You know, that surface you dribble a basketball on...

We know that it's called a basketball court...of course we know that, but Zedder insists on referring to it as either a "basketball apartment" or a "basketball carpet." I don't know why she does that, but it's cute as hell.

We watched Zo's cousin, Avery, play basketball today...on a carpet, or an apartment or something...Zo refuses to call it a court no matter how many times we correct her, and it seems so strange to see her all twelve years old and running and jumping and rebounding and being this little sweating and smiling woman. Zoey was pretty proud watching her play today with all the other girls. She insisted that Ave played for Michigan, and refused correction on that miscalculation too. She's a strong headed little girl.

One of my favorite things about this whole daughter thing has been watching her devote great big gobs of her attention on big girls whenever she's given the opportunity. Big girls mesmerize her, and you can almost see the wheels turning...you can feel her swelling with curiosity, and literally watch her recognize something of herself in all those dribbling and giggling young women. It's fun to watch. It makes me even more excited than I ever thought I could be to watch Zed find her way to twelve years old.

It's going to go by far too fast.