Josie says

After a bathroom visit:
Me: Did you remember to flush?
Josie: Yes, I did. Are you proud of me?
Me: Yep I am!
Josie: I'm proud of my sister for helping me. She's just a little one.

A few weeks ago, my mom had cataract surgery and stayed with us immediately after. She wore an eye patch the first day and Josie was terrified of it. She was absolutely shocked that Grammy had to wear that and kept begging me to have her take it off. 

It took almost the whole rest of the afternoon for her to even get close to Grammy. She laid down on the floor on the other side of the living room at first, and when we went to the grocery store, she would only hold my hand the whole time. Also, she had to be on the other side of me, not in between us. Grammy was pretty good about not being too hurt. She understood that it was very unknown to the three year old Josie. (Audrey, on the other hand, just poked the patch, laughed, and proceeded to hug and climb all over Grammy.)

Fast forward two weeks. Grammy came back for her other eye's surgery. She spent a little time explaining that she would have another eye patch after her surgery and that it would only be for a little while (I didn't know they had this conversation). After the surgery, we were heading home separately, and Josie told me that she didn't want to see Grammy. We had this conversation in the car:

Me: Why don't you want to see Grammy? (kind of shocked, she looooves Grammy)
Josie: I don't want her to have a patch on her eye. I don't like that. (So, clearly, they talked about it...)
Me: Well, she needs to have the patch on her eye to help it feel better. It's only for today, and then she can take it off just like last time.
Josie: But I don't want it on! 
(We repeated this part at least three more times before I came up with another explanation.)

Me: It's kind of like a bandaid. She has to wear it because she has an owie. But, once it heals, she can take it off.
Josie: (sitting for a while, then quietly, more to herself than to me) One time I had an owie on my knee and I put on a bandaid and it got better.
Me: That's right, Josie! It's just like that! Grammy will have a bandaid on her eye until it is better.
Josie: But I don't like that!
Me: I heard you say you don't like it. Now, we won't say it anymore because Grammy has to wear it. You still love her, right? So we can love her with her eye bandaid.

She didn't whine/cry that she didn't like it anymore and was so much better when we saw Grammy again. I really wanted to record this story because it was amazing watching her think it through and relate it to something in her life. Also, I felt like this was a great example of how we are able to talk things through more and more as she gets older.

There are a lot of great things about growing up.