(Photo - Nora and Abby with Great Uncle Ed, Kayla, and Gideon)
The kids have done a bunch of stuff lately that I wanted to write down.
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Nora, first thing in the morning, referring to a story she overheard about me and my sister setting up mattresses and couch cushions down our basement stairs and rolling down the stairway, when we were "young and stupid":
"Now can I roll down the stairs like you did and be a little stupider?"
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Something prompted Nora to ask my Mom how she met my Dad. My Mom was telling Nora about people getting married when they love each other. She asked Nora whether she thought she would get married some day. Nora said "I'm going to marry Daddy - we really really love each other."
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We've done fireworks for Nora and Abby the last 2 nights. Abby runs away, peeks around corners, and is generally unhappy unless we're doing sparklers, in which case she reluctantly shares the vicinity with us. Nora hyperventilates, jumps around, and pretty much short-circuits, simultaneously excited and scared.
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PA laws (and the loopholes that they allow) are so weird. There are big fireworks factories on the PA/NJ border, presumably built to sell fireworks to NJ and NY residents who can't legally own them in-state anyway. As a PA resident, I can't enter these stores, even though SOME fireworks are legal in PA. Instead, they set up little tents outside the stores that sell PA-safe "sparky" fireworks to residents. Even better, out-of-state residents can buy the same fireworks in the store for 50% cheaper than PA residents pay in the tents. If I go to the site of a major fireworks company and do a search for stores near me, by zip code, it tells me that the closest store where I can buy fireworks is in Ohio, 5 hours away, even though there's one 10 minutes from here. Makes me miss being a kid.
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Nora was on a special diet for 24 hours today. She was trying very hard (and in vain) to get hot chocolate milk, in a bottle no less (she's occasionally jealous of Abby's bottle) before her nap. He lied down on the living room floor, sighed deeply, slumped her hand over her face, and said, "Oh, I'm really tired... I think I'm out of gas." When she knew she had my attention, she added "But my robot charger only takes hot chocolate milk botsies." I didn't break down, but I wanted to. I mean, I have a daughter with a robot charger. That's cool.
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An older one - probably a year ago. Nora - "Mommy, can you help me get pizza? Cuz I can't drive."
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Nora, when lying down for a nap, after we said "sweet dreams":
"I'll dream about big, big paci(fier)s walking around and hugging me. They're boys!"
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Abby, at 18 months, in response to anything she doesn't want to do: "No say!"
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Mike - "Grownups have so much boring stuff to do."
Nora: "And they can't play with their children, and that's SOO sad, and the children have to play with their selves (sic)."
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Abby, at 2 & 1/2 - "Video killed the radio star... Bad video! You get a time out!"
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Abby, at 2 - "I'm not real, I'm a vegetarian."
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Nora, at 5 - "Can I I have another slice of cold bacon please? Cuz, I'm trying to get stopping of hungry stuff."