***UPDATE***After I posted, I thought of a couple more that I just have to share. First, when M. was visiting, a big yellow butterfly passed in between us (we were no more than 5 feet away from each other). She told me, "that's Logan's butterfly!". We have a butterfly garden in memory of Logan and we've told her that when she sees a butterfly she knows that Logan is saying hey, so she thinks every butterfly is Logan's. That night she told her mom all about "Logan's butterfly" and later she told her dad "it was yellow and big".
While we were making dinner we were goofing around (she was probably asking me questions and asking "why" after everything I said but I really don't remember) when she says "you want another piece of me?" The funniest part is that she's talking about a literal piece. You know that game where you pretend like you eat a child's fingers, toes or maybe even their nose? Well, when she asked me the question, she's holding out her fingers for me to take a bite! And after every bite comes the question "you want another piece of me?"
And last, M. is potty training right now so of course someone has to go with her when she has to go. She usually asks me to if I'm around. So the other day I take her to the bathroom and she says "I NEED you to go!". Apparently, she doesn't like doing #2 with someone in the room!
M. started her first day at preschool today and T. started his first day at kindergarten. I'm hoping they are having tons of fun and I'm sure school will result in more stories for me to tell.
Original Post:One of my best friends lives across the street and has three children. A 5-year-old boy T., an almost 3-year-old girl M., and a 9-month-old boy G. They can get on my ever-last nervers sometimes but those kids are some of my favorite people in the world. And last night they stayed with us while their parents went to school orientation (both preschool and kindergarten). Here's just a few moments and quotes from the two oldest.
When M. and I went outside to let Levi go potty we heard police sirens and she says to me "Nana that's a police offiter" She calls me Nana because she had a hard time with words that started with vowels when she first started talking and even though she can say Anna fine now, Nana just stuck. When I told her that she was right, that it was a police officer she said "Police offiters help you".
Later, when Doug got home, he had to edit some video for work. The police officers had been escorting the Dixie Youth World Series winners home to Troy so his video included the police cars and their sirens. As soon as she heard it her ears perked up. She went over and sat beside Doug and watched him work. Then she kept asking, "where are you Doug", Doug told her that he was shooting the video and was behind the camera. She didn't understand so he says "You know how when somebody takes a picture of you, the person with the camera isn't in the picture?". She nods her head and then turns to me and says "Doug Doug says I'm in the picture".
Later, I was filling Levi's water bowl when she asked what I was doing. I said "I'm getting water for the dog". "What dog?" she asked, so I pointed to Levi. Then she says, completely innocently like I have no idea "He's name is Levi".
T. has recently developed a pretty bad fear of storms and while he was at our house he asked me how my phone told me when there was going to be a tornado. Herein lies the problem with not knowing what I child has been told. When I told him my phone didn't tell me, that a radio did, he was adamant that his mom told him that it was my phone. So, I explained to him that it's not on my phone, that it's a radio, that I have at my house, in my car, and at my work. (This is kind of a little white lie because at work I just have a weather program that warns me about severe weather, but sometimes I find it easiest to just simplify things.) Then I took him to our bedroom where this radio sits. I played the alarm sound for him that goes off when there is a storm. Next I asked him if he thought I could hear it in every room, and M. says "I can hear it".
Here's another moment with T. and his fear of storms that happened a few weeks ago. I went over to their house and the wind was blowing pretty good and the garage door was open. T. was standing in the doorway between the house and the garage with tears running down his face. Then he says "why do God and Jesus make the wind?" I told him that there was wind and rain to keep all the plants alive. Then he says, "but plants need sun".
T. has really matured a lot lately and when Levi had an accident he was the first to tell me. Then he asked how to clean it up. So I handed him a paper towel, the nature's miracle (great stuff by the way) and he went to cleaning. Then after dinner he took his plate to the sink and also took M.'s. But he was still very upset when his mom got home because he didn't get to have a sleepover. In the Spring of 08 we invited him over one night and pitched a tent in the backyard and had a sleepover and ever since then, he wants to sleep at our house all the time.
Hope you enjoyed these little moments. If not, I guess you had to be there!
You may not know much about butterflies, so give me a minute to explain this to you. That is a Monarch caterpillar. Monarch butterflies live in the northern states, even into Canada. Every fall they migrate south to Mexico. They're kinda like Snowbirds, or birds for that matter. They can't live in the freezing temperatures that Canada and northern states offer, so they migrate South for the winter and then back North in the spring. And that migration has brought the caterpillars to our house. We even spotted one butterfly! 
