The Things You Say 2019 - Edition

You all both are growing up before our very eyes. I wish I could capture your youthful curiosity, hilarity, sweetness, depth, emotion, unintentional humor, very intentional silliness in a bottle so we all can re-visit it later in life together. I guess it's why I keep this blog, and it's definitely why I write down from time-to-time when y'all say something particularly awesome. I don't get 'em all... and some of them are lost in the ether like specs of dust floating through a sun beam...floating out into eternity. Some of them are here, to give you a snapshot of what you were like and what you said and what was on your mind in 2019. No matter what you say, what words you're learning, I want to say one thing: I love you to a million, billion, trillion pieces and I'm excited to keep this conversation going forever!

I love you!

Dad

Officially I can read!
Aidan 1/19


Is Pops a herb or a Weinstein?
Aidan 1/19


I want to challenge myself!
Aidan 2/19

Julia: these are my favorite pajamas!

Dad: I know! You must have worn them for the last three days in a row!

Julia: Not three days dad! It’s more like..... 10 days!



I didn’t need instructions. I just thought of it and DID it!
Julia 2.19



I always stare at the news at baba's house... and wait for the commercials to come on!
Julia 2/19

This is the best birthday present ever.... video games AND rocks!!!
Aidan 2/19

If you stick out your middle finger the devil gets stronger. He lives at the top of the sun. He’s invisible. For real. Daniel told me.
Aidan 3/19


Zoe got a haircut just like mine... a pixie ... a kebab!
Julia 3/19



I’m going to punch you in the cronk-nockle.
Aidan 3/19



When i grow up I want to be a kid....why? Because I don’t want to die...
Aidan 3/19

You see that old man on the restaurant with the white hair and white beard? He reminds me of Baba!
Julia 3/19 (referring to a KFC)



How are you feeling mommy? Oh...your heart is beating! That’s a good sign!
Aidan 3/19

<looking at the UPS delivery man, calming the dog>
Don’t worry, it’s just the zoo keeper!
Aidan 3/19



JV is mean. She says ‘high on drugs’ to me. That means your mean and you’re up in the air.
Aidan 3/19

Once I was picking bluebonnets in our backyard... good thing there were no police officers around. But they might not have arrested me... I was only 2!
Julia 4/19




My vagina was itching so bad last night! Like there were a million trillion fire ants in my pants!
Julia 4/19



I was singing ‘shalom chavarim’ for Pa.
Aidan 4/19

She looks like that Star Wars lady- what’s her name? Princess Armadillo?
Julia 4.19

What’s an ant’s favorite medicine? ANTi-biotics!
Julia 4.19



You know what my favorite sparkly thing is? The ocean when the light hits the water!
Julia 5.19

When can we go to breakfast? I’m hungrier than a giant!
Julia 5.19


Move up day was awesome! But we wasted all of our time in the afternoon doing Eco-lab and Art! I wanted to work on the crystal work!
Julia 5.19

I can’t believe it! I beat Bowser!
Aidan 5.19




My favorite thing in the whole world is art- and I’m good at it!
Julia 5.19

Dad will you help me find a big snake to impress uncle joe?.... No snakes. Will these grubs impress uncle joe?
Aidan 5.19

Shouldn’t it be called ‘sunner’ since it’s always sunny?
Julia 5.19




Dad... be nice to your dad!
Aidan 5.19

Math can actually help you know what cards to pick! It’s called cheating!
Julia 5.19



Dad it’s fine for me to get my teeth pulled before my ballet recital! We dance with our mouths closed. We don’t sing. See you tomorrow with four gaps in my mouth!
Julia 5.19

Every time I try to see the tooth fairy I can’t! She only comes when I’m asleep! And some people say she’s just a speck of dust!
Julia 5.19




I like pooping in the dark. It helps me concentrate.
Julia 6.19

When I grow up I want to be a rock scientist... but a boss... so other people bring me the crystals and gems I’m studying.
Aidan 6.19





Why don’t birds’ feet get electrocuted when they stand on the wires?
Aidan 6.19

Daddy: have you heard of William Shakespeare?

Julia: is he a milkshake?

Julia 6.19




Daddy, your mind is gonna blow your head off when you see this!
Julia 6.19




Why does poppy’s feet smell like candles? Ours are not cute!

Aidan 6.19






Me: Aidan, thank you for being you.

Aidan: ...That means the world to me, dad!

Aidan 7.19





Dad, your eggs are the best! We Should sell them!!!
Julia 7.19

Dad I wish you could retire so every day could be a daddy fun day!
Aidan 8.19




J: Hey Aidan, can you look in the back of my pool noodle... there’s like something stuck in it like a bug or something. I can’t blow it.

A. Sure!

J: blasts water in his face

All: laughter

Julia 8.19

Dad... when aunt Deborah was a little girl was she British?
Julia 8.19

This is mouth control to Major Tongue!
Julia and Aidan 9.19






In the mornings, I gotta get to it!
Aidan 9.19





I was born to be in an art room! I was made to do art! I was made to be friends with pipe cleaners!
Julia 9.19

(Looking at his pocket watch he got in London)
Let’s see what time it is in London...
Aidan 9.19




When I grow up I want to be a pilot! They get to push LOTS of buttons!
Julia 9.19

I need to keep my arm elevated.
Aidan 10.19



My favorite songs are Gorillaz... Dance Monkey... and 100 bad days.
Aidan 10.19

Rainbow Pizza is caring and sharing ....

And smoring ... and snoring!

Julia 10.19

After a Julia fart


Mommy: That sounded wet. I hope you didn’t poop your pants.


Daddy can’t help contain his laughter


Julia: yay! Daddy laughed! He’s one of us!!!


11.19






You know what Miss Newman says when she has a croak in her throat? She has a frog in her throat. It’s a saying.... she didn’t actually have a frog in her throat!
Aidan 11.9






What’s ‘hobo go?’
Julia - looking at ‘HBO Go’ 11.19

Aidan teaches us to be kind because he is so kind ... he just cares so much... he had such a big heart.
-Miss Newman 11.19





Daniel and Wells dared me to step in the poop... and.... I did. To flatten it! But it was in my mud shoes.
Aidan 11.19

I’m not going to be marrying anyone. I want to stay with you!
Aidan 11.19






J: dad, do you love your parents for getting you those ginger snap cookies?

A: I love my parents for lots of things! I love them all the time.

J: oh. Then why do you like tell your dad he makes bad jokes all the time?

A: well, that’s just sort of the way I show my dad I love him! We joke around together... and he makes bad jokes!

J: I think he makes some good jokes!

A: okay... but should I be nicer to him?

J: just a little bit. He’s old. He’s an old man... like an ooooooold man.

Julia 11.19

Dad- no one believes me except Ella! No one believes me but her... probably because I’ve known her my whole life! But no one else believes me.... poop and pee and farts ARE funny but they’re also really important for the body to do! And no one believes me!
Julia 11.19

Julia it’s your time to shine!
Aidan 11.19





Dad I’m gonna read you ‘Are You My Mother?’ Just attach your ears to my book!
Aidan 11.19






Dad ... me and Ellie and Zoey and Isla are making a band called ‘Victoria Diamonds’ and we know you make a magazine and we were wondering if you could put a picture of our band on the cover and that’s how we’re gonna get famous. Can you? Can you put us on the cover?
Julia 11.19

I wish that pizza was the healthiest food in the world instead of like salad...
Aidan 11.19






I’m not going to get married... because I want to be with you guys forever!
Aidan 11.19

Miss G and Miss B were having a rough week and they were reflecting on what their positive was. They came to you, Aidan, and remarked on what an positive and integral part of their community you’d become. And how much they’ll miss you..:






Dad, I’m just saying. What if you were a homeless person and you like lost your tooth and then the tooth fairy came? And what if you did it again and again and you kept losing enough teeth until you had enough money for a cab ride and to stay in a hotel?
Julia 12.19

I would live in China because they eat Chinese food everyday like duck meat!
Aaron 12.19

J: Ringo and Paul are still alive.

A: but Yoda is dead.

Julia and Aidan 12.19





My sister’s afraid of mistletoe

Aidan 12.19





That’s what I do. I save lives.
Aidan 12.19 after taking a bumblebee outside

Dad I read the whole thing! I’ve never read so fast in my life!
Julia 12.19 after the ‘opening crawl’ from ‘Star Wars: the Rise of Skywalker’



Pops... you were born with white hair!
Aidan 12.19

Favorites

Aidan, Julia,

We play "favorites" an awful lot around our house. "What is your favorite super hero?" "What is your favorite color?" "What is your favorite toy?"

Sometimes, I remember to write these priceless answers down.

These favorites may change day-to-day...they may not change for years (damn you, Frozen). But they are sneak peaks into your interests in January 2015.

The answers will be written exactly as you reported them to me! No Editorializing from me!

Okay, I'll add a few additional comments and answers, but you'll know which ones were my interjections.


Aidan:

Favorite Song: "The Itsy Bitsy Spider!"

Favorite Book: "Mungo and the Spiders from Space" (a wonderful book that Mimi and Pops brought you from London! The first two days, we read it about 17 times)

Favorite Toy: "My kitty!" (a new stuffed animal kitty-cat with gigantic eyes that Mommy and Julia brought you from Michael's [aka, the treasure store]. You named the kitty, "Julia."

Favorite Clothes: Spider-man Pajamas. Size 3 T. Too small; but we cannot convince you of that. You want to wear these so much, that you help us do laundry in order for them to be clean that night!

Favorite Food: I'm editorializing here. But it's gotta be MANGO. The other day Mommy gave you a Mango and you happily ate it and said "I love mangoes!" I think tortillas/tortilla chips and cheese quesadillas would be a very close favorite. You can eat a LOT of flour tortillas.

Julia:

Favorite song: "Let it Go"
Favorite book: "Frozen from the library!" (When we visited Addison and Autumn in Houston, we stopped in the library. You found a Frozen book. We almost had to let you live in the library to stay with the book).
Favorite toy: "My Frozen dolls" (You have many Frozen dolls. And a Frozen glove. And 3 Little Mermaids. They all like to hang out with Darth Maul for some reason. You sleep with them...sometimes on them like a little mama bird. you have to set them all out side by side next to you. It's pretty much the coolest.)

Favorite clothes: Your new blue dress. When you wore it for the first time you said "Daddy, I'm a princess!" You had a (rare) accident in the dress and flat-out refused to take it off, even though you're pretty good at not wanting to be wet or dirty.



Favorite Food: Green Chips. Chocolate Milk. Just about every morning you wake up and ask for your chocolate milk. You help me get the bottle and the lid, and count to 10 as I shake the drink. Green chips. You love green chips. You also really like tuna fish and cottage cheese! And meatballs. The other night you ate 3 meatballs. I was impressed.

So there you have it! '15 Favorites from my favorite two children!

All Around the Mulberry Bush...

All around the mulberry bush, the Aidan chased the...mulberries...

Aidan, It's spring, and that means that our mulberry tree hanging over the deck is LOADED with berries. Or at least it tries to stay loaded with berries despite your best Pac-man-esque efforts.

It only took you a few days of the first berry falling to discover that YOU LOVED EATING BERRIES.

Many red faces, hands and knees later, you're still eating them faster than we can spray them off the deck. 

Last year you didn't notice them. But this year, you can get enough.

You even taught the dogs that they're yummy...and now you sometimes fight over them. But, there's plenty to go around, so mostly you share them.

I've climbed up in the tree to get you some fresh ones, of course.

And you even were able to pick some off the tree yourself!

But mostly, you crawl around the deck on all fours, chomping away as you go. The Aidan chases the mulberries. He thought it was all in fun...and he was right...except for the rapid response bowel and urinary response from said berries. But, a few accident and a heavily 'watered' bush at the end of the stairs, and we're no worse for the wear. No stains on this spring...but I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't have permanent mulberry stains on your knees!

Oh, and by the way, they're called "Cool Berries!"