Thursday, December 31, 2009

Last Quotes of 2009

. . . or at least the last ones that you're likely to hear about.
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We have four people in our house and, somehow, only one toilet. This can make for quite a few contentious moments.
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For example, Marley had been sitting on the potty for a long time and Beth wanted to use the bathroom. So Beth calls into the bathroom, "Marley are you finished on the potty yet?"
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And Marley called back, "No, Mommy, I'm still dropping anchor."
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Bonus quote: Marley has been known to shout "Bombs away!" when she's sitting on the potty.
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The other day, Hayden and Marley were putting on a show with their friend Alana. Before it started, Hayden played the role of the announcer and this is what she said:
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"Ladies and gentlemen, the show is about to start so please turn off your cell phones. And if you have small children, please take them outside if they make any noise. Now let's start the show!"
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The girls were watching a movie and the term "divorce" came up. Marley asked what that meant and Beth told her.
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Marley responded, "No, that's not divorce, that's called being single."
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And, finally, some visuals. Hayden and I had been talking about how some artists learn their craft by copying other artists work. She wanted to give it a try.
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The first work she chose to copy was Van Gogh's Sunflowers:

Here's how it came out:
Next up she chose Matisse's Golden Fishes:

Here's Hayden's version, which I thought was pretty great:

Even more impressive, at least to me, was the following picture Hayden made several hours later at a friend's house. Mind you, she didn't have the Matisse original in front of her and it was made strictly from memory.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

I'm not sure that word means what you think it means . . .

I was telling Hayden the other day that I thought maybe I should lose some weight.
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She responded, "Daddy, you're fat in a good way!"
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So supportive.
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Marley can be very exasperating at bedtime. She'll constantly call for Beth (mostly) or me (sometimes).
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One night, Beth responded to one of these calls because Marley said she had to go to the bathroom. So Beth brought her to the bathroom and said, "Marley, after this I don't want to hear another peep out of you, OK?"
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M: OK.
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B: I mean it, not another peep.
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M: OK, Mommy. Next time that I call you I won't make a peep.
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So close, yet so far.
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Hannukah season is fast approaching and the girls are more than a little excited. I had the following chat with Hayden about Hannukah:
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M: Every night of Hannukah we light candles and, if you've been good, you get a present.
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H: I know, Daddy.
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M: Before you girls were born, Mommy and I used to give each other presents but we don't do that anymore.
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H: That's because yours and Mommy's presents now are making Marley and me happy.
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I think she meant to say that it's better to give than receive, but I'm not so sure.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

For Arts Sake

Hayden is constantly drawing pictures of and for people so the other day Marley decided to get in on this and drew a picture for Hayden. Now Marley is 3 1/2 so her work isn't making it to the Met any time soon. Hayden decided that despite her young age it was time to face reality and said the following:

"Marley, I'm not trying to hurt your feelings or anything. I'm just trying to be honest but your picture isn't very good. I don't think you should give me any more pictures until you get a little older and your artwork is better."

Next stop art lessons...or therapy?

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Hayden Youngman

I've been very happy the last few days because both of our girls have been showing signs of an interest in Star Wars. They're really coming around.
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But that's not the full extent of my nefarious influence on the girls. Hayden has also apparently inherited my propensity for teasing Beth about her height. Here are a few examples.
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As anybody who has been within earshot of her knows, Marley talks. A lot. So we started calling her "Little Miss Chatterbox" and bought her a hat and a shirt featuring that character.


Hayden, always wanting more apparel, decided she wanted a "Little Miss Naughty" shirt. That led to the following exchange.
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Beth: If you're Little Miss Naughty and Marley is Little Miss Chatterbox, who would I be?
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Hayden: Little Miss Little!
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Boom! Roasted.
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Beth tripped and fell over the weekend and hit her eye on a desk. She's mostly okay now, but it left her with a quite visible shiner on her right eye. People have been asking me (jokingly, I hope) about why I have been beating her.
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One night when we were all in the living room, I was telling Beth, "You know I still love you, Tina Baby" like creepy Ike did in the Tina Turner biopic What's Love Got To Do With It.
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I then asked Hayden, "Do you think we should call Mommy 'Tina Baby'?"
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Without hesitating, she said "No, we should call her 'Teeny Weeny.'"
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Boom! Roasted again.
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Finally, I'm assistant coaching her soccer team and she came to a coaching clinic I had to take. We had a great time and she made these awesome pictures the next day.


Friday, September 11, 2009

New Quotes (sorta NSFW)

It was right before bedtime and Marley was still clamoring for some treats, leading to this exchange with Beth:

Marley: Mommy, I want some fruit snacks.

Beth: No, it's almost bedtime.

M: Mommy, I really want them. I'm very hungry!

B: How can you be hungry? Didn't you eat dinner?

M: Yes, but I only ate a green leaf, like the Hungry Caterpillar.

Her all-roughage diet explains quite a lot . . .
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We're all very excited in Stately Michelson-Reiner Manor because Hayden is finally old enough to play on a neighborhood soccer team. I'm an assistant coach and was able to maneuver it so our team got lavender uniforms.

Anyway, the uniforms came and the girls very excitedly tried some on and I was wearing my (also lavender) coach's jersey.

Marley then asked, "Daddy, can I be your Mini Me?"
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Beth was lying down at bedtime with Hayden and had the following chat:

Beth: You know, tomorrow is Stacey's birthday. I've known her since I was your age and also in kindergarten.

Hayden: So do you think that I'll still be friends with people I'm friends with now when I'm a mommy?

B: Sure.

H: Do you think you'll still be friends with Stacey even when you're a grandmother?

B: I'm sure I will.

[slight pause]

H: Are you a grandmother now?

I'm surprised that Hayden didn't already know the answer to that question. I can see why there might be just a tiny bit of confusion though since Beth is as tall as many grandmothers.
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Finally, Marley can have her tough moments but she can also be extremely, effusively loving.

Lately, she will - without prompting - say "Daddy, I love you" or "Mommy, I love you." (She's not saying this to cover up some unseen misbehavior, as far as we can tell.) Or she'll tell us how she loves some stuffed animal or ice cream we got her. Very sweet.

Another behavioral quirk of Marley is that she will follow Beth and me around everywhere and not give us any privacy. Not any. Not when we're on the toilet, in the shower, etc.

Anyway, these behaviors combined and led to Marley saying the following after she burst in on me while I was in the shower:

"Daddy, I see your penis!"

[slight pause]

"Daddy, I love your penis."

Hard to respond to that one, I can assure you.

Friday, August 7, 2009

Some new quotes and a video clip

Hayden and Marley are somewhat surprisingly into classic musicals. In addition to Mary Poppins, they also enjoy Bye Bye Birdie quite a bit.

So it was only sort of a surprise that Hayden asked for me to put in the DVD for "West Side Montessori."


Lately the girls have thought it was fun and cute to act like babies. So instead of asking for something in English, they'll point at it and make a baby noise like "bah." As you can imagine, this is quite exasparating.

Marley did this recently by pointing at her cup of juice and saying "bah."

"What does 'bah' mean?" I snapped at Marley.

Marley calmly responded, "It's Spanish for juice."

Well, if she says so . . .


Hayden can be a bit mercurial about what she does and doesn't want to do at any given point. So I was lying down with her at bedtime and tells me, "Daddy, I don't want to go to Colorado this year."

"Is that right?"

"Yes. And Marley told me that she doesn't want to go either."

"OK, I'll talk to her about that when I go in her room next."

Short pause.

"Well, you know how Marley doesn't remember saying things all the time."

Hmmmmm . . .


Marley can be bizarrely affectionate sometimes.

Beth had just come home from work a few days ago and Marley told her "Take off your skirt so I can mush your booty." As she went about mushing Beth's caboose, she announced "I love your booty Mommy."

Somebody call Hallmark.


And finally, here's a video of Hayden giving an interview in connection with a graduation DVD that the school produces. As you can see, she's a bit ambivalent about her braids sometimes.

Friday, July 24, 2009

The Little Girl With The Curl


There was a little girl who had a little curl
Right in the middle of her forehead;
When she was good, she was very, very good,
And when she was bad she was horrid.
-Nursery Rhyme
Marley has more curls than just a little one right in the middle of her forehead.  But, otherwise, she's the Little Girl with the Curl down to a tee. When she's good (as she is almost all of the time), she's very very very good. But when she's bad . . .


A small example is one time that Marley said she had to go to the potty. Beth was sitting with her in the bathroom and, before anything came out, Beth asked "Is this going to be a false alarm?"

Marley looked up and said "You wish."


A better example happened when we were sitting on a bench outside of Ben & Jerry's eating our ice cream.
Marley saw a Mister Softee ice cream truck on the corner and said "Mommy, I want some Mister Softee!"

An Upper West Side yenta sitting near Marley interjected "But you already have ice cream."

Without pausing or blinking, Marley took her ice cream cone and threw it on the ground. Problem solved.

She can be as cold as ice cream.


Anyway, Marley's very very very good moments outweigh those moments when she is horrid. And Marley knows this.

One night at bedtime, Beth was lying down with Marley. Beth looked at her and said, "Marley, you know, you're lucky . . ."

And Marley interrupted ". . . that I'm funny and I'm cute!"

To which I would only add ". . . and smart."

Monday, June 22, 2009

Misunderstandings

We were at a store and Hayden says to me, rather loudly, "Daddy, I want to see you pee."

"What?"

"I want to see you pee."

Then I remembered that she likes to spell things out. So I said, "You want a cup (C-U-P)?"

"No, I want to see you pee."

Only five minutes later did I realize she was telling me she wanted to see the movie Up.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Long Time, No Post

It's been a long time in between posts, but the girls have been saying cute stuff in the interim.

For example, Marley likes to tell jokes and her current favorite one is the following:

Marley: You know what?

Innocent Victim: What?

Marley: Chicken butt.

Never fails. Nor do the variants, "You know why? Chicken thigh" and "You know who? Chicken tattoo."


Hayden 's birthday was a few days ago and we went to the sublime Dylan's Candy Bar to celebrate. It was a surprise though, and the girls were thrilled when they saw where we were going. Hayden was particularly thankful, and she told Beth:

"I forgot that I wanted to go here for my birthday, but I'm glad you didn't forget."


Hayden also graduated from preschool last week and Marley was sitting on my lap during the ceremony. I got a call on my cell phone, which was set on vibrate. Marley promptly announced: "Somebody's making a toot!" (That's what we call flatulence in Apt. 64.)


Hayden attended preschool in a synagogue and on the bulletin board one day were a series of Israeli flags that Hebrew school students made. So I asked Hayden if she knows what Israel is.

She said "Yes. That's where God lives."

Personally, I think She would prefer someplace where She could snowboard, but Hayden may be right.


Marley was telling me that she got some play-doh under her fingernail. I must not have expressed enough sympathy because she quickly insisted "Be very sad, Daddy."


Finally, Marley has been using a bunch of funny sayings lately. Maybe you just have to hear them come from her insistent, curly head, but I may as well list them here.

When Marley has to go to the bathroom, she invariably announces "I need to use the potty really badly."

Another one is that when Marley wants something she shouts out "I'm begging you Mommy!" or, more recently, "I'm really begging you Mommy!"

Tough to turn down.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Swine List

Marley has a good friend named Miranda and they were playing together recently. From another room, Marley could be heard talking on her play telephone saying:

"Hello doctor? We need to make an appointment. Miranda has the swine flu."

Somehow cable news crises even reach the under 3 set.


Speaking of the swine flu, Beth was explaining to Hayden what it was all about:

Beth: Well, "swine" means "pig" so it comes from pigs.

Hayden: And it flies through the air, right?

Beth: I suppose. How did you know that?

Hayden: Because it's the "flew."

She was serious, but it is kind of funny.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

WWW

We just returned from a long roundtrip down to Maryland for Dylan's fourth birthday party. We had a wonderful time, but the car trip was unexpectedly long.

Marley may have many great qualities, but she is not the best travel partner. First of all, she doesn't sleep in the car. And not only does she not sleep, she talks the whole time. Except it's not really talking so much as shouting. And she doesn't just shout, she shouts questions and demands.

So after four hours of this shouting, I finally said to Marley: "Listen Marley. If you please be quiet for five minutes, I'll give you a lollipop."

No more than 30 seconds passed before Marley shouted out: "I need help!"

"What do you need help with Marley?"

"With a lollipop," she said.

Not what I had in mind.


If you've read previous blog entries, you know that Hayden knows what her Hebrew name (Chaya) means. So she asked Beth what her Hebrew name (Brina) means.

"I don't know," Beth answered.

"Well, what does 'Hayden' mean?"

"It's a name," Beth said. "It doesn't mean anything."

"Well, I think it means 'Superstar.'" Hayden announced.

And so it is written, so it shall be.


We were watching one of our many Sesame Street DVDs, and this one focused on the alphabet. They were talking about words that start with W.

"What's your favorite W word?" I asked Hayden.

"Hmmm. I don't know," she answered. "Why don't you tell me all of them and I'll decide."

I'm waiting for her to learn to read the dictionary.


Speaking of W words, I got home from work this week and Hayden knew I had been to court since I was uncommonly wearing a suit. She greeted me at the door by saying:

"Daddy, how was court? I hope it was wonderful!"

Not really, but I'm glad to have the support.


And finally, and also speaking of W words, Hayden was watching Diego on TV and asked me what nada means. I told her that they were actually saying de nada, and it means "you're welcome" in Spanish.

She was very excited to start using the term, so she said to me:

"Daddy, de nada to come into my room if you want."

I was confused for a second and then realized that she meant that I was welcome to come into her room.

I was going to correct her, but I didn't know how to say it in Spanish either.

Friday, April 10, 2009

Getting Dressed

Hayden was sitting in her closet, trying to pick out an outfit to wear. This is a process that can stretch on for 20 minutes or more.

Marley, prankster that she is, went to close Hayden's closet door while Hayden was still sitting in it. Hayden yelled in protest and pushed it back open, but Marley kept trying to close it on her.

Sandra came over and asked "Marley, why do you keep closing the door on Hayden in the closet?"

No response from Marley other than looking down at her shoes.

"Marley, answer me. Why do you keep closing the door on Hayden?"

Still no response from Marley.

"Marley, tell me why you keep closing the door on her."

Finally, Marley looks up and says "To keep her safe."

Nice but, of course, dubious.


Beth asked Hayden if she remembered that Dylan's birthday was this weekend.
Hayden said she had forgot and she explained: "I forgot to turn my brain on."


Marley was sitting naked watching tv in our living room one morning when all of a sudden our little 2 and a half year old blurted out, "Jesus Christ, I need to get dressed!"

I'll be expecting a call from the pre-school any day now . . .

Dancing in the Parks

Hayden likes to treat playgrounds not only as playgrounds, but also as her own personal performing spaces/tai chi studios. Here is an example of her impromptu performances, and this was not done for the camera:

And, since Marley loves the camera, she asked to have me record one of her own performances:

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Self esteem and an alias

When I found out we were having girls, I became committed to making sure they had healthy self esteem. As this exchange shows, it turns out that I shouldn't have worried:

Me: Hayden, I was looking through old pictures trying to find a picture of Sandra (our wonderful nanny) for her birthday card and I saw lots of pictures of you as a baby. I forgot how smiley, happy and cute you were as a baby.

Hayden: When I was a baby, did you know how pretty I was going to grow up to be?

Me: Well, I did hope that you would grow up to be as pretty as mommy.

Hayden: I'm actually prettier than mommy, you know.

Me: Nobody's prettier than mommy, Hayden.

[short pause]

Hayden: Well, I think I'm prettier than mommy . . .



When Beth or I come home for the last few days, Marley runs to the door and greets us the same way:

"Here comes The Tushie!"

I'm not sure if this is her superhero alter ego, her school nickname, or what. But it's pretty cute.



I took the girls out for Ben & Jerry's one night and we were walking home. Hayden wanted to stop in at Duane Reade and buy a toy or magazine or something and I said no.

Hayden started whining and complaining in a way that was completely disproportionate to the slight she suffered, leading to this exchange:

Me: You know Hayden, I think you girls are spoiled. I give you too much stuff.

[short pause]

Hayden: You know, you really didn't do anything that great.

She instantly took it back, but it was a pretty good point.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Latest Batch of Quotes

I've started playing hockey a bit more regularly and most of the games are after the girls have gone to sleep. But I left for one of them before they went to sleep one night, leading to this exchange:

Marley: I want to go watch daddy play hockey!

Beth: I'm sorry, but it's too late. You need to go to sleep.

Marley: But then who's going to say "Go daddy go!"?


A week later or so, Beth was trying to get Marley to get into her diaper pull-up so she could get into pajamas, leading to this memorable exchange between Marley and Beth:

Beth: Marley, bring your tushie over here!

Marley: I'm sorry. It's closed right now.


Last night was a tough one at Michelson-Reiner Manor. Marley has strep throat and was throwing up aplenty. Beth was on her own at home because I was out. Hayden was not listening very well and was giving Beth grief about going to bed. But she did finally show some contrition when she was lying in bed with Beth:

Hayden: Mommy, I'm sorry I wasn't cooperative with you.

Beth: It's o.k. honey, but you have to understand it was very hard for mommy tonight. I'm on my own and Marley is throwing up. And now I have to clean up after her and clean up the living room and bathroom.

Hayden: You know what, mommy? Maybe I should stay up and help you out.

That Hayden. Always thinking.


And finally, we saw lots of cousins this weekend at the bris to celebrate the new arrival of our adorable new cousin Drew. Sydney is a big fan of the blog and asked that I post this video I took of Hayden and her at the playground:

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Quotes Come in Like a Lion

Ever since she began using the potty, Hayden has been an eccentric pooper.

At first, she would make sure someone was keeping her company and she would ask to be hugged tightly "to squeeze the poop out." So this meant hanging out with Hayden while she sat on the potty and then she'd all of a sudden exclaim "It's hugging time!"

Nowadays though, Hayden prefers her solitude. But recently I overheard her talking while she was sitting on the potty saying:

"Come on out. Come on out. I don't know why you changed your mind and don't want to come out."

No word yet as to whether the poop talked back.



In other tushy talk, Marley will sometimes walk around nude and, one day, I asked her if I could have her tushy so I could take it to work with me.

"Just a little piece," she counteroffered, holding her thumb and pointer close together.

Very generous, I think.



Moving on to non-pooping body parts, Hayden was snuggling with me on the couch and said, "Daddy, I can hear your heart beeping."

Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto.



Speaking of Hayden, she was drawing something on the computer and said, "Daddy, when I'm done with this drawing it's going to change your world."

Characteristic modesty.



And, finally, we were watching They Might Be Giants' Here Comes the ABCs and got to talking about the alphabet. Here's a transcript:

Hayden: Daddy, Marley's special because her name has an A in it and A is the first letter of the alphabet.

Me: That's true.

Hayden: And you and I are special too then.

Me: That's true too.

[Medium pause]

Hayden: But mommy isn't special.

Me: That's not true. You know that mommy is very special.

Hayden: Well, she did marry you.

Hayden either has a wildly unrealistic image of marriage, her father, or both.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Lord, they were born traveling girls

Our recent trip to Colorado brought with it some memorable quotes, etc., from America's favorite under-five fashion plates. So without further ado:

From the That's A Relief Dept.:

Hayden asked me one afternoon if she could have some lemonade. I told her that, sorry, we don't have any right now.

About an hour or so later, Marley was drinking some water and asked if she could have a lemon.

"Sorry honey," I answered, "we don't have any lemons here."

"We also don't have AIDS." Hayden added.

"What?" I said.

"You know, we don't have ades, because we don't have lemonade." Hayden said.

Oh those homynyms . . .


From the Maybe You Had To Be There Dept.:

Marley was playing Where Is Thumbkin on the plane ride home. (Rather loudly, not giving a whit for the other passengers. But tough beans. It was the afternoon. But I digress . . .)

Right after the first verse, she went right for "where is pinky" in the second verse even though she was holding up her pointer fingers.

"No sweetie," Beth corrected her, "that's your pointer. The little one at the end is your pinky."
Marley looked at it silently for a second and then exclaimed "It's so cute!"

So true.


From the All British People Must Be Related Dept.:

We caught the beginning of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone after Hannah Montana was over and, characteristically, Hayden wanted to watch it because she recognized it as entertainment targeted for kids older than her.

"What's this?" I asked Hayden.

"Oh, you know, it's Harry Poppins," she answered.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Yale Fight Song

Sorry for the low image quality, but I thought some of you might enjoy Hayden and Marley's reinterpretation of "Bulldog."

Marl's Diner

Sometime over the past few months, Marley has morphed into a diner waitress. Specifically, she calls everybody "hon" when they ask her a question. Like this:

"Marley, would you like some juice?"

"No thanks, hon."

Or:

"Sorry Marley, we're out of cookies."

"It's o.k., hon."

It's very cute, but I'm worried she's at some point going to tell me to kiss her grits.

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Hayden, Hayden, Hayden

Hayden must have been thinking of her career options, because she asked me "Daddy, can I have your job when you're done with it?"


In other Hayden news, we were on the phone with Sydney the other day and the subject of Hebrew names came up.

"What's my Hebrew name?". Hayden asked.

"Chaya."

"You mean like haaaaa-YAAAA!". Hayden asked, doing her best Miss Piggy imitation.

"Exactly," I lied.

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Some Videos

OK, we're expanding our media capabilities here on the Reiner Girls blog.

First, a video from Hayden. She got these sunglasses and a faux wireless microphone headset at the Disney Store today, so here is an example of her singing one of her own compositions. I like to call this song The Ballad of Marley the Reluctant Backup Dancer.


Please don't get the misimpression that Marley doesn't like to dance though. Check this out:

Weekend of Excitement

Beth was scheduled to take Marley to see a live-action Elmo show with some other kids today and then get some lunch as a group. This left a big chunk of time for Hayden and Daddy Time.

To make sure that this special time was not impinged upon, Hayden told Beth last night "When you go for lunch tomorrow, make sure you don't go to Barney Greengrass. That's mine and Daddy's special place."


Speaking of Barney GG, Marley asked Beth last night what the green plastic garnish was on her sushi.

"It's grass, Marley."

"Like Barney Greengrass?" Marley asked.

The kid has good points of reference.


Speaking of Hayden and Daddy Time, we got off the subway by the Plaza Hotel and I told Hayden that was where Uncle Steve asked Aunt Leslie to marry him.

"And where did Mommy ask you to marry her, Daddy?" Hayden asked.

She never does forget who wears the tiny pants in the family.


And finally, after a busy day going to the ferris wheel at Toys R Us, the princess pavillion at the Disney Store, the NBA Store (Hayden's idea, believe it or not) and Barney Greengrass, Hayden said to me "Daddy, I had a lovely day."

So did I.

Monday, January 12, 2009

Extra Syllables

I don't usually keep track of malaprops, but I liked these.

Marley wanted me to do something for her so she said, "Daddy, can you do me a favorite?"

In the same vein, Hayden and I were playing a Hannah Montana Makeover game on the computer (keep in mind this was during the NFL playoffs; oy). They have different categories for makeovers, like hair, eyes, lips, and accents (jewelry, hair clips, etc.). Anyway, Hayden kept calling the last category "accidents."

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Beth's Work is Never Done

Beth was lying down with Hayden and rubbing her arm gently.

"Mommy," Hayden said, "how do you always know just what to do to make me feel better?"

"It's my job as your Mom." Beth said.

"No, Mommy," Hayden told her. "Your job is to give money to companies around the world."

It turns out that both of Beth's jobs are full time.

Sunday, January 4, 2009

New Quotes for the New Year

Here are some of the latest notable quotes from 2009:

Hayden loves to show off her foreign language skills by sprinkling in some non-English words here and there. For example, instead of saying she wants to watch High School Musical 2, she says "I'd like to watch High School Musical Dos." (Marley responds by saying she'd like to watch Tinkerbell Uno, but that's another story.)

Anyway, it doesn't always work so well. Marley said she'd like a lollipop and Hayden quickly said "Me dos!"


Two of Marley's favorite things are (1) running around after her diaper comes off and before a new one comes on, and (2) treating her father like a jungle gym. She recently combined these faves.

The other day, I was lying on my stomach helping Hayden with a workbook that she loves. In the meantime, Beth was trying to change Marley's diaper. Marley was running around with a bare tush giggling, eluding Beth's grasp.

Then, before sitting down on me, Marley yells out "Who wants a tushie on their back?" It wasn't me, but I did have to laugh.


One of Hayden's favorite things to do is to play the stalling game during bedtime. When Beth or I are lying down with her before bed, she always asks us to lie down for one more minute. Or she'll ask pointless questions to get us to stay around.

Anyway, the other night I finally freed myself from Hayden's room only to have her call out "Daddy-O! Daddy-O!" about ten minutes later.

"What is it?" I asked Hayden impatiently.

"I need to go to the potty," she replied. So I carried her to the bathroom and waited there for her to complete her business.

I was pretty upset since I had just started my dinner and I was tired of Hayden's playing games, so I said to Hayden "You know, you could have just gotten up and gone to the bathroom without calling me."

"I was too tired," Hayden said.

Annoyed, I said, "Well, I'm tired too from carrying you around."

Hayden quickly said, "Well, you know . . ."

"You know, what?"

"If you're tired, you can always lie down in my bed with me."

That girl. Always thinking.