Conversation with a Four-Year-Old

Pics above: She has - finally! - started dressing herself, complete with stockings and fancy dresses, and washing her face and hands, before I even wake up in the morning. I love FOUR!
And: We went to the downtown mall tree lighting - it was hard to get good pictures - they had some fake snow falling and free glow sticks that the kids found entrancing -

And tonight was just one of those priceless interactions that seem to happen all the time now. Josephine knows big words - today it was "cornucopia."

Jo opens up one of my blank books, sees that there's a page covered in heart stickers.
"What's all this about?" she asks.
"That's about a little girl named Josephine," I say.
"I'm the real Josephine," she notes.
"You sure are," I agree.
"But why did I do this?" she asks.
"I don't know; why don't you ask yourself?"
"Okay. Self?"
Jo- in stage whisper - "Yes?"
Jo - regular voice - "Why did I put these stickers on here?"
Jo stage whisper - "Because you wanted to."
"Oh, okay. " She turns to me. "I asked my Self and I said that I just did it!"
"I see," I say.
"Look," says Jo. "One of the hearts is broken." She shows me a thing she does with her fingers to form the shape of a heart. "When I make my finger heart and then take it apart and break it, my REAL heart breaks AT THE SAME TIME."
"Oh my," I say, "What can we do to make it not break? Can we put the finger heart back together?"
"No," she says, "My real heart stays broken."
"Oh dear, how can we put it back together again?"
"Oh," she shrugs nonchalantly, "We can just tape it."

In the kitchen the other day, Jo was helping me make french toast. She's a great stirrer. I was putting butter in the frying pan, and she asked me why.
"Well," I said, "a) to keep the bread from burning, and b) because it makes the food taste better. You always put butter or oil in a pan when you're cooking for those two things."
Jo thought a second and said, "AND c) you put it in there to keep the bread from STICKING to the pan."
"Um - yes, you're totally right," I said. Gulp.