September 2016

All meat is chicken.  Except fish.  Beef is chicken.  Pork is chicken.  Fish is fish.

Me:  *bringing plate of pizza to the table*
K:  "Did you separate it?"
Me:  *panic* What's the right answer?  Separated?  Not separated?  I don't even know.  Separated would mean it cools faster.  "Yes, I separated it."
K:  "I didn't want it separated."
Me:  Son of a biscuit!  "Okay it's not separated."  *frantically pushes pieces of pizza back into original pizza shape*

Dinosaurs and dragons are interchangeable.

Kinley inventions:  Strawberrynade

It was actually really good.  Kids are brilliant.

MarioKart at Daddy's office party.  Does this place really even qualify as an office?

You deemed this your office and refused to come out.  It's actually a phone booth.  I don't think there was even a phone inside, it's just for privacy when taking calls.  I'm actually torn between whether this feels futuristic or like something from 1920.

And no trip to Daddy's office is complete without coloring on the white boards.

We've been trying to fit in more hiking on our weekends in LA.  In theory it's a great idea....

....but in reality you hate being in the carrier and our normal route is too long for you to walk the whole way.  So you whine, I get frustrated, and Dad just wants to go home and watch football.  I'm going to try looking for a shorter path and ditch the carrier.

But, you wanted to give Ponyrash a ride in the carrier when we got home anyway.

Back to school potluck before your first day.

This is one of your new friends, Beatrix.

And this is Coco, who was in your class last year.

Proud Mom moment:  At the grocery store some creepy guy got way too close in the checkout line and said, "you're a cute little monster."  You replied, "I'm not a monster.  Monsters aren't even real."

You seem to have a compulsion to remove the paper from all crayons.

I stumbled across this 9/11 display by accident a couple of years ago on the lawn at Pepperdine University and I love it.  When we happened by it again this year I asked if you would like to stop and look on our way home and was really glad we did.  I love that they do this.  We talked in VERY broad terms about 9/11 and that each flag is for a person who was hurt that day.

Love this photo.

You keep your listening ears in your orange dress with the pretend pockets.  If I ask if you have your listening ears on you will go get out that dress and pretend to get ears out of the pockets to put on.  They apparently can't be stored in any other pockets.

We started talking one day about how our family all fit together (specifically, this started because you didn't seem to believe me when I told you Grandpa's name isn't just Grandpa to everyone).  So I explained what a family tree is and asked if you wanted to make family trees.  They're not perfect, but it was fun and I kind of love them anyway.

When we started on Daddy's family we glued on Grandma Tami then I asked who her kids are and you replied, "Gretta."  Good point.  So Gretta got her own little branch with a dog sticker and you chose a monkey sticker to represent baby-to-be Hudson.

I really adore when you play with Jack.  Since you don't have any younger siblings of your own I think it's really great when you get the chance to.

Beach day with Kelly.  Love this photo.

When we drive by the lot where we park at the beach you yell, "the beach!  the beach!  the beach!  the beach!"  4 times.  Always 4.  And only at our beach.  You often tell me in advance to let you know when we are going to drive by the beach where we park.

We don't do it often but I really love it when you and I have a lunch date on our own.

Movie night.  Fairly certain this was Toy Story 3, also known as "the Toy Story with the trash truck."  The only movie you ever pick anymore.

I'm making another attempt at getting you to go to sleep on your own and this time it's actually going great.  We do leave for vacation soon and I fear that's going to throw it all back off track, but it's been good while it's lasted.

Several months ago Daddy did a quick estimate of how much time I've spent trying to get you to sleep and 3.5 years averaging 1 hour per day (it was much more when you were a baby, much less now) equates to approximately 7.6 weeks of my life.

First day of parent-child ballet.

We were the only ones registered so I convinced Lucie and Charlotte to join.  It's just the 3 pairs of us and it's so fun!

Daddy shaved his beard this week.  You walked in the bathroom, looked at him and said, "Why did you take your beard off Dad?  You look like a girl."

Start of fall means apple pie in our house!  Yummy!

"....for when we buy a kid."
"Why do you want to buy a kid?"
"Because there are two seats in the car cart at the grocery store."

This one is me.

And this one is Daddy.  You can tell because of the spiky hair.

"This place is amazing!"  (In reference to our new house, which I find encouraging that you love it there so much.)

Jack's 1st birthday!

Checkups for everyone with Dr. Kinley!

You love one of the car shows Daddy watches called Mighty Car Mods.  You talk about Marty and Moog like they are personal friends of yours.  It's definitely possible that you have a crush on Moog.

I have found myself reflecting a lot over the past few days at the flood of kind comments I've heard from other parents and your teachers since school started this year.  I don't even know where to start, but I've heard countless stories of you doing kind things toward the other students, welcoming those who are feeling a little uneasy, comforting those who are upset, helping Alessandra get her shoes on, teaching Lucie how to climb on the playground, and outright giving up your own chair when there weren't enough for everyone.  It makes my heart full to hear these things and I am bursting with pride.