Steve meets Dorothy

"On the Road" with Steve Hartman

Valentine loot from school

Laissez les bons temps rouler!

Amazon saw fancy cardboard packaging; Mama saw a flower

The Sunday Funnies

Dorothy said she wanted to throw a walnut up into the tree to land in a squirrel's nest.  I said, "What if there are baby squirrels in the nest and the walnut hits one on the head?"  Dorothy quickly answered, "Baby squirrels don't cry."

Brian & I were watching a retrospective on 80s television.  Far into the program, When a Man Loves a Woman started playing and Kevin Arnold & Winnie Cooper from The Wonder Years kissed.  Dorothy leaned over to me and whispered, "I like that part."

Before going to visit Oatland Island, a nature center, Dorothy asked, "Can you please let me be naked at Oatland Island because that's what the animals do?"

Aunt Fran mailed Dorothy a few play kitchen items along with a note explaining that her grandkids had outgrown their beloved play kitchen, and that she had donated it to a local child care center.  Dorothy pondered this as we played with the toys in her own toy kitchen, and then asked me, "Mom, when you outgrow this kitchen, will you not give it away and just let me play with it by myself?"

Grandma mailed Dorothy a valentine, and wrote her name in cursive.  Dorothy wanted to know why "Jane" started with a "Bb".  I explained that the letters were in cursive, and that later I would write cursive letters for her to see.  She said, "And I want cursive numbers."

Dorothy is getting picky about her clothes. She will only wear this shirt backwards, so it's white. She thinks.

Bike instruction

Happy birthday Aunt Mary Beth! We made you a shaving cream ice cream cone!

Dorothy loves to wear a turbie twist (she says it makes her look like ice cream)

Eye-to-eye with a cow (you'll have to trust me)

Dorothy made this sticker portrait a few weeks ago. While watching TV, she recognized a character on the show as her own picture, ran to get it, and we made a comparison.

The Sunday Funnies

I mentioned that I was getting older (happy birthday to me); Dorothy said, "But I want you to stay alive."

Dorothy likes to make "deals" that aren't really deals, as in, "Tomorrow I want you to sew this hole.  Deal?"

She also refers to things that happened (or didn't) in "the olden days".

A few times this weekend, she has picked up her story with "As I was saying..."

I mentioned that her neighbor friends take music lessons, and she told me, "When I get older I do not want to go to school, I want to go to music."

AMC Theatre

Look at those lights

Sinking

Playing "Room on the Broom"

Muddy lift home

Muddy tracks

The Sunday Funnies

Dorothy understands that she must go to sleep in her own bed, but if she wakes up in the middle of the night, we let her come into our bed.  At bedtime she told Brian, "It's so hard to sleep when I'm waiting for the middle of the night."

Dorothy woke up in the middle of the night:  I had a scary dream.
Sarah:  Oh, I'm sorry.
Dorothy, sleepily:  And it's still happening!
Sarah:  What is it about?
Dorothy:  Pants that are walking.

Dorothy listens to my GPS when I have it on for directions.  She comments on the names of the streets, etc.  Last night, when we got where we were going, she said, "Uh!  It says our destination is on the left.  But I wanted our destination to be on the right."

Sarah:  Let's go home and eat dinner, take a bath, and go to bed.
Dorothy:  Let's go home and rest, read books, and play Elsa-Anna.

At school Dorothy was pretending that the large mound of sand was Elsa's ice castle.  She told me, "It wasn't really an ice castle because it didn't have any frozen fractals."

Dorothy noticed a dress that I had not yet put away after a wedding last weekend; it is sequined from top-to-bottom.  Dorothy said, "I love this."  She was gently rubbing her hand on the fabric.  "I really love this," she said.  "Do you have a kid one of these?"

Dorothy has a poster on her wall that is busy with Disney characters.  She was upset and did not want to go to bed; when I peeked in on her, she said, "I was crying and looking at this picture."  I said, "That's good."  She said, "No, I was crying and looking at the picture."  I said, "Yes, there's lots to look at on that picture.  All those characters."  She said, "No, I was CRYING and looking at the picture!"

Happy birthday Daddy

Do you wanna build a snowman?

Okay, bye:  https://youtu.be/tReq65VO8Bo

Thinking face

Elsa in her ice castle

Dorothy's catwalk for her fashion show (courtesy of 8-year-old fashionista Lucy)

Can I try yours?

The Sunday Funnies

The sun was shining brightly in Dorothy's eyes; she said, "The sun doesn't want me to see anything!"

Each day when Dorothy puts on her shoes, she first asks me if she has chosen the correct foot for the shoe she is holding.  After she puts it on, and its correctness has been confirmed, and there is one bare foot remaining, as well as one remaining shoe, she asks me if the final shoe is correct for that shoeless foot.

Dorothy squeezed into a pair of too-small shoes that she likes; she said, "I squeezed my foot into it!  I didn't out grown-up them!"

Dorothy likes to pretend-play movies, but only the happy parts, as in, "Let's play Frozen.  I'll be Anna and you be Elsa.  But this time don't hurt me.  Don't make ice and freeze me."

I've been playing the Frozen soundtrack in Dorothy's room when she goes to bed.  She told me, "I like listening to this.  It makes me think that Anna and Elsa are in my room."

School got a sand delivery

Some Eanes cousins (at Thanksgiving)

Dorothy loves her sticker earrings

It's drinking the water!

Who needs a doll when you have a pool noodle?

"It's hard to eat with gloves on."

The Sunday Funnies

Sarah:  My alarm clock is going off.
Dorothy:  On.  It's going on.

About two friends at school:
Wren and Brynn are twins.  They have two mommies.  [not true]
Brynn has a Peppa Pig backpack because she was Peppa Pig for Halloween.  Wren has a stripe backpack because she was a stripe for Halloween.

Sarah:  Be careful spinning - you might fall down.
[Dorothy falls.]
Dorothy:  That's not because I was dizzy.  That's because our house was spinning around.

School Days

Dorothy is in her "Frozen" period

Learning about ducks at Oatland Island Wildlife Center

The snow stuck around for a long time but is now finally melted

Working on thank you notes

Icicle

The Sunday Funnies

What did Santa Claus bring you?
Winnie the Pooh toys that I asked for, and Peppa Pig toys that I didn't ask for.

On a long trip, Dorothy is watching a cartoon in the back of the car starring "Lumpy" and "Roo".
After a long period of silent watching, Dorothy exclaims, "I love Lumpy!"
Dad turns around, makes eye contact with Dorothy, and says, "I love YOU!"
Dorothy then says, "I love Lumpy AND Roo."

S(no)w cone

Winter Wonderland II

Winter Wonderland

It's snowing in Savannah (and we have all the gear)

New 'do

The Sunday Funnies

Why does 'Tuesday' start with the number two?

At Mass the congregation sang several verses of a Christmas song I had taught Dorothy; she leaned over and said, "Mom, you didn't know the whole song."

We were resting on the couch and watching a cartoon; Dorothy asked me, "Why do you always sleep during my movies?"

Dorothy was excited when we woke up to snow on Christmas Eve in Chicago.  She asked me, "Did you pack my skis?"

Post-wedding brunch & weekend panoramas

Brunch at the Reids' house

Rehearsal, rehearsal dinner, reception, & brunch