Co-writing a novel

These two are writing a book together in a google doc. Because they can see what the other is typing, as she’s typing it, when one misspelled a word on her computer, the other corrected it on her own. Then the first wrote in the doc, “Show off,” and they both started laughing.

While they were washing dishes earlier, I heard them discussing what hair color to give a particular character.

“Red hair.”

“But James has red hair.”

“What about black?”

“Eww.”

I chimed in with, “How about strawberry blond?”

“Oooh, let’s do that,” said one.

“Yes,” agreed the other.

“You know why?” I said.

Frog caught your heart?

My daughter, who grew up loving stuffed animal frogs, is now too old for them. {Brief moment of sad reflection.} And so it was time to rehome her amphibian friends.

This was the first to go:

“Rita” the Frog waiting for a ride in the laundry basket.

As I handed the giant frog to her new owner, who is, ironically, a teenage girl, I said, “She goes by Rita, but will respond to anything.”

The girl held the stuffed animal out in front of her and, with a gleam in her eye (the girl’s, not the frog’s), said, “You shall be called, ‘Rita’!”

Clearly, it seemed to me, this girl knew that the name fit.

I reported the happy news to my daughters: Not only had the frog gone to a new loving home, she would be able to retain her name! “Isn’t that wonderful?” I said.

I was met with blank stares. Didn’t my children personify animals the way I did?? Didn’t they care?!

Stylish hair gel

Isn’t my son so stylish with his new spikey hair gel look?

Cool kid.

Nope. It’s just

My son thinks he’s SO clever

Joe was in his high chair. Not eating. I told him to take a bite. He leaned his head against the back of his chair, closed his eyes, and faked heavy sleep breathing.

First of all, when and how did he learn this?!

I said, “Should I take you to bed then?”

Still with his eyes closed, he lifted his pointer finger as in “one minute.”

Seriously, kid? So much for being asleep.

Delicious looking plate of green beans. That I didn’t cook, hence looking delicious. Image by Vu DOAN from Pixabay

~~~

When my parents were here for Christmas, Joe said, “I don’t need these green beans.”

My mom, trying to be helpful, said, “Green beans are my favorite!”

Joe said, “You can eat them then.”

~~~

Joe loves going outside. The problem is,

It’s not what you think. I can explain.

Some time after the kids had been playing outside my bedroom window, I walked into my room, looked out the window, and saw something that made me freeze, back up slowly, and call down the hallway, “Girls? Could you come here a moment?”

Then, pointing, “What. Is that?”

Tooth Fairies Welcome

A quick note to show you this. My daughter made a path for the tooth fairy from the doorway to her pillow. Do you think the tooth fairy will miss it?

A lot of predators along the way. It’s more like running the gauntlet. Or rather, flying.

Bits and Bobs

No actual Bobs were hurt or thought about during the writing of this post. Shoot. Now I just thought of one. I hope he’s okay.

I was reciting spelling words to my ten-year-old. One of the words was recurring. She wrote it twice. On purpose. Clever girl.

This is the same girl who, six years ago, was in a narrating kick. She once said, “Lucy is walking, walking, walking. Lucy is leaving the room.” (Thank goodness.)

There’s a man who periodically comes to the door asking if he can cut branches off our eucalyptus tree. I think he said his sister uses them in her florist shop. Since the tree grows like a weed and we occasionally have to have it professionally trimmed, I’m always happy to let him.

This time he said he’d be right back after picking his kids up from the school around the corner. When he was gone for a long time I worried he’d changed his mind. Finally there was a knock on the door. The man’s young son was standing there with a bouquet of flowers.

“My mom said to give these to you.”

I thanked him and told him to pass along the thanks to his wonderful mom. I neglected to

American Ninja

Some people who find this post through a search will be disappointed.

Or will they?

My middle daughter is fond of dressing all in black and saying she’s a ninja. Sometimes she plays the game “bad ninja” where she purposely and noisily bumps into things and people.

Today she put a second layer of clothes over her black clothes. When I asked why, she, of course, said, “I’m in disguise.”

Here are some pictures of my ninja.

Standing next to the fridge.

Crouched behind a potted plant.

The fine art of decision-making

  I asked the girls if someone could grab socks for Joe. Two of them yelled, “I will,” and ran off. They returned with these.

“You couldn’t agree on which socks he should wear, huh?”

Utilizing the scientific principal of ‘better late than never’

Here’s Little Man in his “My First Halloween” outfit.

You got candy over there?

My friend, you appear to have lost your head.

And so as not to have this blog turn into an excuse for showing off pictures of my baby, here’s a funny story to reward you for scrolling past the pics. My mom sent this to me about a friend’s child.

A little girl asked her grandfather, “Papa, what is the man’s job in a woman having a baby?”