Mommy. I love you.

Claire (to Daddy): Will you run? I’m-a catch you.


Claire (to Daddy): I have a pink shirt, you have a blue shirt.
Daddy: That’s right.


(Claire and Daddy are pushing strollers.)

Claire: Can you go to Grandma’s house with me?

Claire: I going to Grandma’s house!

Claire: I at Grandma’s house. I inside.
Daddy: Oh, say hi to Grandma for me. Is Grandpa there?
Claire: No. They at work.


(Claire climbs into Mommy’s lap while Mommy is reading.)
Claire: Mommy. I love you.
(Claire gives Mommy a hug.)


Alex: I had to pee, Daddy.
Daddy: Okay.
Alex: I was a long way from the potty, so I had to hurry up so my pee wouldn’t come out when I was not at the potty.


Sir Topham Hatt: You must take those things to the workmen, and they will fix the shed. And a hammer and a saw.
Alex: And a screwdriver.
Sir Topham Hatt: That’s right. Can you take those to the workmen?
Toby: Yes, but first, Alex might need to go poop.
Daddy: Okay.
Alex: I need to poop, so he said that. That’s silly.


Alex: I pooped.
Alex: I pooped. I pooped. I pooped. I pooped.
Daddy: Okay, I heard you.
Alex: I’m singing a song about pooping.


Alex: If I point the bucket to you, you have to run and sit on the thinking chair, and I’ll see if you get to win. Okay?
Daddy: Okay.
Alex: That’s the game.

Claire (shouting from other room): I’m in this room, Alex! I’m in this room eating with my baby.

(Alex has scattered pillows and books and toys around the family room into some kind of obstacle course. He then explains the rules of the “game”.)

Alex: If you walk across these, I will try, I – you don’t go on these first, I go on them first. Then Claire goes on them first, then Daddy goes on them first. First I, then Claire, then Daddy, okay? First this. Okay? Okay. And now, wait for me to go! And I go down, and I’m sliding, and I go down the bridge, and I get off here. And I roll across – there – and I put down here, and I walk across the bridge. Step to step to step. And then I go – I’m showing you how to do the pattern. And then I crawl across these books. And then you fall into the river, and you hide in the blankets, so Daddy doesn’t see you. And if Daddy sees you, you don’t win the game, you won’t have no candy, so, so, you won’t do the book game, you won’t do the book game.

Alex: Claire do you wanna play the game?
Claire: Yeah.
Alex: Well then hurry up!
Claire: ‘Kay.
Alex: We’re ready to play the game! But we need a baseball too.

Alex: I need to write down the pen, so I can get a, get another dinner game for us!
Daddy: Okay.
(Alex takes a pen and pretends to write on a coaster.)

Claire: We’re doing a game, Daddy! Right here.
Daddy: Yeah?
Claire: Yeah. Sit here with me. Sit on there. No – on the baseball.
Daddy: Sit on the baseball?
Claire: Yeah.

Alex (to Daddy): You’re not following the decorations! You’re not… following the – durations.

Alex: And then you fall down. And then, you lie down and sleep. But then! You wake up and say, “What’s that?!”

Alex: But then, you, climb across this, and reach tall! Grab to the big (otters?) and crack, you down. And fall. But then, you fall across it. Then – hey Claire, I’ll show you how to do this. You roll, you roll across this.
Claire: Can I do it?
Alex: Not yet. Not yet, Claire. But then… you jump onto the chair very hard! And then, you win the game.
Claire: Let’s do a game what you –
Alex: We’re not gonna do it yet, Claire, but first, you squirt this.
Claire: No get on my baby, no!
Alex: And you sit on the lunch bag. And you know what comes next? You read this, and then, you dance around!

Alex (playing with refrigerator magnets): Cat! I spelled cat!
Mommy: You did! Good job!
Alex: And then – and then you finally win the game!


(Claire takes off her jacket by herself.)
Claire (proudly): I got my jacket – my jacket by myself!
Daddy: Oh, good job, Claire!
Claire: I got my jacket by myself, Mommy. I got my jacket by myself.
Mommy: You what?
Claire: I got my jacket by myself!
Mommy: Good job.


Alex: Why is that flower hanging down?
Daddy: Looks like it died.
Alex: What does “die” mean?


(Claire does a very good somersault.)
Daddy: That was perfect!
(Claire smiles.)
Daddy: Is that a roll or a flip? What do you call that?
Claire: That a flip.
Daddy: Oh, I like it.
Claire: I do that at ‘chool!
Daddy: You do that at school? What class did you learn that in?
Claire: Um… in gymnastics.


Claire: Daddy, let’s sing Twinkle Little Star.
Daddy: Okay.
Claire: Come on! Sing with me.
Daddy: Okay.

Claire: I’m singing!
Daddy: You’re doing great!

Claire: You didn’t sing, Daddy! You didn’t sing! With me! Twinkle little star! You didn’t sing!
Daddy: Okay, I’ll sing this time.
Claire: No you didn’t sing.

Claire (drawing): I’m makin’ a big big circle!