I love that new baby.

(Daddy open’s Claire’s door to wake her up from nap.)
Claire: Mommy!
Claire: Daddy! Are you home?

Daddy: What does Santa bring?
Claire: Presents!
Daddy: That’s right.
Claire: And a new baby!
Daddy: And a new baby?
Claire: Yeah. I love that new baby.

(Daddy wakes Alex up from nap. Alex is sound asleep and bleary-eyed.)
Daddy: Grandma and Grandpa are here.
Alex: Grandma!
(Alex leaps out of bed and runs to the top of the stairs.)
Alex (shouting down the stairs): Hi!

Alex: Can you get Hiro, ‘cause I wanna show her.
Daddy: Okay.
(Daddy runs upstairs to get Hiro.)
Alex (to Grandma): I got Hiro!


(Alex is opening gifts from Grandma and Grandpa.)

(Alex unwraps some Matchbox cars.)
Claire: Cars!!

(Alex unwraps a rubber snake.)
Alex: A snake!
Alex (excited): I got a snake! I wanna play with the snake!


Alex: I was playing with my garbage truck.
Mommy: Do you like it?
Alex: Yeah, because it’s my favorite toy and I wanna share it with Claire too.
Daddy: Aw, good!
Alex: Because, sometimes I don’t wanna play with it, sometimes I wanna play with a different toy, too.


(dinner)

Alex: Can we do the dinner game?
Daddy: No, we’re not doing the dinner game.
Alex: We can do a pretend dinner game. Let’s do, um, things that start with B.
Alex: Bottle, you know what else? What else, Daddy?
Claire: Um… boat!
Alex: Boat?
(Pause.)
Alex: What else, Claire? Buhhhhhh…
Claire: Doggie!
Alex: No, doggie starts with D.
Alex: What starts with B?
Claire: Uh, Mommy.
Alex: No, Mommy starts with M.
Claire: M, Alex.
Alex: No, I start with a A.
Claire: Daddy.
Alex: No, he starts with a D too.
Claire: Claire.
Alex: No, you start with a C.
Claire: Alex.
Alex: No I start with a A.
Claire: Daddy.
Alex: No – what’s on the table that you see.
Claire: Car.
Alex: No. What’s the blue thing.
Claire: Book.
Alex: Right! Book starts with B!

(Claire finishes her applesauce cup.)
Claire: Can – May you help me get, the last bite please Daddy?
Daddy: Yes.
(Daddy scrapes the last bite of applesauce from the cup. Claire waits with her mouth wide open until Daddy feeds her the last bite.)

Alex (out of the blue, and loudly, to no one in particular): Don’t say: “Nee, ploh, pleh, doh, weh!” Don’t say that.
Daddy: Nee, ploh, pleh, doh, weh!
Alex: No, don’t say that!

Daddy: Claire, what did you do at gymnastics today?
Claire: I rolled.
Daddy: You rolled?
Claire: Yeah.
Alex: What else?
(Pause.)
Alex: Did you jump up and down?
Claire: Yeah.
Alex: Well, what else did you do? Did you do handstands?
Claire: Yeah.
Alex: Was it hard?
Claire: Yeah.
Alex: Did your gymnastics teacher help?
Claire: Yeah. Just one teacher.

Claire (looking down at her plate): I want some more carrots.
Daddy: Your carrots are almost ready, Claire.
Claire: I’m talkin’ to my plate. To this.
(Claire points at the glob of barbecue sauce on her plate.)
Daddy: Oh, okay.
Claire (looking down at her plate): I want some more carrots, please.
(Claire smiles.)


(Claire is eating her toast and identifying the resulting shapes.)

Claire: What is him, Daddy?
Daddy: What?
Claire: Him a penguin!

Claire: What is him?
Daddy: I don’t know, what is he?
Claire: Him a scarecrow!

Claire: What him now?
Daddy: I don’t know, what is he?
Claire: Um… a snowman!

(Claire finishes eating her piece of leftover birthday cake.)
Claire: I want some more yesterday. I want some more yesterday. I want some more yesterday.
Daddy: You want some more yesterday?
Claire: Yeah.
Daddy: What does that mean?
Alex: She can have some more yesterday.
Claire: I want some more yesterday.
Mommy: You want some more tomorrow?
Claire: No.

Alex: I wanna read books to Claire.
Daddy: Okay.
Alex: Because I like reading books to my sister.


Alex (seeing “Claire” written on a plate): C, L, A, I, R. But “Claire” doesn’t have a E in her name. There’s no “eh”.