I didn’t realize when Chloe said, “Can I have water on my dresser?” that it wasn’t just a stall tactic before bed. She legitimately needed to survive stay hydrated.

We went away overnight and Chloe asked for her usual; three pillows, one mint chocolate on each one, a back tickle and sippy cup with water—not tap water, distilled, from the well, poured by a magical Disney character.

Last night, we stayed in a room where Chloe was our roommate and slept on the floor.

We were equipped with her pink fuzzy, cozy p.j’s and her sippy cup.

I wondered how that sippy cup always managed to empty during the course of the night and then I witnessed the 2am sipping. The 3am slurping. The 4am chugging. She wasn’t actually watering our plants with the water, (all of them thriving), she was waking herself to take a drink and slamming a bone dry cup on the floor in the morning to prove to us she hasn’t been lying.

I’ve been schooled.