thoughts before bedtime

A moment I enjoy very much is the time right before the kids afll asllep. No, to the cynics reading, not beacuse I am happy they will soon be asleep but because it is in that quiet dark space that Luna (so far) will say the most randomest things that help clue me in to some part of her psyche that she has not shared with me thus far. From her "last thoughts before I totallly just knock out" I get a chance to hear what she is replaying or turning over in her mind.

Tonite for example, she asks;
Do you know the game Seven Up?

Memories of first grade with Ms.McCay came back to me.
I'm not sure, tell me about it I say.
I love to hear her explain things.

well you hafta put your heads down and your thumbs up and the picker puts a thumb down
and then you hafta guess the picker.

That sounded right. And intelligebile, at least to someone who's played before.

Why do you ask?

well we played today in summer camp. And I got to be the picker.

Did you gave fun? Did you like the game?

Yeah. they said we're gonna get to play it again. I was thinking when Papi comes back from California maybe we
could all play seven-up, the whole family.

On other recent occasions:


Just one more question before I go to sleep mami...
Am I six feet tall?

Now that was truly random and without further explanation.

Or the more common:

How many more days until my birthday?

Luna and I had a really intense moment not too long ago when I joked with her and told her that next year on her birthday I was only going to put five instead of six candles on her cake. At first she just smiled in the dark, but then when I continued in a serious way about it, she became really upset. Luna emphatically repeated "you can't mama i'm going to be six, i'm going to be six" and it was clear this was something of grave importance to her. Tear provoking importance. I felt badly and told her I was just kidding and I think her sigh of relief was so great it just sent her off to sleep immediately. The symbol of the candle, to imagine feeling that someone could make you stuck at a certain age, it's all such a trip.