Sofie has been creating little songs lately, as always about her alter-ego, little Phoenix. Tonight she made up one that went like this:

"Phoenix was hiding in the mountains
And the moon was coming up
And she had a tent
And she already had dinner
And... that's all."

I love the parenthetical "and she'd already had dinner", as if we might be worried about that, and that it ends with a that's all. We'll see if she remembers it and makes me sing it tomorrow night.

Her previous one, which she does in fact make me sing every night, was this one:

"Phoenix climbed up on the curtains,
And then he kisses teacher Laura,
And then something starts to happen - 
The sun was going down."

Laura is her preschool teacher, and she weaves an active fantasy life in her stories and songs about how great it would be to live with her teachers all the time. She loves them with an intensity that would be creepy in a grownup but is adorable when you're three.

Phoenix, my helper in all things

Phoenix, my cat who just turned 18 this past week, is determined to help me in my new endeavors. He's very supportive when I study! Just look.

He helps me with my flashcards - no point in keeping them all in the same order all the time, right?

And he helps me when I'm writing in my notebooks by getting right up close and asking good questions. Like, um, "Whatcha doing? Got any tuna?" Those are DEFINITELY two of his favorite study questions.

I feel so lucky to have such a supportive cat.