Eternal Rest Time?

The other day as Nils was napping, Carolena and I resumed our usual "rest time" activities.

Have I told you that Carolena doesn't nap? No, no. Lordy, no. That child gave up naps right after the time that Nils was born. Convenient. *cough*

So, we came up with "rest time" activities. Sometimes she is content to lie in her room with a stack of magazines (thanks to Kelly's kids getting magazines) and some puzzles. Sometimes her big box of blocks or trains or puzzles will keep her busy for an hour. But more often than not we hang together, reading books in my bed or watching a movie and almost always eating popcorn.

Last week we gathered together a stack of books and got snuggled up on the couch while Nils slept. Nurse Nancy is a popular book in our household (as it was in Leona's as well) and was in the stack. As soon as I finished the last page I was declared to be "Nurse Nancy!" and was invited to Carolena's clubhouse (aka the huge cardboard box residing in our living room for the duration of the summer).

I made a bag of popcorn while Carolena gathered picnic toys and we met back up in the clubhouse.
"Hi, I'm Nurse Nancy" I said to which Carolena smiled and replied, "Hi. I'm Carolena from Texas."

"I brought popcorn. Do you want some?" I offered her the bowl and we started happily munching. Looking for more conversation I tossed out, "Do you want to be my friend?"

"Sure!" Carolena replied.
"Do you have a best friend?" I asked to which she looked apologetic and gave me this gem, "Yes. I do. His name is Nils. He's my brother. Nils. He's my best friend."

Oh wait, but there's more...

"Do you like my club house?" she asked me to which I replied with an emphatic, "Yes!"
"I live here" she said "all alone... because my parents... they died."

Thanks Disney.

"Your parents died?!" I said.
 She solemnly nodded, "yes, my mom's name was Casey. She died."

"Wait... wait... you're pretending I'm DEAD?!"
"No, you're Nurse Nancy!"
"But your mom Casey is dead?!"
"I'm pretending you are Nurse Nancy and my mom Casey is dead."
"gggeeeze. hmph." generally pouting.

To which Carolena did some sort of little kid version of kind of rolling her eyes and "Parents. They just don't get it" kind of face and then "Ring ring!" she picked up a bratwurst (the picnic is from Ikea), held it to her ear, and answered "Hello!"

She then looked at me with gleaming eyes, "It's my parents! They died and now they are alive again!"

Whew. Thanks be to God. Alleluia, alleluia!