‘Cause you love me?

(Claire draws a picture.)
Claire: Look Daddy, I made… a couch.
Daddy: A couch? Oh, good!
(Claire colors some more.)
Claire: Now I made a big couch.
Daddy: Oh, good.

(Claire draws a boy.)
Daddy: What is he doing?
Claire: Um, he is flying with his feet, and his – his feet, and his hand, and his hand.
Daddy: Oh.
(Claire draws some more.)
Claire: He has a big, big, hair. Look. That’s a big hair.
(Claire draws some more.)
Claire: And that’s a big hair, and that’s a big hair.

(Alex and Mommy come inside from playing in the backyard.)
Claire: Wanna color, Alex? Daddy got you a chair if you wanna color. You wanna color? Alex, you wanna color?
Alex: Okay.
Claire: Daddy got you a chair.
Alex: Mm? Okay.

Alex: Look at Lucy.
Daddy: Yeah.
Claire: Look at Elmo’s teeth.
Daddy: Yeah.
Daddy: Can you hold it up so I can see?
(Claire holds up her picture.)
Daddy: They’re very purple. And Lucy’s very black.
Alex: She’s covered in smoke.
Alex: Black – black doesn’t show up, maybe I’ll use a lighter color.

Alex: Look. Look. Look at Linus’s shoe. It’s orange.
Daddy: Yeah.

(Much later, the kids have been coloring for a long time. Claire moves her chair and her coloring book over next to Alex.)
Claire: I’m going to sit beside you.
Alex: ‘Cause you love me?
Claire: Yeah, ‘cause I love you.
Alex: Thank you Claire, I love you too.

(A few minutes later, Alex looks over at what Claire is coloring.)
Alex: Is that – do they – is that – do they – it looks like Bert has pajamas on.
Claire: He has –
Alex: Does he have pajamas on?
Claire: He has, ‘jamas pants. And he has ‘jamas, a green shirt.
Alex: Yeah. He has green… green pajamas.
Claire: Yeah. I’m drawing him a green hand.
(Alex laughs.)
Alex: His hand is inside hiiiiis… pajamas.
Claire: Yeah. It’s like – it’s almost like a glove. It’s like a glove.
Alex: Look! Abby’s gonna catch Elmo. They’re gonna catch flies. She’s gonna catch that fly and Elmo, too. They got nets.

Alex: Look, Daddy. Snoopy’s sad, because he’s colored all in purple.
Daddy: Yeah.
Alex: He doesn’t like purple. But he’s -- he’s in front of a rainbow but he doesn’t know that, and he turned purple. And then he’s gonna turn orange.

(Alex spontaneously gives Claire a lengthy explanation of how, when his arm gets tired, he colors a different page in the coloring book – and he concludes with the following piece of advice.)
Alex: So you know that, if you, if your arm gets tired, you do what I, I told you okay?
Claire: Okay.
(A few seconds pass in silence.)
Claire: My arm is ge–- is tired.
Alex: Okay, so then –- is it tired for real, like –- when I’m coloring all this a lot, maybe my arm will get tired, because my arm is tired, but my arm’s not tired yet. I didn’t color a lot, look Claire. If your arm gets tired, you can just stop coloring and color a different page. You wanna color a different page because your arm’s tired, right?
Claire: Yeah.
(Claire starts coloring a different page.)



(dinner)

(Claire sees the Minnie Mouse spoon sitting beside her plate.)
Claire: I have Mickey Mouse on my foon.
Alex: Can I see it? Can you show me?
Claire: I have Mickey Mouse on my foon.
Daddy: You have Mickey Mouse on your spoon?
Claire: Yeah.
Alex: No you have Minnie Mouse.
Claire: No, Mickey Mouse.
Alex: No, Minnie Mouse.
Claire: No, Mickey Mouse.
Alex: No, Minnie Mouse.
Claire: No, Mickey Mouse.
Alex: No, Minnie Mouse.
Alex: Claire, can I see it?
(With a flat expression and without taking her eyes off of Alex, Claire picks up her spoon from the table and slowly moves it into her lap, where Alex can’t see it.)

(Without warning, Daddy suddenly reads aloud a selection from his book.)
Daddy: “Ping left his car in visitor parking and walked the three blocks to the library. Night had fallen and the evening was cool. The air was fresh and the world seemed –“
Alex: Is that a story?
Daddy: Yeah, do you like it?
Alex: Yeah.
Daddy: “—the world seemed clean and full of promise.
Claire: I like the story!
Daddy: You like it too, okay.
Daddy: “The full moon lent a silver sheen to the cobblestone walkway and the surrounding grass. He walked forward clearing his mind, making room for inspiration.”
(Pause.)
Daddy: Okay guys, what’s the story about?
Alex: A person.
(Daddy laughs.)
Daddy: Good, a person! And what else?
(Alex thinks.)
Alex: Fresh!
(Daddy laughs again.)
Daddy: And it has the word “fresh” in it.
Daddy: What did the person do?
Alex: He walked three blocks to the library.



(Alex is in bed, and Mommy and Daddy are downstairs watching TV. Daddy sneezes.)
Alex (from his bed): Bless you.
Daddy: Thank you.
Alex: You’re welcome, Daddy.