Violet calls “Nana.”

V has only just started talking about her memories. When she did it the first time, it blew my mind. We had been with her aunt and cousin the day before, and the next day she talked about it. “Play in the water with Aunt Wolet. And Duggy.” When I realized she’d been talking about what she remembered about the day before, I totally teared up.

I took her to the car wash last week, and she’s been talking about it ever since. “Mommy car so clean. So much soap. All done water.”

It may not seem impressive, but you have a kid for two years who only talks about Elmo and twinkle twinkle little star and stuff like that, and literally the next day out of nowhere, they’re talking about memories. It’s a trip. It’s emotional! I was not prepared for it.

When we went to Disneyland with my mom a few weeks ago and road The Jungle Cruise, it was the first time V had seen any of those animals up close, since I’ve never taken her to the zoo. And for some reason, that she associates the word “hippo” with that memory just touches my heart so much!