Tiny Turned Four

Tiny brainstormed for months about her birthday and all the things she wanted to do (backpacking, hiking, camping, ice skating, surfing, and a bunch of other things). In the end, her real requests ended up being as follows: crepes for breakfast, Little House on the Prairie (the first episode is longer than the others, TV-movie length), swim in Cikaneks' pool, chicken nuggests for lunch, play on the tramp, piñata, hot dogs for dinner, and s'mores for the birthday dessert. It was the most mellow birthday ever, and she was perfectly satisfied with it. 

I decorated the traditional "birthday chair" with crepe paper and balloons so that on her birthday morning, Tiny was greeted by that and all her presents. Jim had bought her some random stuff already, and then he asked her about a week before her birthday what she wanted. To our surprise, she rattled some things off like a ruby and a stuffie. So he tried to make all her dreams come true by also buying everything she asked for. She ended up with a giant ball (like an exercise ball), a bean bag chair, Black Stallion, an elephant stuffie, and maybe more. Then  Ever bought her an apron, and Wrenzy gave her a unicorn stuffie. It ended up feeling like quite a haul. Later I asked Tiny if she liked her bean bag chair, and she said, "So much. I love it as much as I love Ever's elephant. And that's way more than a thousand. That's how much I love every one of my presents." It was very cute. 

The girls watched the first episode of Little House on the Prairie and passionately loved it. I'd never seen the show, and it's really heart-warming. I can't overstate how much I love my girls' love of it. 

Tiny got some solo reading time with Daddy out of one of the books he reads just with her (as opposed to the book we read to all the girls together, the book I read just with Ever, and the book I read just with the littles; we have a lot of books going at one time). 

I don't have any photo proof, but I believe we did swim in Cikaneks' pool.

We grilled hot dogs and burgers with Cikaneks for dinner. Then we finally used the unicorn piñata that we bought last year and forgot to pull out on her third birthday. Noah and Nathan helped the girls whack it. It leaked candy for a while and died a slow death, so everybody got plenty of hits.

In an effort to avoid giving their boys more sugar, Scott and Rebecca took them home before we made s'mores on the fire pit. 

Tiny took her s'mores on chocolate graham crackers. I knocked the top off to insert the candle.

It was a lovely summer evening. The girls took out the hula hoops, and Ever showed off her mad skills.

Tiny at four: 

She is our wildest, most carefree child. She chatters nonstop. We were in the kitchen once while she was going on and on, and Jim said, "Can you say 'incessant'?" I love her babble. 

She's made great strides in the eating arena and now eats some fruits and vegetables. Apples, oranges, avocados, oatmeal, yogurt (often with Grapenuts), cheese, and Mexican food are favorites. And of course snack food and all the treats. She LOVES treats. She still drinks "watermilk" (milk), although Jim and I started rationing her a long time ago so she wouldn't fill up on that instead of food, so now maybe she doesn't get enough. 

She generally pees in her undies multiple times a day - not enough to get on the floor (that I know of) but enough to make me really exasperated, especially since she's been doing it for months and there's no end in sight. And she plans to sleep in diapers forever. 

She's hilarious and silly. She has multiple alter egos - Normal Baby, Cutie Baby, and Ever's Kitty are the main ones. Sometimes she's Normal Baby Who Loves Mommy, and she snuggles with Mommy. Sometimes she's Normal Baby Who Loves Daddy, and Daddy gets the snuggles. When she's Cutie Baby, she's super affectionate with everyone and covers parents and sisters in kisses and hugs. Cutie Baby is our favorite, obviously, and she used to visit a lot. Lately (I'm writing this in September), she promises appearances by Cutie Baby but isn't delivering so much. I'll be devastated if she's growing out of her extreme-affection phase. 

Tiny loves nature and always asks to climb any mountains or visit any snow we see. She asks to go hiking and camping. She's brown-skinned and an amazing little fish. It still makes me so very happy to see her jumping into the pool, swimming down deep, and being totally confident in the water.

The First Half of July, Except Tiny's Birthday

Jim had Friday, July 3rd off work. Ever had surf camp that week, so Friday was the last-day contest. I was very pleased that Jim got to go with me. We went early because we knew parking would be a nightmare on 4th-of-July weekend. I actually wrote about this day in my June post. This was Ever's second week of surf camp, and I described the contest and included pics in that previous post. Here are a couple more photos:

I believe on Saturday the 4th I attended a COVID-style baptism for a boy in Primary (abbreviated service attended by only a handful or two of us sitting six feet apart). I think we probably swam in Cikaneks' pool, although I don't remember. Karen Bunnell offered us sparklers because they had a ton and couldn't hold their annual 4th-of-July party because of COVID. We shared a box with Nathan and Noah, and the girls enjoyed the rest.  

Ever put our new outdoor deck furniture to use. 

Jim offered to pay the girls $15 to clean out our strawberry patch, which had been overrun by weeds. I thought that was way too generous until I saw how hard they worked. Ever and Wren spent all their spare time one day working on it and got more than halfway done. Meanwhile Tiny, who had no interest in participating in the project, peed in probably six different pairs of undies. So aggravating.

The biggers finished the strawberry patch the following day. Wrenzy fought the heat by weeding nude.

After they finished, we hit the beach. Tiny looked like the cutest little surfer girl, though I don't believe she actually ended up doing any surfing.

That afternoon we swam next door, and the girls had lots of fun being tossed into the pool by Jim. The top of Ever's swimsuit was rubbing, so she pulled it down around her waist, real modest-like.

Before bed that night, Ever said she wanted to write in her journal and grabbed a notebook. (This was unprecedented. I was never aware of any journaling before.) Wren immediately said she also wanted to write in her journal, so we found her a composition notebook to use. They went to work. 

Wrenzy's entry was really wonderful. I believe the last line, "After that we did church," was written in anticipation of the following morning. 

Here she is reading it:

For a time after that, she was obsessed with her journal. She would write in it all the time and read, reread, and reread it - to herself or anyone else who would listen. She even brought it with us to Oregon (post coming soon) and read it to Max Bennion (son of our friends Chris and Jon) while we stayed with them. 

Things the Kids Have Said, Part 4

Arden -10/7/19

"Mom, I'm hungry, and I can't hold it."  Often she says, "I'm super hungry that I can't wait."

Arden -10/11/19

Twice in the morning, as soon as we got in the car and started driving somewhere, Tiny said she had to go potty - very, very urgently, like she could not wait at all. In the past, I've been so confused by her sudden and desperate need to go to the bathroom, even when she's just gone to the bathroom, that at one point I said something like, "I don't understand, Tiny! Your body has a bladder. Use it." So today, the second time Tiny desperately needed to go, she calmed down and said, "My body can't hold it, but my bluster can hold it. My bluster is doing it."

Arden - 10/12/19

"I'm going to have an activity where only grown-ups fight. To see who's the best fighter. I'm the goodest fighter in the whoooole city of my sisters, Wren and Ever. I can pull their hair. That's a good fight. And I hit. That's good, too."

Arden - 12/19/19

In the car:

Tiny:  "Daddy, I need to go potty, but I can hold it."
Me:  "Do you have a strong bluster?"
Tiny:  "Yeah, it can hold five million pieces of potty."

Arden - 1/1/20

While we were eating dinner with Mamo and Papo, I asked Ever how many kids she wants.  She said, "Two boys and three girls."  Then I asked Tiny how many kids she wants.  She said, "One boy and eight ... million girls."

Arden - 1/4/20 and all the time

Often I sing the oldie but goody "Johnny Angel" to Tiny:  "Tiny angel, how I love you, and I pray that someday you'll love me. Then together we will see just how heaven could be." Tiny says, "Mom, I already love you, so you never have to sing that song again."

Ever - 1/6/20

Since Ever is on winter break, the girls have been wanting to sleep in the same bed. (We made a rule a while ago that they couldn't sleep together on school nights since they don't settle down so well. Also they don't really fit in one twin bed, but they always eventually fall asleep.) They did OK last night, or at least they were quiet and went to sleep before too awfully long. Tonight they were SO tired. We skipped naps and went mini golfing, and by the time we did our bedtime reading, they were zombies (yet still trying to stretch out reading and everything else so they could stay up later). I wanted to get them in bed by 6:30 at the latest; instead it was about 8:00 by the time they were in bed. Then they wanted to sleep in the same bed. We said OK, but we were only giving them five minutes; then if they weren't settled down, we'd move somebody (or all of them). I ended up not checking on them until 8:30. They were all awake, and Wren was sitting up next to Ever chatting. I went in and said, "Wren, get in your bed." She silently complied (which shocked me), while Ever said, "There's so much to talk about." Then Ever asked if they could they talk until 7:00 if they went to bed at 6:15 or 6:30 tomorrow? I'm working tomorrow, so I said, "Yes, if you can get Daddy to get you in bed by 6:30 tomorrow, you may talk until 7." So cute. I love that they are friends, and I wonder what in the world they have to chat about for so long before bed when they've been together all day every day lately.

Wren - 1/9/20

Me: "Bear, you're so big, and you're going to kindergarten soon. What am I going to do without you?"
Bear: "Live your own life."

Arden - 1/15/20

"Mama, when are we gonna be able to see Tutu and Papa? Is it gonna be three days? Is it gonna be five days? Is it gonna be eight million days? How about 15?"

Arden - 1/17/20

I was reading Tiny a library book, and I started by saying the title, by So-and-So, illustrated by So-and-So. Tiny said, "Thank you for that person to writing this fun book!"

Arden - 1/25/20

Jim said to Tiny, "Tiny, why are you so fun?" Tiny responded, "I'm never going to stop the fun."

Arden - 2/7/20

We were on our way to pick up my friend's one-and-a-half-year-old, Baby Tommy, so she could go to a doctor's appointment. Tiny wondered if he knew we were going to take him. "Is he knowing? I know that babies don't know stuff. Babies don't know anything."

Arden - 2/8/20

As Jim was loading up the car to take the girls Girl Scout cookie selling: "After we go cookie selling, we're going to have a snuggle fest with Daddio [or Daddy-oh?]! Just because Mommy just had one. If I have time, I'll snuggle with Mommy." Then, referring again to the snuggle fest with Daddy, "And it's going to be a long one!"

Wren - spring 2020

Bear calls everyone "babe" now - not all the time, but not infrequently. As in, "Hey, babe. Come on, babe."

Mommy - all the time

I have a lot of made-up songs I sing constantly to the girls, especially Tiny. To the tune of the Primary song that goes, "Mother, I love you. Mother, I do," I sing "Tiny, I love you. Tiny, I do. I love you, Tiny, and I love you true," or some variation. Lately the girls have been joining in on my songs, and I love it.

I also recite letters to the girls all the time. Usually they go something like this: "Dear Tiny, How I love you! Love, Mommy" or "Dear Tiny, How much do I love you? Love, Mommy" or "Dear Tiny, I love you. What do you want for breakfast? Love, Mommy." Once in a while, they write me back. When Wren writes me back, it usually goes, "Dear Mommy, XOXOXO."

Arden - 3/6/20

To me: "Do you have a 'nola bar for Wrenzy-poozy-lovey?"

Then later: "I'm super hungry that I can't wait. But I still have the mint taste in my mouth. Can you see the taste?"

Arden and Wren - 3/6/20

Tiny and Wrenzy told me how when we were in Hawai'i with the Karners, the Primary teachers couldn't understand Wren's name.

Wren: "I couldn't say my name, so they were calling me 'Gwen' the whole time."

Tiny: "I could say it, so I told them three times."

Wren: "And every time, they were like, 'What did you say?'"

Tiny: "I could say my name loud enough, but I couldn't say Wren's name loud enough. I told it in my same voice."

We had a good laugh together about Wren's being called "Gwen" all through Primary.

Arden - 3/22/20

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, church meetings have been canceled for the time being. We've had two weeks of home church so far, and it's wonderful. Tiny has been scribbling on a couple of pages (like wavy lines filling up the entire page) and calling them "church sheets" or "church copies." She stands on the bench by the window in front of all of us and presents them in the beginning of our meetings. Today's was about Jonah and the whale. She said Jonah didn't want to teach in a city, so Jesus made a storm. Jonah fell off the boat and was swallowed by a whale. Then the whale spit him out. She is hilarious and amazing, and she is very serious about her church copies. Once Wren wrote on one, so Tiny had to copy it all onto a new page.

Update:  On 4/1, I asked Tiny to go pick up the papers she left on the ground and put them in the recycling bin. She said, "No, of course I wouldn't do that. They are my church copies and some of the pictures that Jesus made."

Wren - 3/22/20

"I have two talents - coloring and yelling." Then we spent a while taking turns yelling "vegetable beeeef!" to see who was the loudest.

For being the tiniest human in the world, Wrenzy can yell so incredibly loud. Sometimes when she's downstairs with me, I'll yell for one of her sisters upstairs, like "Ever, come down please!" Then Wren will yell at the top of her lungs (about three times as loud as I did, and I thought I was loud), "EVER! COME DOWN HERE!"

Arden - 3/23/20

Tiny, while snuggling in our bed in the morning: "Why don't we use the deck?" (We just put in a new one.)

Me: "We need to get some furniture so we can sit out there."

Tiny:  "We need to use it to watch nature." Then, "I want to hike to go camping."

Arden - 3/23/20

As she was eating lunch: "Every time I close my eyes, I see Anna and Elsa."

A minute later: "Mama, how do you say 'frozen' in Spanish? That can be our Spanish word for the day. When Wren and Ever come in [they were out outside riding bikes], you have to tell them. Because I'm learning how to speak Spanish. And then I want to learn Angalish." That's how she pronounces "English."

Ever - 3/25/20

During her morning prayer:  "Please help Mom to let me read more."

During our COVID-19 quarantine, she's been reading a ton. She started the Nancy Drew series, and her pace is a book a day now. We have a full schedule of different things we want to do with her each day (Spanish, biology, math in various forms, writing, etc.), but all she wants to do is read - to the point of shedding tears if/when I try to make her stop reading.

This afternoon, when I found her reading on my bed after I got out of the shower: "Mom, this is the best chapter! And the chapter before this was the best chapter, and the chapter before that was the best chapter. They're all the best!"

Arden - 3/25/20

Tiny came downstairs with socks on her hands and socks on her feet. Jim asked what was up with her mittens, and she said, "Because - to contain my powers. And my feet have powers, too."

She and Wren came down a little while later asking me to tie blankets around them like capes. Such fun they were having.

Arden - 3/26/20

Tiny is generally the first to get out of bed, around 6:45 or 7:00, and she comes into our room and goes straight for Jim. She snuggled with him for a while this morning and then said, "Now I'm going to snuggle with Mommy." She came to me, slipped one arm under my neck and laid the other one over it so she was hugging my neck, and said, "I just want to look at you, sweet Mom." Then, as she was poking my cheek, "I like your chubby cheeks." (Clearly inspired by Jim's and my constant love of her cheeks.) She went on to profess her love in a variety of ways, including something like, "I love you so much that I always want to live in this house, even when you are a grandpa and grandma."

Eventually we ended the snuggle fest, and I got up to brush my teeth and get dressed. While I was in the bathroom, she said, "Let's go back to bed together and snuggle." So round 2 happened. It was amazing.

After her nap, I told her that the house needed to get cleaned up and fold her laundry. She said, "Only if you give me some snuggles."

And after she came downstairs, when she was on the couch and I was in the kitchen, "Will you give me some snuggles?"

Never has there been a more loving child.

Ever - 3/28/20

"Mom, are you in a good mood? I need to know if I should ask you something. It's very high-risk." (She wanted to ask if we could do a slumber party in the living room that night.)

Arden - 3/30/20 and always

While helping me make her oatmeal, Tiny said, "Will you spill it, and I'll mix it?" She always says "spill" instead of "pour."

Arden - 4/3/20

The girls were trying to get me to read more of By the Shores of Silver Lake (book 5 of the Little House on the Prairie series) before bed. Tiny threatened, "I'm going to eat my boogers if you don't."

Wren - 4/7/20

Over dinner, we were talking about The Sound of Music, which the girls had watched that morning. Jim asked, "Does it have this in it?" And he sang loudly and with feeling, 'The hills are alive with the sound of music." Wrenzy said, "Yeah, but it's not that tune."

Arden - 4/10/20

This was all right after Tiny came into Jim and my bed in the morning:

"It's a snuggle fest. We'll see who has the most snuggles." My back was facing her, and she put her arm around me from the back. Then she directed, "Now turn over." She lay on top of me, hugged me tightly, and gave me a couple sweet kisses on my face. Then she announced, "It's over. The winner is Mommers! She had the most snuggles."

Jim passed gas in a loud way. Tiny said, "You tooted." Jim said, "I did. It was I." Tiny said, "Mmm, it's one of your yummy toots."

"I've got to watch on my sisters ... make sure they're not getting into mischievous." She went into the bunk-bed room, and I heard her say, "Are you mischievous?" Then, back in our room, "They are into mischievous."

Ever - many times every day

Every time Ever takes an AR quiz, she makes Jim and me guess how many AR points she has. It goes something like this:

Ever: "Guess how many points I have?"
Parent: "380."
Ever: "More."
Parent: "390."
Ever: "More."
Parent: "400?"
Ever: "Less."
Parent: "394."
Ever: "More."
Parent: "398."
Ever: "Less."
Parent: "396."
Ever: "More."
Parent: "397."
Ever: "Point?"
Parent: "Point 4."
Ever: "More."
Parent: "Point 6."
Ever: "More."
Parent: "Point 7."
Ever: "Yes."

She does the same thing every time she reads. She'll come downstairs after reading Nancy Drew and say, "Guess what page I'm on."

Every time. So much guessing.  

Ever - 4/10/20

I agreed to allow Ever to do abcya.com. It's ostensibly educational, but some of the stuff is more game, less learning.

Me: "But no more than half an hour, Goose. You've had a lot of screen time today. Two shows so far today." (One show was in Spanish, but still.)

Ever, smugly: " 'So far' sounds really good, Mom. Really good."

Arden - 4/11/20

Some background: possibly the first time Matix Rondo came to our house (at least two years ago), he broke a toy. The girls never forgot it. They talked about it all the time, and they started blaming all broken things on him. Jim started joking about it; if something was broken, he'd say that Matix probably did it, even when Matix hadn't been here for a year. So this morning, as I was putting sunscreen on Tiny, we had this convo:

Tiny: "I don't like the spray sunscreen. It feels like a dolphin is biting you."
Me: "Really?"
Tiny: "Yeah, and I remember long, long ago when Matix was here, he didn't like it either."
Me: "He didn't?"
Tiny: "Yeah, I remember when Matix was here a long time ago, he broke our stuff, and he didn't like the spray sunscreen that feels like a dolphin is biting you."

I remember having a conversation with Matix about spray sunscreen and believe he may not be a fan. I have to think the dolphin-biting-you thing is all Tiny, though.

Arden - 4/11/20

Tiny wrote me a letter, and it wasn't even in response to one of mine!  She came in from outside and said, "Dear Mom, Dad sent me in here because he needs help by you. He needs help making the ceiling." (He was putting wood on the ceiling of the entryway outside the front door.)

Arden - 4/12/20

Tiny: "Mom, what can I do right now?"
Me: "Um, love me?"
Tiny: "That's not fun. Can you think of something funner than snuggling?"
Jim: "Why don't you go outside and play?"
Tiny: "OK." Then, on her way out the door, "Mom, is it snail weather?"

We recently had a wet day when the snails came out en force. It was disgusting. They were all over our windows and deck posts, and they left their trails all over. They freaked out Tiny, and now I think she's afraid to go out if it's "snail weather."

Arden - 4/12/20

Me: "Tiny, will you please go upstairs and hang these dresses in your closet?"
Tiny: "Please may I hug you first?"
And she gave me a big hug and a kiss. The sweetest.

Ever - 4/12/20

Tongue-in-cheek: "My clock is doing a weird thing. It was 4:00 when I was reading, and then I looked up and it was 4:56. It had only been a few minutes."

Arden - 4/15/20

Tiny came to me while I was playing the piano and said, "Wake up for snuggles!" She told me to come for snuggles on the couch. While we were snuggling, she said, "I don't need anything else besides Mommy and Daddy. And a house."

Arden - 4/20/20

Tutu made us cookies while we were in Hawai'i with the Karners in February, and everyone loved them. I got the recipe from Tutu and made them yesterday. Jim thought mine weren't as good as Tutu's, and Ever seemed to agree. I made my sad whale-song sound and said nobody liked my cookies. Tiny said, "I like your cookies!" Then she came over, hugged my leg, and said quietly and sweetly, "Well, you tried your yummiest."

Arden - 4/24/20

The girls watched The Sound of Music a couple weeks ago, and Tiny has been confusing and combining the song that goes, "Doe, a deer, a female deer / Ray, a drop of golden sun" with the farewell song that goes, "So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, adieu / Adieu, adieu, to yieu and yieu and yieu." The other day she was singing, "Doe, adieu [but sounding like "deer" with a British accent], adieu, adieu, adieu." Tonight she sang, "Adieu, adieu, a female 'dieu."

Arden - 4/27/20

I was trying to work in the home office, and Tiny came in holding a candy. "Mom, could you get me a envelope? It's for Mother's Day." Then, just as I was about to express my appreciation for her preparation of a Mother's Day present, she continued. "It's for someone not in our family. I want to give it to Piper."

Arden - 4/29/20

About the chocolate milk in her Happy Meal, "I'm a fruitarian for this stuff." (We started calling Wren a fruitarian because she eats so much fruit. Tiny uses it for for anything she eats a lot of.

Then, talking about how she and Wren saw me drive up when they were in their Barbie car and started yelling for me: "I just wanted to jump on you and hug you and kiss you!"

Arden - 5/1/20

Tiny and Wrenzy walked into the kitchen with a little sari around Tiny's head and tied under her chin, as Wrenzy called her "Mary." Tiny said, "I need to check my checkbook and see when my baby is coming."

Wren - 5/2/20

We were listening to a song that contains the line, "When I grow up, I want to be your girl." Wren said, "She should want to be a mom. Then you can eat treats."

Ever - 5/8/20

"I'm going to read about politics, Mom. Then I'll be able to talk in your conversations with Papa."

Arden and Wren - 5/11/20

Tiny and Wrenzy had been playing together while I showered. As I emerged from my room, I passed them on their way to their room.

Wren: "Hi, Mom. We're finding books with beautiful girls in them."
Tiny: "Yeah, so we can be them."

Arden and Wren - 5/11/20

Tiny: "I remember when you almost died in Mommy's belly."
"Wren: "No, you don't. And that's not even how it went. Mommy almost died."

Ever - 5/11/20

After Ever followed me to the door instead of continuing with the stuff she was supposed to be doing, we had this exchange:

Me: "Dear Goosey, Why are you here? Love, Mommy."
Ever: "Dear Mommy, You shouldn't have used the word 'love' in your letter. It was a very angry letter. No love, Ever."

Arden - 5/12/20

Picking up a picture of me by a lake in Canada and loving on it: "My favorite picture of Mommy! So I can look at her even when I can't see her."

Arden - 5/13/20

To Wren: "You're funny. I don't like funny girls."

All the girls - 5/13/20

In her dinner prayer, Wrenzy asked Heavenly Father to bless that Coco and Dun Dun would have another baby. When she finished, Ever said she was praying against the will of Coco and Dun Dun. I explained that Coco and Dun Dun do want another baby, just not right now; maybe in about eight months. Ever said she wants them to have a boy. Then the girls discussed how they couldn't have a family that matches ours (three girls) because they have Anson. Wrenzy said, "They could put him in jail. For all the years."  Ever said, "Or an orphanage." Tiny seconded, "Yeah, an orphanage."

Ever - 5/13/20

Ever earned a reward that was supposed to be a three-hour activity with Jim or me. Since everything we normally would have done is closed, she chose to watch the first Harry Potter movie, having just read the first two books. We watched in installments - half last night, half tonight. Last night she asked me to watch with her, and then she sat cuddled against me with my arm around her the whole time. It was originally her idea to watch only a little bit, but then she didn't want to turn it off. She reluctantly agreed when we were exactly halfway through but still sort of jokingly gave me a hard time about turning if off. When I walked her up to bed, I said, "Good night. I love you." She was by the stairs to her bunk, and she put her fist up and said, "Grr. You're the worst!" Then she rushed over to me and threw her arms around me and hugged me.

Tonight when she was getting ready to turn the movie on, she asked, "Will you snuggle with me?" I told her I would; I'd just get the cookies in the oven first. She kept talking about snuggling, saying it was her favorite, and it was good because now I'd be snuggling with her during the scary parts. I turned on the oven and did dishes while it preheated. She kept turning around to chastise me for not yet snuggling with her. I told her I'd clean up while it preheated. Then I told her I'd just wait until the cookies were done. Then when I joined her, she snuggled right up and cuddled the whole time.

She is so sweet. How did we get such loving girls?

Arden - 5/14/20

I went to check on Tiny in the bath and asked if she washed her feet. She said she did. I lifted one out of the water and smelled it. She said, "What does it smell like? Delicious watermelon?"

Arden - 5/14/20

I told Tiny I couldn't find my phone so to look out for it. She said, "OK. I'll look for your denwa bango."

"Denwa bango" means "phone number" in Japanese. I call my phone "denwa bango" instead of just "denwa" (which means "phone") because "denwa bango" is more fun to say. I didn't know Tiny had picked up on that term, though, so it made me laugh when she said that all on her own.

Wren - 5/24/20

Wren: "What should I do?"
Me:  "Love me."
Wren:  "What should I real do? You're doing computer stuff, so I can't love you." (I was on my laptop blogging.)

Arden - 6/6/20

Jim was working on the new room (the garage loft), and Tiny had been hanging out with him while I worked in the office. She came into the office and said she hadn't seen me for sooooo long, almost all day. I said, "I know! Have you been having fun with Daddy?" She said "Yeah." Then, "No, not a lot of fun. Because I can't have that much fun unless I'm with you and Daddy." And she went on and on about how it's really only fun if she can be with both of us.

That evening, she came into the office and kissed my arm (which she has done repeatedly today). I asked, "How are you so special?" She said it's because she's so loving. I asked how she's so loving, and she said something like, "Because I'm so cute. If you're really cute, you're more loving, and I'm little, so I'm super-duper cute."

A minute later, she said, "I want to stay with you for a little. So I can be with you and see you."

Then, spontaneously, as she was snuggling with my arm, "I love you. You are the best. I love you. My best girl is right here."

(Her declarations of love and displays of affection are so amazing, it's as if they're scripted. Like they are designed to manipulate us. I told Jim maybe she is manipulating us, and he asked, in effect, "To what end? To get hugged and kissed?")

She pointed to the picture of Grandma and Grandpa Hastings on the desk and asked who they were. I told her, and she asked, "After they get resurrected, can you take me there?"

Arden - 6/12/20

Coming in from outside, where she and Wrenzy have been playing in dirt and sawdust making "food" and who knows what else: "Wrenzy and I are playing Little House. We each picked a person. Wren picked Ma, and I picked Mary. We can't pick the same person because that doesn't make a family, and we're trying to make it real. I don't really like when people are bossing over me, but moms are supposed to. So Wren's bossing over me but only a little bit because I don't like a person bossing over me."

Arden - 7/6/20

Tiny got out of bed and came downstairs. She walked up to me on the couch, and we had this conversation.

Tiny: "I want some water, and I want to tell you a question."
Me: "What's your question?"
Tiny: "Um, Mama," looking away from me, over toward the bookshelves, "how is wood made?"

Ever - 8/1/20

Ever told me she was on page 200-something of Anne of Avonlea (the second book in the Anne of Green Gables series).

Me: "Are you enjoying it as much as the first one?"
Ever: "Yep. Even more because there's more romance."

Arden - 8/4/20

Out of nowhere, as we were driving home from dropping Ever, Leela, and Rafi at day camp:

"Mama, I want to see a mountain lion that's dead."

Wren - 8/4/20

The littles were at the table eating lunch, and I was in the kitchen preparing more food. While at the stove with my back to the girls, I sang, "How do you like me now?" (from the Toby Keith song, although I didn't know who sang it until Google just told me). I heard Wrenzy's voice reply, "I like you more than you could even know."

Ever - 8/5/20

Ever decided that instead of earning a show for practicing piano five times in a week, she wants to earn a book for every 20 piano practices. I asked her what book she's going to get. Her answer:

 "I'm going to Google 'romancey books.'"

Arden - 8/24/20

Tiny: "Mama, I don't want to go in an orphanage." 

Me: "Tiny, you're never going to have to go in an orphanage." 

Tiny: "But how can I die at the same time as you?"

After a brief discussion about why she wouldn't ever have to live in an orphanage, Tiny said, "Tricked you! I want to go in an orphanage to see what it's like."

Arden - 8/28/20

Tiny was eating letter cookies that Coco left here, and she held up two A's and said, "This is in my name!" I asked her what sound it made. She made the sound for "t" three times - "/t/, /t/, /t/." I said, "Is there a /t/ in your name?" She said, "Yeah, Tiny!"

Arden - 9/12/20

Minutes after discussing with the littles the fact that the next day was Sunday so we'd have plenty of time to read, I said to Tiny, "Tiny, tomorrow will you snuggle me all day long?" She answered, "It won't be possible because I have to do chores and everything." I laughed. Tiny continued: "And I have to do Black Beauty with Daddy, and as soon as I'm done, I have to do Little House. It's gonna be such a big day."