her ego will keep her warm

It's a Snow Day today. School is canceled. I shared the news with Caroline, and she immediately looked a little concerned.

"Wow. No school today? Arden is really going to miss me. But she'll be ok. She's strong."

accuracy check

Both Caroline and Sylvie have been sick with minor colds, and neither girl is her normal self. I picked up Caroline from school today, and she was in a mood about how I couldn't take her Valentine's Day project home since the glue was all wet. So she was cranking about that as I strapped her into her car seat, and Sylvie was wailing about something in her car seat, and I said, "Wow, I have two cranky grumps today. Lucky me."

Caroline stopped her complaining and said, "Well, actually, I am not grumpy. I am really whiny."

i've heard that one before

I walked down the stairs to where Caroline was playing, and she abruptly told me "I love you."

I raised an eyebrow and asked why she loved me.

"Look, I just love you. Trust my love."

escalation of needs

Elapsed time: 2 minutes, 27 seconds. I counted.

1. "Could you please bring me a banana, if you could be so kind?"

2. "I am really, really hungry."

3. "My stomach. It is rumbling. It is rumbling a lot. I have a rumble right now. Can you hear it?"

4. "I think I might be starving, Mom."

5. [lying flat across the table, groaning quietly.]

smelly air quotes

Bedtime stall action, take 412.

Caroline: [from the hall] Mama, can I talk to you?

Mama: Caroline, you need to be in bed. What's the problem?

Caroline: I think I really have a stomach ache. A bad one.

Mama: What makes you think you have a stomach ache?

Caroline: [very gravely] Well, it's what they call "gas."*


*with finger quotes

a 20% gratuity will be added to your check

I asked Caroline if she wanted half a sandwich, vegetable soup, and a banana for lunch.

"Sandwich. Soup. Banana." She paused to think. "Yes, that would be my order, dear."

trouble

I said, "Ok, so now you understand why that was a bad choice. Maybe you should say you are sorry."

She grimaced and put up her palms in a shrug.

"I'm waiting!" I told her.

She nodded and said, "Well, I'm willing to be sorry. So that's a start."

cutting to the chase

Scene - the kitchen at her grandmother's house.

Caroline: [rooting through the snack drawer] Marmy, I'm really hungry.

Marmy: Oh? Well what would you like?

Caroline: Hmm. How about some sugar?

an imposing feat

We are visiting Marmy and Pappaw this weekend, and Marmy has an impressive collection of junk food in the house, as any grandmother should. Caroline begged for candy from the moment we walked in the door.

We were eating dinner when she asked for a Kit Kat. I told her she had to eat three more bites of lasagna before she got any treats.

She held up her spoon and tilted her head and said, "Well, here goes nothin'!"

mammals as japanese vending machines

Caroline was playing with her horse figures, and the foal was nursing from the mother.

"The baby horse is drinking its mother's milk."

How sweet, I thought, that she is emulating maternal behaviors with little horses.

She continued holding the little foal's face to the mama horse's belly.

"And now the baby horse is eating its mother's scrambled eggs."