Like many families, when we put our four year olds to bed at night we sing.  Each of the "Short Louds" picks a song and Mommy and Daddy pick a song.  This is just before prayers and then we always sing "AB-Baa-Baa-Twinkle" (the three songs) after they are tucked in bed.  We have a pretty standard repertoire at bedtime.  Among the songs Julie and I sing are "A, You're Adorable," "O Susannah," "Sweet Baby James," "Stand By Me," "The Ants Go Marching," "Baby Beluga," "Sanctuary," "We Will Rock You," "Rubber Ducky," "Pass it On," "Standing on the Corner" and many more.

Abigail likes to make up her own songs quite frequently.  They tend to go on for some time and we eventually have to tell her to "wrap it up."  The topic is most often Princes and Princesses but she's been branching out as of late with songs that sort of list animals or other things.

Well, the night before last she sang for us a song about places.  It was quite stunning and had a remarkable finish.  It's been over a day since I heard it, but, if I remember it correctly, the "Cliff Notes Version" would go something like this.

Girdwood is a place.  It's where I live and where my house is.
Alaska is a place.  It's very big.
Indiana is a place.  That's where I visit my grandparents.
Hawaii is a place, too.
Mexico is another place.  It's very beautiful.
California is also a place.
(Mommy, is California a place?  I thought it was)

Anyway, we were pretty impressed by the number of places she at least knew about, having either been there or hearing her friends or her siblings talk about them.  This went on for a little while, with several repeats.  We had to tell her to "wrap it up."

That's when she got very quiet and serious in her song.

There are so many wonderful places in the world.There are so many places.

Quieter.

But my favorite place...My favorite place...But my favorite place...My favorite place in the whole wide world...My favorite place is...

Pause.

Quieter...

China.

Then loudly.

NI HAO KAI-LAN

This was HILARIOUS.  Never in a million years would we have guessed that Abigail's favorite place, after such a build-up, was going to be China.

So, what's your favorite place?