Last night, I was in the hot tub with my daughter Siena, and I was crouched on the floor of the tub, trying to talk eye-to-eye with her. With an exuberant look on her face, she suddenly pointed to me and cried, “Pink Mommy! You’re Pink Mommy!” I couldn’t have been more delighted. After all, how could she have known how hard I’ve been trying to develop the curriculums for my Owning Pink workshops? Certainly, my friends have been embracing my Pinkness for years now, but my two-year old? I had never mentioned it to her before. Could my precious child be clairvoyant? Did she have some inner knowing that told her I was a Pink Mommy? I couldn’t be sure, but I took it as a good sign.

I moved to the corner of the tub, resting in front of the best jet, but Siena said, “No, Mommy, move over there.” She pointed to where I used to be. “Be Pink Mommy again.” I didn’t understand. Wasn’t I still Pink Mommy here in the corner? But Siena grabbed my hand and forcibly relocated me, bending me down to the bottom of the tub, where I crouched before her once again. With her eyes alight, she said, “Yeah! Pink Mommy!”

Only then did I discover that I was crouched right in front of the light in the Jacuzzi. And alas, the light is hot pink. When I glanced down at my body, she was right. Sure enough, I was Pink Mommy. Oh well. So two year olds are a bit literal, I guess. When I moved away from the light, she said, “Now you’re Brown Mommy.” I had been demoted. Then when my mother walked out, she said, “It’s White Nana.” And Grendel, our little white puffball dog, was “Black Grendel.” Her Daddy was Red Daddy. And as for Siena, she tells me she’s Green Siena, or to be more accurate, Green Polka Dot (or as my friend Sarah Browne calls her, P. Dotty).

My mother said, “Wow. I thought she knew her colors better than that.” I laughed. Of course she knows her colors. She gets them perfectly correct every time. But I suspect she wasn’t being that literal. Maybe my two year old sees auras. Maybe White Nana and Black Grendel and Red Daddy look different to her with her innocent eyes.

What do I know. But today, I’m going to own being Pink Mommy, and I’m going to snuggle my little Green Polka Dot until we’re all snuggled out.