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.

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.