Kiwi Quotes

Here are some of my favorite Kiwi quotes of late:

• I told her I was about to get in the shower, but then stopped to put something away on my way to the bathroom. She poked her head out of our bathroom and said, "Come on, Mommy! Time to take a shower. You're very dirty!"


• "I put my sucker down right there on the table, in case I ever want to lick it some more."


• "Daddy, YOU are a HUMAN!" (This was uttered as an accusation. I assume she has no idea what it means.)


• While watching Ellie fuss on the video monitor, she switched it off and then exclaimed, "Mommy, I made Ellie stop fussing! She's happy now!"


• When I explained that my car was broken and we had to get another one, she said in her best Dora voice, "That's okay--we'll find some sticky tape and stick it back together!"


• "No worries, Mama. I'll find you another New Kids on the Block CD!" (Mine got left in Jodie's CD player and she's already been donated.)


• "Mommy, you are making me cranky."


• "Daddy, you look like a princess!" (Bear is not above wearing Snow White crowns when the occasion calls for it.)


• She was supposed to be sleeping, and I heard a noise in her room. When I peeked in, I saw her standing in the middle of the room, with one corner of Blankie hanging out of her mouth. I said, "What are you doing?" and she replied, ever-so-casually, "Just hangin' out."


• As the Starbucks handed Bear his coffee at the drive-thru, Keira shrieked from the back seat, "COFFEE?! DADDY, THAT'S JUST WHAT YOU NEEDED!!" (Apparently, she'd already had hers.)

Unfortunately, we're now also entering the Age of Embarrassing Comments in Public, so she has asked me, "Mommy, is that a man or a lady?" in the checkout line (it was a lady), and "Mommy, does that lady have a Band-Aid on her face?" (she did). Cringe.

One of her big obsessions right now is rhyming words. For the longest time, she didn't get the concept at all when I'd point out rhyming words in a story we read together, but one day it just "clicked," and now she walks around constantly going, "Book, look! That rhymes! Daddy, waddy! That rhymes!" (Half the time, she's making up words, but we'll cut her some slack for now.)

Her other obsession is getting herself dressed and undressed, so on any given day, she goes through more wardrobe changes than Beyonce in concert. If she can't get her arms into/out of an outfit, she immediately bursts into hysterical screams/cries of frustration, so we're working on that by repeating the phrase, "Try-try again, or ask for help" umpteen billion times a day. Eventually, she'll either absorb the message, or go Pink Hulk and burst out of her clothes in a rage despite our best efforts. Only time will tell.

Here she is at Chick Fil-A, which is our new hangout. They do weekly Family Nights, with a different theme each week, and last week's featured firefighters in the parking lot giving tours of their fire trucks:

We've seen her really come out of her shell at these events, believe it or not: she rushes across the restaurant when the giant cow comes out, giving him high-fives and hugs around the legs (clearly, she did not inherit her mother's fear of people in animal costumes...ask my parents how freaked out I was by Chuck E. Cheese), and will participate in the different activities they have while Bear and I eat and relax. It's no romantic-dinner-and-a-movie, but we've done those before and will again (someday...right?). For now, we're having fun with these two little girls!