I’m gonna get a ball, and then everybody’s gonna watch me. It’s gonna be really funny.

Claire: Daddy? I’m gonna get a ball, and then everybody’s gonna watch me. It’s gonna be really funny.

(Daddy finds a bouncy ball for Claire.)
Claire: Now everybody has to watch me!

Claire: Even Alex has to watch me.

Claire: It’s gonna be really funny, Daddy.

(Claire flops around on the floor chasing the bouncy ball.)

Claire: I’m gonna do it lotsa times!

Claire: Watch me again!

Mommy, when you’re growing strong, why don’t your –- why don’t your muscles get in a bubble by your shoulder?

Alex: Mommy, we’re gonna have lots of fun at that beach house! I like the inside, the outside, and the screen porch.


Alex: Mommy, when you’re growing strong, why don’t your –- why don’t your muscles get in a bubble by your shoulder?

When I grow up, I wanna be just like Mommy.

Claire: You guys are the danger bad guys that are invisible.

Claire: You need to come to our house and knock something down.
Alex: No – steal something.
Claire: You have to come to our house and steal something.
Claire: Okay? You guys are the danger bad guys.



Claire: I know how to make trees. People don't make trees, they put a little tree seed in the ground, and cover it up, and water it every day, and a tree comes up.
Alex: In a couple weeks.


(in the car)
Claire: Mommy, I wanna learn how to drive.

Claire: I know that um, bears are on the mountains, and monsters aren't real.


(in the bath)
Claire: Daddy, I'm not afraid of my Band-Aid, because if it falls off, I can pick it up and put it right here, and get another Band-Aid after bath!


Alex: Does space never end?

Alex: Daddy?
Daddy: Yes?
Alex: If we trabbled, for like twenty days, around the earth? We’d come back home again!


Claire: Mommy?
Mommy: Yeah?
Claire: When I grow up, I wanna be just like Mommy.

(Alex wants to know how you become something when you grow up, like a fireman. Mommy explains that you have to go to a certain school, like firefighter school, to learn how.)
Claire: Well I wanna be just like -- how do I be just like Mommy?
Mommy: You just – I don’t know!
Claire: I just go to a different school.

I knocked on Santa’s door, and I went inside, and I saw all his toys.

Alex (out of the blue): I don't do words anymore.
Daddy: No, you don't.
Alex: I don't say "play in the backyard with me", or "play inside with me."
Daddy: Nope.
Claire: I don't say "doorframe, what is it?"
(Alex laughs.)


Claire: Alex, I wanna move this to the sofa, and read some too, because I need to learn reading.

Claire: Mommy, we're gonna -- I'm gonna -- read some of these, so I can learn how to do books!

Alex: What's -- are you kidding me?!  This doesn't make sense!  "The hat fits Pigwig."



Claire: Is that other person, who's a boy, that be's silly to us, still in this state?
(Claire is trying to describe Uncle Ray.)
Claire: He's a boy, and he has a white -- and he has a mustache on his face.  He always be silly to us.
Mommy: Who is this?
Claire: I forgot his name.
Mommy: Where do we see him?
Claire: Um, a long time ago we saw him.
Mommy: Where were we?
Claire: At our house.  Some of our family came to our house.
Mommy: Like who?
Claire: Um… Aunt Sheridan?



Claire: I'm jumping on a iceberg! I'm jumping on a iceberg! I'm jumping on a iceberg!

Claire: You can't hear me, I'm in a different state.

Claire: I went to the North Pole.

Claire: I knocked on Santa’s door, and I went inside, and I saw all his toys.

Claire: I went to Lego World.

Claire: And then, I went back to my world.


Alex: Daddy, I counted up to fifty while I stayed very still!

Rocks don't grow.

Claire: I don't even have a rock collections.  I found rocks, I find rocks, but then I don't put rocks anywhere for a rock collection.

Claire: Rocks don't grow.
Claire: Flowers grow, and --
Alex: Babies grow.  I said trees.
Claire: Trees grow.  Plants grow.  Foods grow.
Alex: Foods are plants, trees --
Claire: And flowers.  What else?  Hm.
(Alex mumbles something.)
Claire: Nothing else.
Alex: Nothing else.
Alex: Grass?
Claire: Oh yes.

So. How was Montessori?

Alex: So.  How was Montessori?


Alex: Daddy?
Daddy: Yeah?
Alex: The dentist said I have more loose teeth!
Daddy: Wow!
Alex: Three more.


(Alex is building a hotel with Legos, but first he drew up blueprints.)
Alex (to Daddy): If you wanna look at what it's gonna look like when it's done, you can.  Because I have constructions over here.  And they tell you all about it.

If I be mean, will I still get a present from Santa?

(Alex and Claire are playing.)

Alex (to Claire): Make him say, "Just try and stop me!"
Green Goblin: Just try and stop me!

Claire: Come watch me wash my hands in the bathroom!
Daddy: Okay.
(Claire leads Daddy to the bathroom.)
Claire: Look, I can reach without the stool!

Alex: You look like a big girl, Claire.  You look like you're already four.
Claire: Yeah, but I'm still three.



Claire: If I be mean, will I still get a present from Santa?

Claire: I'll try to not be mean tomorrow.


(bath)

Claire: I don't mind if my Band-Aid falls off in the water, 'cause then after bath I can get a new Band-Aid.


Claire: I'm your baby kitty.

Mommy (to Alex): You like proving me wrong, don't you.
Alex: Yeah.
Alex: I'm always right.

These shoes are fast.

(Alex and Claire are getting ready to go to school, wearing their new shoes.)

Alex: I think Zack and Zane are gonna say "Alex is too fast!"

Claire: And I think my friends are gonna be happy because my shoes are be purple!

Alex: These shoes are fast.
Claire: Maybe I can run faster than Max and Harper!
Alex: Maybe I can run faster than Zane and Zack!
Claire: Max and Harper are both faster than me.  Well now, I can run faster than them.  'Cause I have new shoes.


(bed time – part of the new routine)
Claire: I’m your baby kitty.

But, now I still have something exciting. Because I still have that hole.

Alex: I'm gonna show Claire what I got when I wake up.  She wakes -- she wakes up, not I wake up.

Alex: But, now I still have something exciting.  Because I still have that hole.

Alex: Claire.  See what I got from the tooth fairy?
Claire: Whoaaaaa, pennies.  Did, um, did the tooth fairy see the, um, card?
Alex: Yeah.  And she took it!

Claire: Alex, if my tooth comes out when I'm five, I will make something that's under it.

Claire: Is it time to wake up?
Alex: Uh… no.
Claire: Then why did you wake up?
Alex: I was already awake.

Alex: But I got something really from the Tooth Fairy, right?
Claire: Yeah.
Alex: The Tooth Fairy's real.

Alex: Well, did you know the Tooth Fairy is too small to see.


Claire: Alex, come and eat your breakfast.
Alex (angrily): Don't tell me what to do!
Claire: But it's a smiley face.
Alex (angrily): Don't tell me!
Claire: It's a smiley face.
Alex (angrily): Don't tell me!


Claire: Watch me, everyone!  Watch me, all the family!

Alex: Claire, you, are, the silliest, person, in this whole, world.


Alex: The “d” is like the “b”, but it's facing the other way.

Alex: It sinks.  Lowercase “p” and lowercase “g” sink, right Daddy?


Alex: Daddy, did you know, these shoes are faster, because my other shoes can go three feet fast, but these shoes can go four feet fast!
Claire: My other shoes can go four feet fast, but these shoes can go ten feet fast!


Alex: Minutes never stop, right?  Time never stops.

My tooth came out!!

Alex: I had to come down here without any clothes, because my soccer clothes are down here.

Alex: I'm a bakery and Claire's makin' a store.

Alex: Oh!  That pizza crust turned out great.

(Claire visit's Alex's bakery.)
Claire: I need some carrots for my baby.
Alex: Claire!  I don't have that.  Bakeries don't sell carrots.
(Pause.)
Alex: So… have a nice day!

Alex: It's hard to choose on House Hunters, with, um, that, with the construction site isn't done?
Daddy: Yeah?  Why is that?
Alex: It's... um… it's hard to know what it looks like when it's done.


Claire: Mommy?  When are we going to go to the dentist?
Mommy: Wednesday.
Claire: Oh.  What is today?
Mommy: Saturday.
Claire: What's tomorrow?

Claire: I'm so excited for the dentiiiiiiiiiiiiist!


Alex: My tooth came out!!

Claire: Then you can put it under your pillow!

Alex: I pulled it out.  I wiggled it and then --
Mommy: It just came out?
Alex: Right on my hand!

Alex: It's gone!

Claire: Alex, where did your tooth go?  Did you lost your tooth?


Alex: The Tooth Fairy's small.
Mommy: Yeah.
Claire: Why is the Tooth Fairy small?
Mommy: She just is.

Claire: Is there tooth fairies in this world?
Mommy: Yeah.
Alex: There's tooth fairies everywhere.  There's only one though, right?
Mommy: Yeah.

Alex: Maybe when they say good morning to me at school, and I say good morning to them, they might say, "Why did his teeth fell out?"  And I'll say "My teeth fell out.  On Saturday."

""Literal" means that one person dropped something on the ground, and then the other person saw it, and they had to throw it away.

Mommy: Do you remember what "literal" means, Alex?
Alex: It means someone says something, and then you say that's not right.
Mommy: Sort of.
Claire: "Literal" means that one person dropped something on the ground, and then the other person saw it, and they had to throw it away.


Claire: You know what makes me happy?
Daddy: What?
Claire: Playing with all my family.

Alex? Could you pick a show that I might could like, but not Caillou?

Daddy: All right, what do you guys wanna watch? Alex, it’s your pick.
Claire: Alex? Could you pick a show that I might could like, but not Caillou?

Sometimes you don't get what you want; sometimes you do.

Alex (to Claire): Sometimes you don't get what you want; sometimes you do.

Daddy, if you touch the sun, your hand will get really hot.

(Alex has his first loose tooth.)
Alex: I'm excited about my tooth right now.
Daddy: Yeah?  It is pretty exciting.
Alex: I'm just, thinkin' about the Tooth Fairy right now.  She's gonna bring me one dollar, and one coin.  Right?
Daddy: Something like that.


(Claire is dusting.)
Claire: You know where there's a lot of dust?  Right here!

Alex: Mommy's enjoying her day, and we're working hard!

Alex: We're not just gonna work around the house, we're gonna make her meals!

(Claire and Alex are helping Daddy with the laundry.)
Alex: Claire, you can be the inside-outer, okay?


Claire: Daddy, if you touch the sun, your hand will get really hot.


Alex: Daddy, Grandpa is big, but a whale's even bigger!


Claire: Don't swing without me.


Daddy: Claire, do you want a hamburger or a hot dog?
Claire: Um… a hamburger.
Daddy: Do you want cheese on it?
Claire: Um… I want cheese under the top of the bread.


Alex (proudly): I turned on every single light in the house!

Mommy: Claire, you can reach the light switch now?!
Claire: Yeah!  Watch!

Claire: Because… one day I'll be four, and the next day, I might be five.

You know which popsicle I got?

(Claire comes home from soccer with Mommy.)
Claire: You know which popsicle I got?
Daddy: What?
Claire: The orange popsicle!
Daddy: Oh!
Claire: And while we were driving here, we were playing a game, and I was eating fishies.

Claire: Daddy, I got to save my popsicle, 'cause I didn't really want the orange popsicle, so she was gonna put it in the freezer.

They don't know what they're missing.

Alex: If you eat a lot of food, do you run really fast?

Claire: If you ate a thousand food or one hundred food? If you ate a thousand and one hundred food? You couldn’t even run!

Alex: Claire, I think, if you were a person, you ate ninety food, you would go up to Mars!

Alex: Claire, did you know, a giraffe, has, fifty feet long.
Claire: But a shark, has, twenty feet teeth.

Alex: Claire, here's something silly. A giraffe, sleeps, standing up.
Alex: How can they do that?!
Claire: I don’t know. They don't know what they're missing.

Alex: They have to wake up, to look out for creditors!

Claire: What does creditors do to the giraffes?
Alex: Might hurt them.
Claire: Well, what does creditors look like? What color are creditors?
Alex: Creditors are animals.

Claire: But what color are they?
Alex: I don't know. Could be any.



Claire: Did you know that tigers… that tigers… like to be by themselves?
Alex: I knew that! And lions like to be in groups! It’s called a pride!

Alex: Daddy? Giraffes’ kicks are so horrible, that the lions leave them alone.
Daddy: Oh!
Alex: Because, they don’t like their kicks. It hurts them.


Claire: I'm excited because Mommy’s coming to school with me.

Oh, I just wanna be a flower so I could have colors.

(breakfast)
Claire: Alex, maybe next time, after we play with something, before we play with something else, we clean up that -- we clean up the first thing before we play with something else. So it doesn’t get so messy.
Alex: That is a great idea!


Alex: Claire, when you’re pretty, you’re called pretty. When I'm pretty, I'm -- I'm called handsome. Right?
Claire: Mm-hm.
Alex: It sounds better.


(Alex and Claire are excited about the idea of taking care of Mommy on Mother's Day.)
Alex: Daddy, you know what we could do?  We could do everything for Mommy every day!
Daddy: Yeah!


Alex: This is fun!
Daddy: Good!  It's nice to take care of Mommy.
Alex: And I'm excited for her to see all the mess cleaned up.
(Pause.)
Alex: This is the best day of all, her whole life, right, Daddy?

Claire: This is hard, but I can do it with you helping!

Alex: Hi Grommie!  We're cleaning up for Mother's Day.

Claire (to Mommy): We're cleaning up everything for you.  Not even one little toy!

Claire: I just cleaned -- Alex, I just cleaned the whole chip game up!
Alex: And I almost cleaned up the whole train room!

Alex: This is hard work.

Claire (after washing her hands): Daddy?  The bubbles are the soap.

Alex: Surprise!  The house is all cleaned up!
Mommy: It is?
Alex: We cleaned it up!

Claire: You wanna come look and see?

Claire: Look on the floor!

Alex: You didn't have to do anything today.

Alex:  Daddy?  We're gonna cook dinner for Mommy!
Daddy: Oh!
Alex: And it's gonna be pizza!

Alex: We would never not be loving you, Mommy!


(dinner)

Claire: When everybody's starting to eat, can we play a game?

Claire: When somebody says a farm animal, that's at the farm?  All the other people have to guess it.  Okay?

Claire: Daddy?
Daddy: Yes?
Claire: A long, long ago there was just dinosaurs, no people.
Daddy: Yeah?
Mommy: Where were the people?
Claire: Nowhere.
Alex: They weren't born yet!

Alex: There wasn't even one person.  Everywhere you looked there was just dinosaurs.  And volcanos.
Claire: And trees.

Alex: Did you know that sharks can grow their teeth back in?

Alex: So can starfish, they can grow their legs back.

Claire: And sharks are, all the way, dowwwn in the ocean.

Claire: When somebody says a food?  A color?  Then somebody has to guess it.

Claire: Daddy, the food game is that when somebody says a color that's a food?  The other persons have to guess it.

Claire: Daddy, I wanna be a superhero, but, when I see a shooting star, I still wanna be a superhero.
Daddy: Oh, okay.  Why do you have to see a shooting star?
Claire: Because I wanna be a superhero!

Claire: But I think I wanna be a flower.  I wanna be a flower with lots of colors.  Purple and pink and blue and red!

Alex (about Grandma): She's a good flower planter.
Mommy: Yeah?
Alex: Yeah.  She's a gardener.
Claire: I want Grandma to come to our house.  I want Grandma to come to our house.

Claire: Oh, I just wanna be a flower so I could have colors.

I think I know why they call these hot dogs.

(Daddy comes home from work.)
Alex: Hi Daddy.
Daddy: Hey kiddo!
Alex: I'm building a boat, except -- all I need left is a door.

(dinner)
Alex: I think I know why they call these hot dogs.
Daddy: Why?
Alex: Because they got hot if you bake them! Hot. Dogs.

We're playing tee ball, but we don't know all the skills to play it.

Claire: Alex?
Alex: Yeah?
Claire: After school can we play Flood?
Alex: Okay!


Alex: We're playing tee ball, but we don't know all the skills to play it.


Alex: Daddy, we’re gonna build a hand, that can reach anything that's far away.

Alex: How are we gonna build the hand? We only have shovels, a bucket, the dump truck, and the car.

No, it's Biscuit Day.

Claire: What was yesterday?
Daddy: Saturday.
Daddy: Today is Strawberry Day.
Alex: No, it's Sunday.
Claire: No, it's Biscuit Day.
Alex: It's Sunday.  That means it's sunny today.  It's always hot on Sunday.
Claire: It always rains biscuits out of the clouds.

No, it's Biscuit Day.

Claire: What was yesterday?
Daddy: Saturday.
Daddy: Today is Strawberry Day.
Alex: No, it's Sunday.
Claire: No, it's Biscuit Day.
Alex: It's Sunday.  That means it's sunny today.  It's always hot on Sunday.
Claire: It always rains biscuits out of the clouds.

Let's play Flood!

Claire: Daddy, you wanna see me do something on the mulch?
Daddy: Yeah!
Claire: I can run, with two of my feet -- not just two of my feet, but my hands!


Claire (to Alex): Let's play Flood!
Alex (to Daddy): We like to play Flood, Daddy.  It's gonna flood, and all the people have to get in the house.

Because after one hundred comes two hundred! It's like you're counting again, but instead of one number, it's three numbers!

Alex: I know why it's called one hundred.
Daddy: Why's that?
Alex: Because after one hundred comes two hundred!  It's like you're counting again, but instead of one number, it's three numbers!

Alex: Since numbers do a lot of things, they add up numbers, and they get -- well -- just, just -- well -- the hundreds, and the thousands, like you're counting, like, one hundred, two hundred, three hundred… and, um --
Alex: Daddy?  When you get to those two hundred and three hundred, do you have to count all the way up to ninety-nine again?
Daddy: Mm-hm.
Alex: No one ever has counted all the way up to a thousand before?
Daddy: I bet somebody has.
Alex: Who?
Daddy: I don't know.
Alex: No one has.  That would take like a whole day.  Well, what's a bigger number than a thousand?
Daddy: Ten thousand.
Alex: Ten thousand?  Well, ten thousand would take overnight!

Alex: Well, if you counted up to twenty thousand, it would take overnight and then the next day!

Alex: A million?!  That would take the whole week!

Alex: A thousand and a thousand are a million.
Claire: Ninety and ninety are bigger.
Alex: Yeah, but -- ninety and ninety might take years.

Claire: What is, uh, two and two?
Alex: Two and two?  I already told you.  No I didn't.  That is… uh… the number four!

Claire: What's thirteen and thirteen?
Daddy: Twenty-six.
Claire: Thirteen and thirteen are twenty-six.
Alex: Did, you know, Claire?  That twenty-six letters are in the alphabet.
Claire: Twenty-six?!
Alex: Yeah.  1, A, 2, B, 3, C, 4, D, 5, E, 6, F, 7, G…
Claire: Daddy?  Did you know that twenty-six letters are in the alphabet?
Daddy: Yeah, neat!
Alex: What comes after G?  I forget.  H!

Alex: H, 8, I, 9, J, 10, K, 11.
Alex: Uh, Claire?  Did you know that K is eleven?  And um, after K comes…
Alex: L.  L 12.  Claire, are you listening to me?
Claire: Yeah.
Alex: L 12.  Um…
Claire: Alex, did you know that doggies, sniff, on your head?
(Claire laughs.)
Alex: Um, Daddy, what comes after L?
Daddy: M.
Alex: Um, L 12.  M, 13.  N, 14.  O, 15.  P, 16.  Um…
Alex: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOP.  Q… what was, um, P again?  16.  Uh, Q, 17.  R, 18.  S -- what comes after R?
Daddy: S.
Alex: S, um, 19.  Um, T, 20.  Um.  Then uh, comes… U?
Daddy: Yep.
Alex: U 21.  V 22.  Um.  W 23.  And um, X 24.  And… um.  Y 25.  And Z 26!
Claire: Whoa!
Claire: See, Daddy?
Daddy: Yeah!
Alex: Twenty-six letters in the alphabet.


Claire: Alex, after school, can we play dollhouse?  The dollhouse?  And we have to eat… the um… the, dolls?


Claire: But Alex I'm so excited because I get to do calendar, and I haven't done that before.


(Claire is sitting with her baby doll.)
Claire (to Daddy, smiling): I'm playing with my baby.

Jupiter and Saturn are the biggest Earths.

Alex: Daddy? Nobody can live on this Earth, because it’s too close to the sun.

Alex: Jupiter and Saturn are the biggest Earths.

Alex: That's why we can't live on those Earths.
Claire: What about Disney World? Disney World we went to.
Alex: Yeah, but Disney World is a state. A state is on our Earth. A Earth is a big circle. But a state’s just different things. Just green and blue, or squiggly things.


Alex: I don't like sticks in the house, Claire.  It feels yucky to me.
Claire: But it's small.  It's mulch.
Alex: Mulch is badder than sticks.

I feel like E is the king of all letters.

Alex: Daddy, you know how to spell jello?
Daddy: J-E-L-L--
Alex: No, I want to tell you.
Daddy: Oh, okay.
Alex: J-E-L-L-O-E.
Daddy: Good!
Alex: Is there an E? Because the O says “oh”.
Daddy: Well, it seems like there should be an E, but there's actually no E.
Alex: Okay, then erase the E.
Daddy: Okay.
Alex: I'm just confused about the Es and no Es.
Daddy: Yeah...
Alex: I feel like E is the king of all letters.


Alex: I have too much energy. ‘Cause I'm growing.
Daddy: Yeah. How big are you gonna get?
Alex: Um... maybe forty-four.
Daddy: Forty-four?
Alex: Yeah. Is that how big I’ll get?
Daddy: Yeah, I'm sure under some unit of measurement you'll be forty-four.
Alex: Then I’ll die.
Daddy: Um... Yeah.
Alex: But I'm five, so I don't have to worry about it.


Daddy: Claire, how big are you gonna get?
Claire: Four.
Alex: Forty-four.

Alex (to Claire): And then you’re gonna die.
Claire: No I'm not.
Alex: When you get too big you die!
Mommy: No you don't.
Alex: If you get too old.
Claire: You can't say die, that's a bad word.

I don't like you combing my hair when I'm eating a waffle.

Alex: I don't like you combing my hair when I'm eating a waffle.

Claire: I got lots of leaves, for everyone, if we need them everyday.


(Alex made a badge for Claire to wear, that tells her to be nice to Alex.)
Alex (to Daddy): So she can remember not to be mean to me.
Claire: Yeah. Because every day I be mean to him.