carter and i were walking home from dropping ava off at school, and he looked at me and said "mommy, remember the dream i had when you were driving the boat and i told you to push the throttle forward and you pulled it backwards and we started going backwards and then you pushed it really fast forwards and then we went really really fast and then we went so fast we flew into the sky?"

now this dream is very interesting for a few reasons: first, he assumes that if he dreamt it, i have access to it in my head. obviously he is still working under the assumption that what he thinks i think. or, to put it more bluntly, that i can read his mind. this explains a lot.

second, i NEVER drive the boat. i am glad to hear that at least carter has the confidence in me to trust me with the controls.

third, wow, what a dream!

so then i asked him if he had other dreams that he remembered. "oh, yes! i have lots of dreams" he said. ava never shares her dreams, and i get the impression that although she keeps up a running audible commentary throughout the night, she does not ever remember her dreams. carter went on to tell me about the dragon in the cottage, but it was a baby dragon, otherwise it never would have fit in the cottage, as well as a really scary dream about an old man that was finished living in his body (an expression i have used when he asked me about dying), that could not die and underwent a particularly harrowing series of attempts at death. this one stopped me in my tracks because carter is so carefree and happy that it is very hard to imagine him having such an intense existential dream. there were a couple others that i cannot recall right now, but the entire conversation was very illuminating.

on saturday we all went to the movies for the fist time. the kids have been to several IMAX films, but never a feature length--the disney nature film earth was playing and we figured this was a good start. very national geographic/mutual of omaha wild kingdom- esque. in other words, it had some educational value. the kids loved it, felt very special, and clearly paid close attention. it made a deep impact on both of them--the whole event of going to the theatre, getting popcorn, etc. very different from the tv.

of course as we were leaving, we walked past the other theatre where some very loud intense music was going on--carter was dying to know what it was, and i said "i think that is a scary movie" and both kids really wanted to peek in. over my vehement objections they ran to the door and pulled it open a crack--fortunately you cannot see the screen from that perspective -- and just as they got it about 4 inches open an absolutely deafening explosion of terrifying noise flew through that crack and into their surprised heads and they both turned around and ran away as fast as they could possibly get. i could not help but laugh -- though i kept the "i told you so!" to myself.

anna is 13 pounds, and still sniffling, though she has no idea that this is not normal. when she starts to feel better, i think she will be amazed at what breathing is actually like. she loves to talk--as soon as you appear in front of her, her face lights up and she just starts oooing and ahhing and now she is starting to squeal and laugh a bit. and she can face forwards in the bjorn, which is a treat for her as long as she is not sleepy. i always wonder if she knows she is next to me when she is facing that way though.

today it is supposed to be in the high 80s. woohoo! beach day!