Tonight, Lala's grandma brought her a book about a desert tortoise who wants to be a sea turtle. Apparently, the book made quite an impression because when Lala came to bed she said,

"Mama, I'm not a girl. I'm a sea turtle. And I live in the ocean."
There was some back and forth and then she starts bawling with big crocodile tears rolling one after the other down her face, "But mama, you need to take me back to the ocean or the beach right now. And my habitat! It's shrinking. The sea turtle habitat is shrinking! I'm going to have to live in a lagoon!"

She started insisting that I call her "turtle", sobbing all the while and describing her beautifully colored shell. "I can't live in a house any more mama! I need to live in the sea!"

Just before she slipped into a completely exhausted sleep, she sobbed, "I'm a little depressed about this whole situation, mama".

So there you have it. The total emotional ramblings of a sea turtle obsessed 3 year old!