Sunday, August 12, 2012

Why does that chicken have long hair?

Claire: Don't color with my colors, don't even trick me that you did, okay Alex?


(in the car)

Alex: You know why looking at houses is -- are, fun for me?
Mommy: Why?
Alex: Because then when I see something I like, I -- I wanna live there.

Claire: Why was that boy holding a flag, that was a statue by the road on the road? Someone might crash into it.

Daddy: How ‘bout our names? Do you know Mommy’s and Daddy’s names?
Claire: Daddy, and Mommy.
Alex: No, David and Stephanie.


(at the farm)

Claire: How do bugs get here?
Daddy: They fly.
Claire: No, how do -- do you build a bug? Or do they just grow?

Claire: Why does that chicken have long hair?
Mommy: That's a turkey, and I don't know what that stuff is called.

Claire (tiredly): When are we gonna have fun?

Claire: I'm tired. Can someone carry me? Daddy, can you please carry me?

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Why don't we ever see a pit. A big huge hole that people fall in.

Claire: What are you looking at?
Mommy: Facebook.
Claire: What's Facebook?
Mommy: Something on the internet.  A time-suck.
Claire: Time-suck?  What's a time-suck?
Mommy: Something that takes a lot of time.


Claire: Why don't we ever see a pit?
Daddy: Why don't we ever see a pet?
Claire: No, why don't we ever see a pit?
Alex (translating): Why don't we ever see a pit.  A big huge hole that people fall in.


Alex: Can we watch the rest of House Hunters?

Friday, August 10, 2012

Daddy, when will the... the... the seasons stop?

Claire: Daddy, when will the... the... the seasons stop?


Claire: Show time!
Claire: When it's time for a show, you say "show time!"  And when it's time for breakfast and it's time for a show, you say "Breakfast time!  Show time!"


Alex: When we went to the Byrd Theater, it was actually a movie theater.
Daddy: What did you think it was gonna be?
Alex: I just thought it would be birds.


Alex: I just love pizza.

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Bad guys don't give it back!

Alex (to Claire): You're a bad guy!  Give it back!
Claire: Bad guys don't give it back!


Claire: I'm your baby Dora.


(Mommy tells Alex a fact about whales.)
Mommy: I was gonna say they eat pounds and pounds of tiiiiny sea creatures, called krill.
Alex: That's not very nice though.

Monday, August 6, 2012

Why does Mickey have gloves on?

Claire: Why does Mickey have gloves on?


Alex (looking at James): James -- why do they say this is Mike?!


Daddy: Did you do that at school?
Claire: Mm-hm. They learned me this.


Claire: It’s gonna storm. It’s storming while its night time. It’s storming while its night time too.



Claire: Mommy, sometimes I dream when I'm closing my eyes, but it doesn't feel like a dream, when I open them!

Alex: Why can't you open your eyes when you're dreaming? Because it feels like your eyes are already open!

Saturday, August 4, 2012

Where do bubbles go when they pop?

Alex: I was gonna lift weights today.


Claire: I wanna stay a kid.
Daddy: Yeah?
Claire: 'Cause I like playing.
Claire: I don’t wanna work, then that would be boring.


Claire: Daddy?  Can you play with me?


(Alex counts to one thousand.)
Alex: I counted to one thousand!
Mommy and Daddy: Wow!
Alex: While holding the ball!


Claire: Where do bubbles go when they pop?


Claire (to Alex, angrily): "Mean" is when you don't let any people choose stuff!



Claire: It’s hard to build everything in the world.
Daddy: Yeah.
Claire: Because cars, signs, house, fences, roads... and lots of things.
(Pause.)
Claire: Bridges, (inaudible)... but not trees and bushes, because those just grow by themselves.
(Alex points out that you don't build the sky, either.)
Claire: Yeah you can't make the sky. So how do -- how does the sky get up there?

Claire: I guess the sky just grows up there.



Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Daddy, are grandpas bigger than grandmas? I feel like they're older.

(Caillou is eating ice cream.)
Claire: When will we ever eat ice cream?


(Claire got a short haircut yesterday.)
Claire: I love my hair!


(Claire made a face with the food on her plate, but Mommy is at the grocery store.)
Claire: I wanna take a picture so Mommy can see my face!


Alex (to Daddy): I'm gonna be taller than you!
Daddy: You might!
Alex: I'm gonna be Grandpa!
Claire: I'm gonna be Grandma!

Alex: Grandpas are bigger than grandmas?
Alex: Daddy, are grandpas bigger than grandmas?  I feel like they're older.

Claire: How do they make stickers?
(Daddy doesn't know.)
Claire: I think they, get a piece of white paper, cut the shape, and then write it on it.


Claire: Daddy, I know about monsters and bears.  Monsters are -- are not anywhere, and bears are in the mountains.

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

It's a really old spoon, then?

(Alex is using Mommy's special childhood spoon.)
Claire: Mommy had it when she was a kid.
Alex: It's a really old spoon, then?
Mommy: Hey!


Daddy: How did they get the moon up in the sky?
Claire (excited): They have a big, big, big, big ladder, or -- if you wanna fly up, you hafta have a balloon.


Daddy: How big is space?
Alex: It's huge!  It never ends.

Daddy: Well what happens when you get to the end of it?
Alex: You wouldn't get to the end of it!  You'd go for days and days, and you'd be like "Ach!  We've been here for three weeks!"

Alex: So how could they, like, build space?

Claire: How does mulch get there?  I know.

Monday, July 30, 2012

Birds don't use potties, so there's no potties in trees.

Alex (to Mommy): I was gonna say something to you but I forgot.


Alex: Daddy, how do you build trucks? Because trucks build things. With them.
Daddy: I don’t know! How do you build tools?

Alex: Maybe there's a special kind of tool, you don't have to build. It builds itself.

Alex: Birds don't use potties, so there's no potties in trees.

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Only your face goes up in the air.

Claire: You know what all of my favorite colors are?
Mommy: What?
Claire: Aaaaaaall of the colors!
Mommy: I thought pink and purple were your favorite.
Claire: But, the favorite colors are, pink and purple, and, some other ones, that I still like, that aren’t really my favorite color, are red, and blue and green and, I think that’s all. That’s all my favorite colors.
Mommy: You like a lot of colors, don’t you?
Claire: And sometimes I change my mind and I like all the colors in the world! Even white and black!


(Claire and Alex are discussing death.)
Alex: Only your face goes up in the air.


(getting ready for bed)
Claire (to Mommy): I’m your baby kitty sleeping.

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Why don’t plants pee? You know they drink water.

Claire (to Alex, as she turns off the TV): After, I turn it off, if you wanna turn it back on so you can turn it off, you can do that.

Alex: Can we watch another one?

Alex: I think I had a dream about a blueberry that was that big.
(Alex demonstrates with his hands.)
Daddy: Yeah?
Alex: I mean, that big.
(Alex demonstrates again, slightly smaller.)
Alex: So I said to you, Daddy, can we save them? And you said yeah.



Alex (to Daddy): I know you’re the best Boggle player.

Alex: I’m always gonna be your buddy.
Daddy: Aw! We’ll always be buddies.
Alex: Even when I die, I’m still gonna like you.
Daddy: Aw.
Alex: I’m never gonna forget you.


Alex: Why don’t plants pee? You know they drink water.


Alex: You’re funny, Claire.


Alex (angrily): I hate rules!


Claire: Daddy, this is my toy store.


(Alex is playing with his toys.)
Toy Man: No way you’re gonna get me, dinosaur!
Toy Dinosaur: Oh yes way!

Friday, July 27, 2012

Why does there have to be a name for every day?

Alex: We still have to watch out for the orange juice, Claire.
Claire: Yeah, but I have my shoes on.
Alex: Yeah, but our shoes, are running out of... okay in orange juice.


Alex: Why does there have to be a name for every day?


(Alex and Claire are playing, and Alex pretends, for the first time, that he has a gun. So Mommy explains to Alex the dangers of real guns.)

Alex: The only way to die is to get shoot by a gun, Mommy?
Mommy: No, there are other ways you can die.
Alex: Like what?
Mommy: You can get really really old… or you can have a bad accident…
Alex: Like “I peed a lot in my pants” accident?

Alex: If you get fired, you die.

Alex: If the windows were open and you were jumping in your seat without your seatbelt on, you’re going boing boing boing… and then the last time, you go boing! You’d fall out of the window.


Alex: Well, I know that at people’s houses they don’t have any real guns.
Mommy: Yes they do.
(Mommy explains in great detail.)


(dinner)

Claire: Alex, I saw you, out the window, I saw you on Splash Day.

Claire: And I saw the sprinkler, and I thought you were out, and then I saw you, so that means you were out on Splash Day.

Claire: But, if it was a thousand [degrees], will you die?

Claire: The sun is sooooooo big!
Alex: It’s bigger than a house!
Mommy: It sure is. It’s bigger than our planet.
Claire: Uh-huh. It’s like bigger than… bigger than our whole world!

Claire: Mommy on days we go to school, when we come home, we can do the game, the talking game.

Claire: Because on days we stay home, we, we’re…
Mommy: We’re together.
Claire: Yeah we’re together. So we know what we did.

Alex: Um I hope the TV works, because… I want to watch a show.

Claire: Remember, a long, long time ago, Alex liked Bob?

Alex: It’s been when I was like four, since we watched that show. We haven’t watched it ever since I was five.

Claire: How ‘bout we play a game? This is not a guessing game. You just talk – you go, you go all around, and you say what you did today.


(Claire is using Mommy’s sink to wash her hands.)
Claire: Daddy, when I was four, and I stand on my tippy toes, I can reach it!
Daddy: Wow!
Claire: When I was three, and I was on my flat feet, I couldn’t reach it, and when I stood on my tippy toes, I couldn't reach it!
Daddy: Wow!



(Daddy tucks Alex into bed.)
Alex: Good night. I can't wait to spend time with you tomorrow.

Thursday, July 26, 2012

This is the only planet where -- that has people in it.

Claire: Daddy, I'm your baby kitty.

Claire: When I put the waffle in my mouth, it didn't taste yummy.


(Claire is saying she's always going to eat lots of carrots to stay healthy.)
Claire: Until I die, I stop.
(Pause.)
Claire: Because I can't do it anymore when I die!


Claire: This is the only planet where -- that has people in it.

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Because you were just playing on your Kindle. You should be doing your work.

(Daddy is sitting on a stool, working on his computer at the kitchen counter.)

Alex: You haven't sat on that stool, working on your computer for a long time.
Daddy: Yeah?
Alex: You haven't worked a lot at home.
Daddy: You're right.
Alex: Because you were just playing on your Kindle.  You should be doing your work.

Saturday, July 21, 2012

And I can't even wait for tomorrow, ‘cause I can't wait to stay home, and not go anywhere!

Claire: I can't wait for tomorrow.
Alex: I can't wait to go to sleep.
Claire: And I can't even wait for tomorrow, ‘cause I can't wait to stay home, and not go anywhere!


(Alex got hurt twice today.)
Alex: I had two ailments today.

Friday, July 20, 2012

I thought when it rained, it rained all the way around the world, and it doesn't.

Claire: Daddy, what if I forget my teacher's name?



Alex: I thought when it rained, it rained all the way around the world, and it doesn't.

Claire: When it rains, all the clouds rain, right?



(Claire talks about lunch.)

Claire: I had carrots, and medium-sized brown things…

Claire: And I had a sandwich that had bread on the top and the bottom, and cheese and turkey in it.



Claire: Mommy Daddy, I have a book at school!  Do you wanna know what it's about?

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Daddy, why do crabs have sharp snappies?

(driving to Busch Gardens)

Claire: What was that car called, that was brown and went past us?
Mommy: A jeep.
Claire: But it didn't have a wheel on the back.

(Claire rambles on about the car for a while.)
Claire: Do you know what that car was called?
Daddy: Are we still talking about the brown car?
Claire: Yeah.
Daddy: That was a jeep.
Claire: But it didn't have a wheel on the back!

Claire: Maybe they just wanted to break some glass from the back so they could feel good air for the puppy, or if they had a kitten and a puppy... (Claire rambles on some more.)

(Later, we pass a jeep with a wheel on the back.)
Daddy: Look Claire, there's a jeep.
Claire: But that other one didn't have a wheel on the back, what was it called?
Daddy: A jeep.


Claire: Daddy, why do crabs have sharp snappies?


Alex: I think it’s good that we went to Busch Gardens today, Daddy, ‘cause if we were at home, we might watch too much TV.

Claire: Where do frogs live?

Claire: Where do sort of sharks live?

Claire: I know where trees live: in the mulch.


Alex: We’re in Dragon Land!

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

And there was thunder as loud as someone's knocking down a building.

Claire: Daddy, I like school because I like drawing.


(after breakfast)
Claire: Daddy, I'm clean, and I didn't get a wipe, and I -- no butter got on my face!


Claire: I like having nap, because sometimes I start getting tired.  When I -- when it's nap time.



(Claire and Alex come home from school.)
Claire: Daddy, I got a little snack at school!  Everything doesn't have peanuts.
Daddy: Oh!
Claire: And I'm gonna give some to Alex too.

(Alex took a field trip to Byrd Theater.)
Alex: The theater was a little scary when we first got in it.  'Cause I thought we were gonna watch a movie.  And there was -- a stage -- that was as big as -- this wall.  All the way from the fireplace to the top of the TV.  From the bottom of the fireplace to the top of the TV.  It was as big as this couch!
Daddy: Wow.
Alex: As big as this rug.  That's how big it was.
Daddy: That's a big stage!
Alex: And there was thunder as loud as someone's knocking down a building.
(Alex jumps up and stomps upon landing.)
Alex: That's how loud it was.

(Claire is in the bathroom.)
Claire: Daddy?
Daddy: Yes, sweetheart.
Claire: Um, my nose is stuffed up at school, and at home, and when it's stuffed up at nap, it bothers me.
Daddy: Okay.

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Claire said she washed hands better than me!

Mommy (to Alex): What's wrong?
Alex (upset): Claire said she washed hands better than me!

Monday, July 16, 2012

Daddy, is I'm clean?

Alex: I don't wanna go to school.

Claire: Daddy, is I'm clean?


Alex: I’m gonna have more money than anybody in this world!


Claire (singing/chanting): Bread is fresh
Claire (singing/chanting): Bread is fresh
Claire (singing/chanting): Bread is always fresh, when you keep it closed


(dinner)

Claire: For real?

Claire (to Daddy): I always say "for real" when you say something different and I don't know.

(Alex is eating asparagus.)
Alex: I'm a grown-up!

(Daddy likes asparagus too.)
Alex: Fist pump!

Saturday, July 14, 2012

There's not very much bad guys in this world.

Claire: When do bad guys come out of the jail?
Daddy: When they're not bad any more.

Claire: There's not very much bad guys in this world.


(Alex is riding his bike.)
Alex: I'm really good at not holding the handlebars, see?
Daddy: Yeah.
Alex: Because I've been riding my bike for like years.


Claire: Daddy, you wanna go see my door hanger? It's so pretty.

Claire: Watch. It'll, be so pretty when it sparkles.

Claire: See isn't it cool?



Alex: But it does look like I'm in first grade, doesn't it?

Alex: I wanna do more homework!

Friday, July 13, 2012

How do people make everything in the world?

Claire: How do people make everything in the world?

Claire: Why do they have a number on the back of the cars?

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Can you watch House Hunters with me, Mommy?

(Daddy is going to sit with Alex while Alex watches a kids' show.)
Alex: Can you watch House Hunters with me, Mommy?
Mommy: What?
Alex: Can you watch House Hunters?
Mommy: Um, okay.
Alex (to Daddy): Um, I wanted to snuggle with Mommy instead.
Daddy: Okay.


Mommy: I have some bad news for you.
Claire: What?
Mommy: Those two band-aids are about to come off.
Claire: I don't want you to pull them!


Claire: If my band-aids fall off while I'm sleeping, I'm gonna get out of my bed and -- well I'm not gonna get out of my bed, I'm gonna stay in my bed and throw them away.

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

I like to test out my shoes, when I first get them, to see how fast they are.

(Claire and Alex come home.)

Claire: Daddy, I got four stickers from the doctor, and I even got shots!

Alex: I didn't get shots but I got my finger pricked.

Claire: Daddy, when I got shots it hurt, but I was brave.

Claire: Look we got prizes 'cause we went to Chuck E. Cheese's after the doctor.


(Alex and Claire have new alarm clocks.)

Alex: Yay, my new alarm clock!

Alex: Mommy told me I wouldn't really like the sound.  It would like scare me up!

Claire: Look.  When it rings, it moves that thing.
Daddy: Yeah, and it goes dinga-ding-ding-ding!
Claire: Yeah but it's a loud noise.


(Claire and Alex have new jump ropes.)
Claire (to Daddy): Do you know how to do it?
Daddy: Yeah, I know how to jump rope.
Claire: I can show you, too.
Daddy: Okay.
Claire (demonstrating, but without the rope): You -- you hop up, when, the jump rope's where your feet are.

Claire (riding around on her car): Jump, jump, jumping rope, jump, jump, jumping rooooooooooope!


Claire (getting into bed): When I'm in bed, when all my body's in the bed, and none of it is poking out, say rabbits are a fast climber, okay?


Alex: I like to test out my shoes, when I first get them, to see how fast they are.

Monday, July 9, 2012

I don't wanna be a grown-up 'cause then I won't have fun.

(dinner)

Claire: I don't wanna be a grown-up.
Daddy: You don't wanna be a grown-up?  Wh -- did someone say you have to be a grown-up?
Claire: I don't wanna be a grown-up 'cause then I won't have fun.

Daddy: What did you guys do at school today?
Alex: It was just boring.
Daddy: Claire, how 'bout you?
Claire: Um, I went outside.
Daddy: Yeah?
Claire: Um -- um… after nap we went outside?
Daddy: Yeah?
Claire: Um… um… I made a crown, and it's still at school.  Drawing -- drawing -- draw -- drying, I think.  And, they put out centers -- there was Play-Doh, I think -- and, there was circuses, and… um… um… um…
Claire: And -- and, um, I think there was Legos too.
Daddy: Yeah?
Claire: Uh-huh.  Um… and, uh… I… um… we read, some stories.  And, we got a snail book?  Uh-huh.  We left -- we already left the snail book at school.  And we got it today.  And when I was outside, um Mommy, came and picked me up.
Daddy: Was that fun?
Claire: Mm-hm.  And I even had nap.
Daddy: So was it a good day?
Claire: Mm-hm.
Daddy: Did you like being at school all day?
(Claire nods.)
Alex: Nn-nn.
Claire: I do.

Claire: Mommy, there's a bug in here.
Daddy: What's its name?
(Claire pauses for a minute, then giggles.)
Daddy: What do you think its name is?
Claire (smiling): I don't know.  I guess it's Bug.
(Claire shrugs.)


(putting Claire in bed)

Claire: I'm your baby rabbit.

Claire: Did you say "giraffe giraffe giraffe"?  "Giraffey giraffe"?

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Alex! Alex! Come look at my room! It's fun and pretty!

Claire: Daddy?
Daddy: Yeah?
Claire: Yesterday was Saturday and today’s Sunday. Today we stay home.


(Mommy painted Claire’s room.)
Claire: Alex! Alex! Come look at my room! It's fun and pretty!


Alex: Do you know Spanish, Daddy?
Daddy: No.
Alex: But you went to Texas, right?

Saturday, July 7, 2012

The rule is – the law is, if you’re on the potty, you don’t have to say “excuse me,” right, Daddy?

Claire: Mommy? What's the most things in the world? What's the most things in the world?
Alex: Air.
Claire: And trees.


(Alex is at the kitchen sink.)

Alex: When I’m six I’m gonna be able to reach that better.

Claire: Yeah when I’m five I almost can reach the water, and the one that goes up and down and make it go on and off.

Alex: Well, I’m pretty sure when I’m seven I’ll be able. But I’m almost six.


(Claire gives Daddy a card she made yesterday.)
Claire: Daddy? Yesterday you opened this card. Do you wanna open it again?


(Claire is playing baby.)
Claire: I got her out of her bed, because it’s time to wake up!


(dinner)
Claire: I love everybody in the world, even Mommy and Daddy.


Alex: I don’t have to say “excuse me,” ‘cause I’m on the potty. The rule is – the law is, if you’re on the potty, you don’t have to say “excuse me,” right, Daddy?
Daddy: That’s right.
Alex: ‘Cause that’s where gas is supposed to go.

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Can kids eat ‘sparaguses?

Claire: Can kids eat sparaguses?
Daddy: Yeah, kids can eat asparagus.
Claire: Are
sparaguses healthy?
Daddy: Yeah, they're very healthy.
Claire: But I don't like
sparaguses.

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

We played at Grandma’s house, watched a show, climbed a mountain, picked peaches...

(Daddy is wearing his Hawaiian shirt.)
Alex: I like your shirt.

Claire: Are those your PJs?


(Alex watches the coffee pot fill up.)
Alex: It’s over eight!

Alex: It’s almost at ten!


Grandpa: It’s Independence Day. We’re gonna put the flag up.
Claire: Uh-huh, and were gonna climb a mountain with Grandma.


(Claire and Alex put on a puppet show.)
Claire: We need to close the curtains, because the show’s about to start.

Claire (to Alex): You can make the show but you can't look out there with your head up.

Alex: The show will start in... like, three minutes.


(Claire finishes putting her shoes on.)
Claire: I'm ready to climb a mountain.


Claire: I've never climbed a mountain before!


Alex: Mommy, you're going seventy, and the speed limit’s sixty-five.


Claire: We played at Grandma’s house, watched a show, climbed a mountain, picked peaches... wasn't that a long time, Alex?

Claire: But I don't wanna leave Grandma’s house.

Alex: Can we do this again?

Claire: I want to go to Grandma’s house and do it again.


Claire: Mommy, if you don't wash anything, everything will be all wet and dirty.

Claire: If we have baths every day, do we still have to wash the clothes?


Alex: Daddy, do you always -- when there's a limit sign that says sixty-five, can you go lower than sixty-five?


Claire: What happens when you sink into a bird?


(driving home)
Claire: I wanna stay at Grandma’s forever.


(bath time)
Alex: This was a fun day.

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

I learned it on House Hunters.

(going to Grandma’s house)

Alex: Where are you guys gonna sleep? Grandma doesn't have a bed for you.
Daddy: Yeah she does.
Alex: But, does Grandma have a guest room?
Daddy: Yeah. How do you know about guest rooms?
Alex: I learned it on House Hunters.


Claire: When something blinks and it’s yellow, that's the lightning bug.

Sunday, July 1, 2012

When people die, they won't ever come back again?

(Mommy is baking biscuits.)
Claire: Oh!  What is that smell?  It smells like chocolate!


Claire (running around, flapping her arms): Daddy, I'm a fairy.

Claire (driving her new car): Daddy, the fairy's driving the car.

Claire (driving her new car): Mommy, the fairy's driving her car.

Claire: Mommy, if you been, the fairy won't give you something.

Claire: Daddy?
Daddy: Yes, Claire Bear?
Claire: Um, if you be mean, the fairy won't give you something.


(Claire is eating pudding.)
Claire: I made a huge hole and a cliff.  See this is the part where you stand, and you faaaaaalllll.


(Daddy is sitting on the couch working a puzzle; Claire walks by, pushing a grocery cart.)
Claire: Daddy?  You're off at work and I'm going to the grocery store.
Daddy: Okay.
Claire: I'm going to the grocery store with my baby.
Daddy: Okay.


(Claire is looking at a photo album, and wonders about a picture of Sabrina, who died before Claire was born.)
Claire: How are they gone?
Mommy: They died.
Claire: Will they come back?
Mommy: No, they died.
Claire: When people die, they won't ever come back again?
Mommy: That's right.
Claire: Oh.

(Alex sees a picture of Mommy's grandpa.)
Alex: That's my great-grandpa.
Daddy: That's right.
Alex: How many years did he stay?

(Claire sees a photo of pregnant Mommy, holding her hands on her tummy.)
Claire: There's a baby in Mommy's tummy, look Daddy.
Daddy: Yeah, that’s you.
Claire: Is it under her shirt?

Claire: Then why is her hands there?  So it won't fall out?


(Claire has a new baby giraffe stuffed animal.)
Claire: This is my baby giraffe.
Alex: What's her name?
Claire: Um… Claire!  No… Fluffy!

Saturday, June 30, 2012

It's my birthday and it's time to wake up!

(Claire wakes up and comes downstairs.)
Claire (excitedly): It's my birthday!

(Daddy is still in bed.)
Claire: It's my birthday and it's time to wake up!

(Daddy asks what it feels like to be four.)
Claire (considering): I don't feel it.


(Claire opens a couple of birthday presents.)
Claire: I think I wanna open all my presents now, because it's fun!


(Alex points out that he'll always be a year ahead of Claire.)
Claire: I'll never be as old as you?
Alex: Yeah.  I can't help it, sorry.  I can't stop growing.  A kid can't stop growing and getting older.


Alex: I wanna go back to Disney.
Claire: Why?
Alex: It's fun there.


Claire: Daddy after I get my shoes on I can show you my cupcakes!


Claire: Daddy, a long time ago, the lights went out, and, a little of a long time ago, the lights went out.

Alex: When Grandma and Grandpa were a kid, did they have mommies and daddies?
Mommy: Yeah.
Alex: Well how did they get to be just two people?
Mommy: What do you mean?
Alex: Well how did they get to be just two people?
Mommy: Well, their mommies and daddies died.
Alex: Oh.
(Mommy explains about growing up, moving out, getting married, and having kids.)
Mommy: But you can still visit your mommy and daddy.
Alex: Until they die.

Alex: A bad guy would park in the walking place or the wheelchair place. A bad guy would do that.
Daddy: Yeah.
Alex: But then he would learn a lesson.


Claire: Daddy, there's icing on my legs.


Mommy: Claire, did you have fun at your party?
Claire: Yeah and I'm excited to open my presents. Its fun to open presents.

Claire: Alex, are you gonna, help me open the presents? Help me open the presents?
Alex: No, it’s your birthday. You get to open them.


Claire: How do people cut trees down? They're too hard. When they're reeeeeally big.


Claire: I really wanted a toy car.
Mommy: I know.
Claire: Will that one stay for a long time?

Claire: Will it stay forever?
Mommy: For as long as you wanna play with it.
Claire: I want it to stay forever.
Mommy: Okay.


Daddy: What does it feel like to be four years old?
Claire (shrugging): I don't feel anything when I'm four.

Friday, June 29, 2012

How does the sun make it even hotter?

(The temperature is 102F today.)
Claire: How does the sun make it even hotter?

Claire (pointing to the mixer): Mommy, why is that over there?
Mommy: Because I had to make something for tomorrow.
Claire (whispering excitedly): My birthday cake!

Thursday, June 28, 2012

You can't step on the butterflies 'cause then they'd get dead.

Claire: We’re gonna go to the Tannagle Garden after breakfast!


(Alex and Claire went with Mommy to Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens today.)

Claire: You can't step on the butterflies 'cause then they'd get dead.  I saw one on the ground I think it was dead because someone stepped on it.
Daddy: Oh.
Alex: You know what they ate?  Rotten food.

Alex: There was a stick house and a wooden house!
Daddy: Yeah?
Alex: The stick house was so cool!  It was like, made of sticks, sticks were piled up on the wall, and the ceilings!


(Daddy, Alex, and Claire discuss astronomy.)

Claire: How does the moon get up in the sky?

Alex: The sun's bigger than Grandpa.

Claire (regarding the sun): Is it the biggest thing in the whole world, even different states?

Alex: The earth is turning and why do we don't get dizzy?

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Why does she give us some of her money?

(Alex buys a birthday present for Mommy at the dollar store, with his own money. The cashier gives him change.)
Alex: Why does she give us some of her money?


Claire: When can I open my seatbelt, when I'm a grownup, so I can drive the car, when I'm grown up?


Claire: Daddy? Can I tell Mommy when it’s her birthday?
Daddy: Yeah.
Claire: Mommy, when is it your birthday?
Mommy: Friday.
Claire: Oh.
Mommy: When is it your birthday?
Claire: Saturday.


(Alex and Daddy don’t want Mommy to know that they went to the store to buy her a birthday present.)
Daddy: We were slow coming home from school.
Mommy: That's what Alex said.
Alex: Because there was a lot of traffic.


Mommy: On your birthday, you want a cake and presents.
Alex: She said raccoon.
(Mommy laughs.)
Alex: She said presidents.

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Mommy, look! This is a dress! This is a dress, Mommy!

(Daddy comes home from work.  Claire and Alex are watching TV, and Claire's baby kitty is sitting on a chair next to them.)
Claire: We have my baby kitty right there watching our show with us.
Daddy: Oh, okay.
Claire: We're gonna take care of her.


(The kitty is now on the kitchen table, with her mouth in a paper cupcake cup full of beads.)
Claire: Oh!  Kitty is cold when she's eating every day.
(Claire puts a handkerchief on the kitty.)


(Claire is talking about a rocket ship they built, and wanted to fly to "out of space".)
Claire: But how do we get back to our Earth, Alex?
Alex: We'll just turn the wheel, and -- fly the other way.



(Alex drains the water in the bath such that the pipe squeals.)
Alex: What is that noise?
Claire: Maybe it's a monkey.
Daddy: Maybe it's a whale.
Alex: I think it's a lawnmower.
Daddy: Maybe it's a dolphin.
Claire: I think it's a monkey or a dolphin.

Claire: Maybe it's a whale or a humpback whale.

Claire: Maybe it's crying but we're far away from it.


(Claire is jumping around, very excited about her new nightgown.)
Claire: Mommy said this is a dress, you can just wear a pull-up!
Daddy: Wow!
Claire: Some of my friends have dresses with just underwear! Isn't that funny?
Daddy: Yeah!
Claire: This is a dress, I think!

Claire: Mommy, look! This is a dress! This is a dress, Mommy!


Alex: I just like the way Claire reads. I like her reading to me.


(tucking Claire into bed)

Claire: I'm your baby princess.

Claire: Can you say what I say?

Claire: Can you sleep on my floor?
Daddy: No.
Claire: Can you be in the hall?
Daddy: Yes.
Claire: Can you be in the real hall?
Daddy: Yes.

Monday, June 25, 2012

How does the power get out of the things? And how does it get back in them?

Claire: Bye! Make money! Bye! I love you! Bye Mommy! Have lots of fun!


Alex: There's this type of dream, that isn't a dream. When you close your eyes, it happens, and when you open you eyes, it doesn't happen. But if you close your eyes too long, it turns into a dream.


(The power is out.)
Claire: How does the power get out of the things? And how does it get back in them?

Claire: Can we make coffee?
Daddy: No.
Claire: Can we beep on the dinner thing? Where we put pizza?
Daddy: No.
Claire: The oven?
Daddy: No.
Claire: The microwave?
Daddy: Nope.
Claire: Only people can play, right Daddy?
Daddy: That’s right.


(Claire is happily eating a chocolate muffin.)
Claire (singing): I'm eating my chocolate muffin
Claire (singing): And I already ate my chocolate bar

Sunday, June 24, 2012

What color's magoons?

Alex: Can we go to The Tyler Place again today? ‘Cause we went last year, in June.


(Daddy mentions legumes.)
Claire: What color's magoons?
Daddy: All different colors.
Alex: Well, lagoon is another word for a lake.

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Mommy? Not everybody in the world be at parties right? Only some people.

Claire: Mommy? You wanna see something cool?


Claire: Daddy? I wanna count by two thousand with nines.


Alex: I'm gonna count to a thousand.
Daddy: That’d be big.
Alex: Well actually, maybe I'm gonna count to a million.


Claire: Mommy? Not everybody in the world be at parties right? Only some people.
Mommy: Only some people.
Claire: Right, because some people maybe can't come, because they might be sick.


Claire: What's the problem?


Alex: I really want you to play with me, Claire.
Claire: But I'm doing something else.


(Claire and Alex are laughing and playing in the sprinklers, while holding their umbrellas.)
Claire: It’s raining, right, Alex?
Alex: Uh-huh!
Claire: It’s raining today!


Claire: Daddy, this day is when we have family dinner, and no show. And I have a game to play. When everybody’s ready.

Claire: Daddy, this day were having family dinner but Mommy and Daddy have no food.

Claire: When Mommy’s done with my hair we can all eat and we’ll play the game.

Claire: My game is, you say a color and the other persons have to guess it, except, you can't say a thing we already said.

Friday, June 22, 2012

Make lots of money for us!

Claire: Have lots of fun at work!
Mommy: Have lots of fun at school!
Claire: Make lots of money for us!
Mommy: Okay!

Thursday, June 21, 2012

They can't fly out of the TV into our house.

(Claire is trying to clarify the "realness" of the Mickey Mouse characters.)
Claire: And they're not real.
Mommy: That's right.
Claire: They can't fly out of the TV into our house.


Claire: I love games.

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

I'm gonna watch a movie at the bookstore movie theater!

Claire: Mommy and Daddy, I'm your baby kitty.

Mommy (to Alex): Have fun on your field trip.
Alex: I wish you were with me.

Claire: Have a good day at work!
Mommy: Okay.
Claire: And, make lots of money for us!


Alex: I like Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Mommy: Me too.
Claire: I like Tuesdays and Thursdays because I'm gonna see a movie!

Claire: I'm gonna watch a movie at the bookstore movie theater!

Claire: I'm just gonna check if it's too loud for me.

Alex: How big is it?  Like, bigger than that window?
Mommy: Mm-hm.
Alex: Like as big as our house?
Mommy: No.

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

I love everyone in this world, and I love everyone in the other world

(Claire is alone in her room, getting dressed.)
Claire (singing): I love everyone in the world
Claire (singing): I love everyone in the states, even this world
Claire (singing): I love everyone in this world, and I love everyone in the other world

Sunday, June 17, 2012

When it's Thanksgiving, we’re gonna eat where we keep our clothes.

Claire: When is it Claire and Alex’s day? When we don't need to do anything?


Alex: The years just keep on going, even after you die, right?

Alex: When is everybody gonna die, and there's no one left?



Claire: When it's Thanksgiving, we’re gonna eat where we keep our clothes.


(Alex points out that he can always take off his own seatbelt now, in both Mommy's car and Daddy's car.)
Alex: I feel proud.


(Daddy and Alex go to the store so Alex can spend some of his own money.  It is quite an adventure.  Alex has only $12, and is eager to part with it as quickly as possible.  The toys at Target would empty his meager savings, so Daddy finally convinces him to go to Dollar Tree instead, where Alex buys 6 toys for only $5.51.  Alex pays from his own wallet, and is excited when the cashier hands him the receipt.)




Alex: I wanna get this day done.

Daddy: Why do you wanna get this day done?
Alex: Because I wanna get on the bus.


Alex: Paying with that money made me really hungry.


Claire: Mommy, Ashley is four like me when I'm birthday.


(Claire is playing with the new fishing rod toy that Alex bought at Dollar Tree.)
Claire: I'm fishing for toast.

Claire: And this purple one has no butter on it, it has jelly on it; and the pink one has butter on it; and the green one, is not toast, it's waffles.

(A little later.)
Claire: I just need to catch the crocodile!
Claire: Well, I mean the waffle.


Claire: Look, I've got my own notebook!  Look at my own notebook, everybody!

Claire (to Alex): You got your own notebook?!  Wowwww.  Spider-Man, you got.

Claire: Look what I've got!  Look what I got!
Mommy: Cool!  What are these?
Claire: Stickers, I think.
Mommy: These are magnets!
Claire: Ahhhh, magnets and stickers!

Claire: I got more stickers!!

Claire: Can I open my notebook?

Claire: I got what you got!  A bubble maker, too!


(Nana, Pop, Uncle Doug, Aunt Renee, and cousins Dana and Camden go home.)
Alex: I liked having everyone over.
Mommy: Good.
Alex: I wonder what the bus is gonna be like tomorrow.

Saturday, June 16, 2012

I like that Claire likes her present.

(After Alex's friend's party, Alex picks a purple balloon.)
Alex (to Daddy): I'm gonna give this to Claire.

(Later, Claire is having lots of fun with the balloon Alex gave her.)
Alex: I like that Claire likes her present.

Alex: I liked having time with my friends.

Friday, June 15, 2012

Well, you die when you're a grown-up. But I won't die when I'm a kid, right?

Alex: Daddy, watch how I can take off my seatbelt!

Claire: Now I can make a X!

Alex: We missed you a lot.
Daddy: Aw! I missed you guys lots and lots too.
Alex: After graduation, I cried.

Alex: Remember I told you, “There’s just one more day, so you don’t have to worry.”



(Alex, Claire, and Daddy watch Alex’s graduation video.)

(In the video, the kids recite the Pledge of Allegiance.)
Claire: I have that song. At school.

Alex: I like that part because I like watching my shoes light up.

Alex (to Daddy): When I’m 42, don’t turn 43.



Claire (to Mommy): I have the pretty, socks – I have the pretty socks of the whole world, right?


Alex: I’d’ve never’ve thought five-year-olds could do it.
Daddy: Yeah, but you can do it.
Alex: But a lot of eight-year-olds and seven-year-olds do it.
Daddy: Yeah.

Alex: And ten-year-olds.


Alex: You never stop getting bigger when you’re a grown-up, do you?
Daddy: Well --
Alex: Well, if you die.

Alex: You keep getting to a bigger number, right?
Daddy: Right.
Alex: Until you die.

Alex: Well, you die when you're a grown-up. But I won't die when I'm a kid, right?



Alex: What did you draw, Claire?
Claire: Um, the sun and the grass and all the dirt under the grass, and our family.
Alex: Oh.
(Pause.)
Claire: And the sun.


Alex: I wanna have some Daddy time without Mommy.


Alex: A duck’s life has food all over the world.

Claire: Mommy, the mostest thing in the world is grass.



Claire: Our rules are, don’t get on the table and don’t talk while you’re sleeping.

Thursday, June 14, 2012

...you're in a different state, and I'm in a different state, and…

(Daddy is on a business trip, and Claire and Alex talk to him on the phone.)

Daddy: I miss you.
Alex: I miss you, too.

Claire: Is it wake-up time?

Claire: I love you, and I miss you, and, um… you're in a different state, and, um… you're in a different state, and I'm in a different state, and… you're in a different state, and I'm in a different state, and, um… you're in a different state, and I'm in a different state, and, um…
Mommy: Do you wanna tell him that you miss him?
Claire: What?
Mommy: Do you wanna tell him that you miss him?
Claire: I love you and I miss you.

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Just I miss him.

(Daddy is on a business trip, and Claire and Alex talk to him on the phone.)

Alex: I went to Miss Jalbert’s class.
Claire: And I went to Preschool 2.

Alex: I was in Miss Jalbert’s class the whole day, except for lunch.

Claire: I was in Preschool 2 the whole day but not lunch but I was there for snack.

Claire: Bye! Good night! I love you!

Mommy (to Alex): Do you wanna say anything?
Alex: Just I miss him.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

I went to Preschool 2!

(Daddy is on a business trip, and Claire and Alex talk to him on the phone.)

Claire: I went to Preschool 2!

Claire: And I wasn’t mean, and I’m gonna go there every day!

Alex: I’m graduating tomorrow.

Alex: I learned a different way to eat a cherry.

Alex: And I did my seatbelt today!

Claire: Right now I did my buttons by myself!

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Daddy, do you remember a long time ago we ate that little brown stuff that was like applesauce in a little cup but it was like applesauce but it was brown?


Alex (to Daddy): I need to do all my favorite things with you today. Because tomorrow you're leaving.


(Claire is going to draw a thank-you card for Grandma and Grandpa.)
Claire: I know what to make.
Daddy: What?
Claire: I can write “I love you”, and my name, and I can draw me and Grandma and Grandpa.
Daddy: Yeah?
Claire: And a heart.


Alex: He's eighty. He used to be seventy-nine. And then he had a birthday and turned eighty. Rememeber? We went.

Claire: Daddy?
Daddy: Mm-hm?
Claire: Do all the girls in the whole world go to my birthday? No -- um -- do all the girls in the whole world go to their birthdays, in June?



Claire: Daddy, do you remember a long time ago we ate that little brown stuff that was like applesauce in a little cup but it was like applesauce but it was brown? Do you remember that?
Daddy: Yeah.
Claire: What was that?
Daddy: Pudding.
Claire: Oh. I like pudding.


Alex (reading to Claire): These friends stick together.
Claire: How do they un-stick?

Saturday, June 9, 2012

I love being at home, but what I love most is the beach.

Claire: I love being at home, but what I love most is the beach.

Alex: Daddy?
Daddy: Yeah?
Alex: Why do we have to go home?

Friday, June 8, 2012

Save money or we won't have jobs!

Alex: That was cool!


(An airplane flies by, pulling a Geico banner behind it.)

Alex: An airplane is flying with a lizard!

Alex: “Save money.” It wants us to save money!

Alex: Save money or we won't have jobs!
(Alex laughs.)

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

I made a geyser!

Claire: Daddy, can you play this game with me?

Claire: After all the sticks are done, we should count them and see who gots the most, okay?


Claire: When we get back to the house, we can put all the shells in my collection.


Claire: Maybe we can play a game while we walk.

Claire: Now I have a different game. This game is gonna be really hard.
Daddy: Okay.
Claire: Somebody has to walk, and get ahead of the other person. Isn't that really hard?


Claire: You get in this path. No, you get in that path. Now. I have a game. You need to -- um, run and get ahead of that other person. Okay?
Daddy: Okay.
Claire: Go!

(Claire and Daddy play this game several times.)



Claire: What does “intrepid” mean?

Alex: It’s like a marching band! In the water!

Claire: It’s really yummy. I'm gonna eat all of it.

Alex: Sit right here, Daddy.
Daddy: Okay.
Alex: You're my buddy.


Claire: At school, Miss Yvonne has a baby named Claire like me!
Daddy: Oh yeah?
Claire: Except she's tinier. I saw pictures and she has piggy tails like me.



Alex: Maybe it’s because sometimes bad guys try to cut it down, and bad guys don't like pretty things, so they can't cut it down...



Alex: Wait up, guys!

Alex: You're like Meg’s Uncle Jimmy!

Claire: I'm gonna teach Alex my shovel game. Someone hides the shovel where no one can see it, and then they say "Where's the shovel?". And then if they find it, they win.

Alex: I made a geyser!

Alex: I made a geyser!

Alex: Mommy, I made a geyser!

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

I like being your chucklehead.

Alex: I liked yesterday because I liked seeing the sand flying across!

Alex: Then we had to pack up so much! And we, almost, blew away! How much wind was it? Did you listen to the weather?

Alex: First it was a little breeze, then whoosh!



Claire: It’s warm enough. It’s really cold.

Mommy: I can go down there with her.
Claire (running over excitedly): Can you go down to the beach with me, Mommy?


Claire: Daddy, the little little holes are where no crabs lives in, because crabs are too big for little holes.


Claire: There's a mountain over there! You can climb up it!

Claire: Alex, there's a mountain over there!
Alex: Yeah?
Claire: You wanna climb up it?
Alex: No.


Alex: You can only go twenty-five and, no parking.
Daddy: That’s right.
(Pause.)
Alex: No parking here either.

Claire: I saw those persons park on that sidewalk, and there was a -- there was like a -- there was a kid with a jacket on, and it looked like you, Alex. It was littler though.


Alex: We’re walking across it on a bridge!
Claire: We’re going through tall grass!
Alex: This is like a cornfield!
Claire: It’s like a forest!


Claire: I saw a girl, that was a kid, riding her bike with her daddy.
Daddy: Oh!
Claire: And the daddy, was riding his bike with her.


Claire: I can count to ninety, Daddy. Watch me, watch me count to ninety.
Daddy: Okay.
Claire: Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ninety!


Alex: Daddy! That window is our room!
Daddy: Yeah!
Alex: I figured it out!


Aunt Sheridan: That word is “core”. Do you know what a core is? Like an apple core?
(Pause.)
Alex: Ah, it’s the round part, with the stem on it, that you can't eat.


(Claire explains to Grandma and Meg how to play Zingo.)

Claire: Somebody has to zingo it, and something comes out, and it has something on it, and you can put it on your card.

Claire: If everything is on your card, you can't put anything on the red, if everything is on your card, you get to win.



(The sun comes out.)
Claire: Maybe the pool is warm now!
Grandma: Maybe we can test it out.
Claire: Maybe we can test it out later after the game is done!

Claire: Because it’s really hot now!


(Grandma suggests Claire dip her toe in the pool to see if it’s warm, and Claire points out that she has to take her socks off first.)
Claire: Yeah because, if I put my foot in with my socks on, my sock will get wet.


Claire: This is gonna be really cool. This is gonna be what makes you happy.

Claire: Or it could be a person falling down.



Daddy: You're pretty good at these puzzles.
Alex: That's why I like puzzles.
Daddy: Just like me.
Alex: Mm-hm. I'm your ki-- I'm your boy!



(bed time)
Alex (sadly): We’re gonna hafta go home soon.
Daddy: No, we've got lots more days here!
Alex: But seven isn't really big, like twenty or a hundred or a thousand.

Alex: You don't call Claire “chucklehead”, right?
Daddy: No. You're my chucklehead.
Alex: I like being your chucklehead.

I like being your chucklehead.

Alex: I liked yesterday because I liked seeing the sand flying across!

Alex: Then we had to pack up so much! And we, almost, blew away! How much wind was it? Did you listen to the weather?

Alex: First it was a little breeze, then whoosh!



Claire: It’s warm enough. It’s really cold.

Mommy: I can go down there with her.
Claire (running over excitedly): Can you go down to the beach with me, Mommy?


Claire: Daddy, the little little holes are where no crabs lives in, because crabs are too big for little holes.


Claire: There's a mountain over there! You can climb up it!

Claire: Alex, there's a mountain over there!
Alex: Yeah?
Claire: You wanna climb up it?
Alex: No.


Alex: You can only go twenty-five and, no parking.
Daddy: That’s right.
(Pause.)
Alex: No parking here either.

Claire: I saw those persons park on that sidewalk, and there was a -- there was like a -- there was a kid with a jacket on, and it looked like you, Alex. It was littler though.


Alex: We’re walking across it on a bridge!
Claire: We’re going through tall grass!
Alex: This is like a cornfield!
Claire: It’s like a forest!


Claire: I saw a girl, that was a kid, riding her bike with her daddy.
Daddy: Oh!
Claire: And the daddy, was riding his bike with her.


Claire: I can count to ninety, Daddy. Watch me, watch me count to ninety.
Daddy: Okay.
Claire: Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ninety!


Alex: Daddy! That window is our room!
Daddy: Yeah!
Alex: I figured it out!


Aunt Sheridan: That word is “core”. Do you know what a core is? Like an apple core?
(Pause.)
Alex: Ah, it’s the round part, with the stem on it, that you can't eat.


(Claire explains to Grandma and Meg how to play Zingo.)

Claire: Somebody has to zingo it, and something comes out, and it has something on it, and you can put it on your card.

Claire: If everything is on your card, you can't put anything on the red, if everything is on your card, you get to win.



(The sun comes out.)
Claire: Maybe the pool is warm now!
Grandma: Maybe we can test it out.
Claire: Maybe we can test it out later after the game is done!

Claire: Because it’s really hot now!


(Grandma suggests Claire dip her toe in the pool to see if it’s warm, and Claire points out that she has to take her socks off first.)
Claire: Yeah because, if I put my foot in with my socks on, my sock will get wet.


Claire: This is gonna be really cool. This is gonna be what makes you happy.

Claire: Or it could be a person falling down.



Daddy: You're pretty good at these puzzles.
Alex: That's why I like puzzles.
Daddy: Just like me.
Alex: Mm-hm. I'm your ki-- I'm your boy!



(bed time)
Alex (sadly): We’re gonna hafta go home soon.
Daddy: No, we've got lots more days here!
Alex: But seven isn't really big, like twenty or a hundred or a thousand.

Alex: You don't call Claire “chucklehead”, right?
Daddy: No. You're my chucklehead.
Alex: I like being your chucklehead.

Monday, June 4, 2012

Good one, Meg!

Alex: No. We had to stay up, because all the people who were telling us to look at the walls were playing... pianos.
(Alex laughs.)


Claire (getting back in the pool): It’s not warm! It’s warm! It’s a little bit cold but it’s really warm!


Claire: I wanna eat lunch at our real home. Are we going to our real home?

Alex (to Meg): What are you gonna have for lunch?
Meg: I don’t know. Maybe a hot dog. Maybe it'll split open.
Alex: Ha ha ha! Good one, Meg!

Alex: Daddy, I'm gonna see things that are far away!


Alex: It’s splitty. Like “my hot dog split open”.

Alex: It’s hot. Like “my hot dog split open”.


(Alex and Claire are looking out the window, and see birds flying overhead.)
Alex: Look! They're making a triangle!
Alex: They're flying north.
Claire: Yeah but -- a triangle has to have a bottom one too.


Alex: And it’s good that you already had your dinner, so you can stay in here with us. And you'd be scared out there without us. Right, Daddy?

Saturday, June 2, 2012

Those brown things make me wanna eat one.

Mommy: Okay, what's your game?
Claire: You need to say a color, that's outside, and, then the other person has to guess it.


Alex: This is like a California bridge.


Alex: Those brown things make me wanna eat one.

Friday, June 1, 2012

Which it stands.

Claire: Alex, you know what's my favorite things?
Alex: What?
Claire: Um, swinging with Alex, and --
Alex: Going to the beach!
Claire: Um, swinging with you, going to the beach, and drawing.


Claire: Um, I can read "stop", and all my family, because I know all those words, except “Grommie”.

Claire: I know lots of words.

Claire: And I can write "I love you!"

Alex: I have trouble with very long words.



Alex: Do you like packing, Daddy?
Daddy: Uh-huh.
Alex: Me too.
Claire: Yeah, because, when you pack, that means maybe you’re going to the beach, or to Disney World.
Alex: Or a different state.
Claire: Yeah a different state.
Mommy: Is the beach in a different state?
Alex: Yeah, well, it’s still in the United States.
(Pause.)
Alex: Of America.
Daddy: And to the republic.
(Alex laughs.)
Alex: Which it stands.
Alex: Imagination.
Alex: Um – and just as for all.



Alex: I can’t wait ‘til tomorrow.

Alex: I wanna go to sleep without thinking about the beach, ‘cause I don’t think I can sleep.

Thursday, May 31, 2012

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!

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

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?

Monday, May 28, 2012

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.

Sunday, May 27, 2012

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!

Thursday, May 24, 2012

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.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

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.

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

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.

Monday, May 21, 2012

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.

Sunday, May 20, 2012

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.