Talking

Jack, tell Olivia what Ms.White has in her room at school now.
Livia, we got fish!
Really Jack? How many fish?
Three.
Jack what are you going to name the fish?
Olivia clears her throat and begins to explain to Jack the way you go about naming something. – Well Jack with fish you can just go with their color if you want. Like if it is a gold fish you can call it Goldie. Or like with my fish, I named it Rainbow because it has all the colors of the rainbow. But you don’t have to stick with colors. You can also just look at the fish and sometimes a name just comes to you… like … um .. SWIMMY!
I break in and say – Jack why don’t you name them Luke, Anakin and Darth?
Jack raises his hands in the air to stop all the talking and says – Momma they don’t need a name. They are JUST fish. And then he looks at me as if I have no sense at all. But this does not deter me.
Jack how about One fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. You could use some of those names.
Ok Mommy, One fish, Two fish, Three fish. That is it.
Olivia opens her mouth to say something, most likely to convince him it would be better to go with the colors than the numbers, when Jack bursts forth – NO MORE NAMING FISH. ONE TWO THREE. DONE!
Olivia turns away and quietly, because she really can not help herself, whispers Colors are better than numbers.


Momma?
Yes Olivia?
Don’t call Emma Grace, Emma Grace. She likes to be called Emma now.
Really?
Yes so call her Emma.
Ok I will.
But I think sometimes when I am alone with her, maybe I will still be able to call her Emma Grace.
Probably.
Momma?
Yes Olivia.
Someday I will change my name.
Really? Would you like it to be something else? We could call you Liv or Livia. We used to call you O.
Yes, I was baby O but I am not a baby anymore. Jack calls me Livia but that is just because he can’t say Olivia. But I don’t want to change my name now.
You don’t?
No. I am Olivia I don’t want to be called anything else. But when I grow up I am going to be called Olivia Writer of Books.
Nice.


Jack and Olivia, look at the huge cloud in the sky. It is as tall as a mountain!
Oh momma, said Olivia, it looks like a big mountain of ice cream. Yum!
Wow that is a lot of Ice cream.
Yes but I could eat it all! She replies hugging herself.
I think that much would give you a big stomach ache. Not even Daddy could eat that much.
No but he would try and I would help him!
Momma?
Yes Jack?
It’s Jabba the Hut!!! Not ice cream.
Well I can see the resemblance Jack. Yes it might just be Jabba.
Momma!
Olivia!
The cloud is moving. It is following us!
Yes clouds do that.
NO! Jabba is following us. He is!
As we approach school I point out how we are now going to drive under the cloud and how dark the underside is compared to the white fluffy topside.
Yes, says Olivia, that is the dish for the ice cream
Jack shrugs his shoulders and says – Jabba is dirty.

So Jack did you name the fish today at school?
Yes.
What did you name them?
Red Blue and Yellow.
Really??
YES MOMMA! Red Blue and YELLOW. (and I am not talking about it any more!)