(no subject)

Alex was playing with her stuffed dog, when, out of nowhere, she pronounced: "Unitarian-Universalism." So we had this conversation:

Me: Is Doggie a Unitarian-Universalist like us?
Alex: No, he's a Mormon.
Me: Oh! Does he go to Miss Emily's church, then?
Alex: No, he goes to a different church. It has "University" as a second name. He goes to the Mormon University Church.
Me: And that's different from "Universalist"?
Alex: Yes. It's "University."

Over the next several minutes, she shared some other facts about Doggie's religion: Doggie goes to church on Saturday. He has Sunday School at church, just like we do. Doggie doesn't go to church with us. He goes to a different church.

Understandably, we were pretty curious about what differences Alex perceives between Mormonism and Unitarian-Universalism.

Alex: His church has all the things that our church does.
Me: Does his church have a chalice?
Alex: Yes.
Michael: Do they say the same special words at Doggie's church? Does he sing "Come, Come, Whoever You Are?"
Alex: Yes.
Michael: How is his church different from our church?
Alex: Because it's a Mormon church.
Me: Is there anything that makes his church different from ours?
Alex: They have a smaller big church [i.e., sanctuary] than we do.

What I love most about these conversations is that they are so serious. When she's making up something wild (today's example: a snake who lives on Saturn, and built himself a house with a long tunnel that only snakes can fit through), her facial expression and tone of voice convey that it's all about having fun. When she spins a tale about her life or her associates, it's always in a very calm, matter-of-fact tone of voice.

Earlier this week, for example, Michael told Alex she would have a babysitter tonight. "She can't come on Saturday," Alex informed him coolly. "On Saturday Zoe and I are going to get a tattoo." She went on to describe which tattoo shop they planned to patronize, what designs they had chosen, and where they would have the tattoos placed. "Does Miss Emily [Zoe's mother] know about this?" "Oh yes. She's coming with us." All of this was in the same tone of voice that she would use to describe an interaction on the playground, or a trip to the grocery store.

Now that we've replaced our camera, I'm going to try to capture some of this on video. I ought to be able to get her talking about her imaginary job, which is what Alex has in place of normalother children's imaginary friends.