but i'm the nice one

After declaring me "the nice parent" and watching me high-five myself and in-your-face her father, she apparently had a little guilt. She came up to me about 5 minutes later. She was very serious and steady. "Mom, I have to tell you that I do love you very much, but I also love Daddy very much. I just had to tell you that."

imagine how she'll sound at 74

On her ailments:

"What is going on?! I have a cough and I have a blister. This doesn't even make sense. I'm so annoyed for this. Next thing you know, my knee is going to get paranoid and I'll need hearing aids."

so agreeable

This morning, she was caught filling up her tea set in the bathroom sink. This practice has been banned after she was caught helping her baby sister to "drink tea." Her father told her she was not allowed to play with water. She tried to negotiate. He shot her down. She tried to negotiate more. He shot her down again.

Finally, she gave up with a sigh. "Okay. Alright. Whatever you say. I'll just go with that."

anything is possible, except when it's not

For those who do not know him personally, I will explain that our dog Reuben is a basselope. Actually, he is a basset hound mix (with some shepherd and doberman in there), and his body and demeanor are very stereoptypically basset. He looks a little like a fluffy black lab who is laying down, only he is standing up. In fact, he's the same height sitting as he is standing. He garners attention from passersby who ask, "Where are his legs?" They are there. They are just 4" long.

I explain all this to precede the following Kazooism, which was volunteered out of the blue yesterday morning while getting dressed:

"I think I am going to limbo under Reuben."

can i call you gretel?

As I was flipping pancakes in the dark of the morning:

"You're not going to cook a baby are you?"

Uh, no. Just planning on cooking some pancakes.

"Good. Pans get pretty hot and that would be a totally, totally bad idea."

the urologist says it's unlikely

Caroline has decided that she doesn't like babies. I think little sister being a bit, um, high maintenance due to health issues has left her a little bored and disenchanted. When I explained that I know it's kind of a drag to have a baby sister right now, Sylvie will soon be able to crawl and laugh and play with her, and that one day Sylvie will be as big as Caroline is now and that Caroline will be SIX. And then she will always have someone to play with. All. The. Time. She started getting excited at the prospect of her little sister again.

"So, one day I'll be SIX and Sylvie is bigger, like a toddler, and then we will get another baby!"

Thankfully, she fetched the smelling salts after I fainted at the mere suggestion.

the call

Caroline [from bed]: Daaaaadddyyyy!

Daddy: Yes Bug?

Caroline: [fake cough] I'm still a little sick. I think I need some medicine.

Daddy goes to retrieve a gummi vitamin in hopes that will qualify and get the child to sleep.

Caroline: Oh, thanks. [eats gummi] Now let me check.

Daddy: Check what?

Caroline: The call.

Daddy: What call?

Caroline: The call! [clears throat] Daaaddddd--EEEEEEEEE! Ah yes, much better.

mr. banker, you don't know stress

We dragged our children with us to the bank to complete some paperwork that we both had to sign at the same time. I was afraid that Caroline would be bored and that Sylvie would be screamy. They both did super well. Caroline made friends with the banker, talked about his name, etc.

At one point, he was typing information into his computer and mentioned something about the computer being really difficult.

Caroline leaned towards the desk and politely interrupted him, "Excuse me, Jonathan." He turned towards her and she gave him a pity nod and said in commiseration, "It's really hard to be three."

a murder

Caroline is once again enthralled with the fake crows from the Halloween storage bin. Last year she babied them, wanted to swaddle them, and carried them everywhere. This year, she is making lots of little plays and songs with them.

They are currently lined up on our furniture and she is introducing them to us.

Their names are as follows:
Crow
Crow
Saddy
Crow
Enna
Ritz

then maybe she could have that trust fund

Caroline has a cold. She woke up at 5am with a barky cough and a dramatic wail. I brought her into bed with me, since Chuck was sleeping downstairs with baby sister. I propped her up on pillows and tucked her in, and then I turned on some cartoons (thank you, oh modern marvel that is 24 hour kid channels on cable). Then I went and made her some ginger tea with honey and brought it to her with some toast and a dose of Mucinex Mini-melts and a new box of tissues. She sipped, ate, and took her medicine. I was scratching her back when she turned to me.

"Mama, are you a doctor?"