Dorothy's favorite morning activity

Dorothy likes to eat Cheerios, sit on my bed, and listen to audio books about Disney princesses.

Afternoon at the ballet

The Sunday Funnies

Dorothy reported from school:  We got to choose to be tadpoles or frogs.  All the other kids were frogs and I was the only tadpole.
Sarah:  Oh, that's nice.  Why did you want to be a tadpole?
Dorothy:  Because I love babies.

We went to see a local high school production of Peter Pan.  At intermission, after going to the restroom, Dorothy noticed many people walking around the lobby with ice cream and cupcakes from concessions.  Wide-eyed, Dorothy said, "Mama, there's all sorts of things to do here."  I said, "Like what?"  She said, "Follow me.  I'll show you."
We ended up with a peanut butter and chocolate double scoop.

Me and my shadow

Honeysuckle season

Love

Dorothy's first color-by-number

I colored the key, gave her instructions, and left her to it.  She sort of got it.

Look at my drawings

Coffee shop/Art studio

The Sunday Funnies

Dorothy:  Crap.  Crap.  Crap crap crap.
Sarah:  "Crap" is a bad-habit word, like "stupid".  So, don't say it at school, and if you, Daddy, or I say it at home, let's remind each other that it's a bad habit.  I don't think you knew that.  There are lots of bad-habit words.
Dorothy:  Can you tell me all the bad-habit words?

Standing at the Redbox with Dorothy:  When is the movie gonna slide right out?

Dorothy:  Dogs don't hatch from eggs.  They hatch from mothers.

Sarah:  What should we pack for our picnic?
Dorothy:  Yogurt and carrot spoons.
Sarah:  What are carrot spoons?
Dorothy:  They are spoons made out of carrots that Dad makes for me when he forgets to pack a spoon for our picnic.

Dorothy:  The crayon broke so I peeled off the ribbon.  (wrapper)

Dorothy:  Elsa, make some ice mountains.
Sarah:  Dorothy, I'm tired of playing pretend.
Dorothy:  You mean "Anna".

Watching Snow White, when the vultures are circling above the cottage where the Wicked Queen is about to poison Snow White:  Those big birds want to eat the poison apple.

More backyard ballet

Dorothy is more accepting of her food as a shish kabob

Take it in

So happy together

Also happy birthday Grandpa Chuck!

Triple rainbow attempt

Double rainbow!

The Easter Sunday Funnies

Watching Cinderella:  Mom, did you know that some people marry princes, and some people marry dads?

I decided that Dorothy can have a morning chore, which is throwing away her pull-up in a grocery sack.  I walked her through the steps the first morning -- take a bag out of the closet, put the pull-up inside, and twist.  On the second morning, I asked her how it went.  She said, "I picked the bag that I wanted the most -- the one that was holding all the other bags."

At the mall we saw a kiosk with Disney character t-shirts.  Dorothy walked around the kiosk, naming the characters:  from Frozen, Anna; from Beauty and the Beast, Belle; from Alice in Wonderland, "Allison."

At bedtime:  My ear hurts.  Can I have an ice pack?  Also, can I have the heating pad in case the ice makes my ear cold?

Big spender at the mall

Chicks at the mall II

Chicks at the mall I

Egg tree

Posing for a pic

Earning her keep

Dipping her toes in the sea

Sock puppets

Mermaid Pride Festival

Showing off her heart

Dorothy covered her ears the entire time at the dentist

First day of spring

Free cone at DQ!

Snowball

The Sunday Funnies

Dorothy, to Sarah:  Were you talking to yourself?  Usually you talk to me.

Putting on new pants:  These pants have pockets in the back?!  To put my phones in?!

Brian likes to remind Dorothy that the two of them are Italian; usually this happens at dinner over olive oil, pasta, and other Italian fare.  With St. Patrick's Day coming, he mentioned that they are also Irish.  She has food and ethnicity swirling around her head, and when I mentioned St. Patrick's Day, she let me know, "Daddy and me are Irish.  Grandpa is Irish.  You are vegetarian."

Our Little Shamrock likes silly poses

Viewing the Budweiser Clydesdales

Bringing her A-Game to a class about butterflies

"It's a spiderweb"

Who loves daylight savings time?

More baseball clay

Tire swing

Wacky day at school

You did not say your Lls

Video:  https://youtu.be/Xb23bZf9CNE

Butterfly Day

Playground with the ones she loves

The Sunday Funnies

Dorothy likes to refer to the present as "now these days", as in "I like yogurt now these days."

Big Daddy was reading an enormous Frozen book to Dorothy (one of those hard-backed giant books with no detail left out).  After nearly 30 minutes reading at the kitchen table, Dorothy said, "This chair is making me uncomfortable.  Let's move to the couch with the book and start over."

Dorothy and I went to an appliance parts store to buy a dryer drum belt; ours had snapped and Brian was going to fix it.  Later I told Brian, "We went to the store and bought the replacement."  Dorothy added, "And a belt."

I took out my driver's license at a store and Dorothy announced, "Your Sarah card!"

Dorothy jumped from the couch to the chair, knocked off the remote control, and the back popped off it.  I rushed over to check out the scene and Dorothy asked, "Was that too much for you?"

I wrote the year (2018) and Dorothy said, "It's almost our neighborhood" (1802 Bacon Park Drive).

Pajama day at school

This is the picture she wanted me to take.

Ballet Photoshop

In full bloom

The ocean called...

New Friends

Dorothy was promoted to Miss Jill's class at her school.  The school isn't big on class lists, but according to her Valentines, here are the trendy names of her new classmates.  I've included the Social Security Administration's ranking of the name's popularity in 2014.

Jace: 68
Aster: not in top 1000
Ellana:  not in top 1000
Belia:  not in top 1000
LJ: not in top 1000
Ryleigh: 188
Henry: 33
Charli: 612
Nicholas: 57
Rye: not in top 1000

Dorothy's name rose in popularity from 729 in 2014 to 652 in 2016.

Frozen Concert

The Sunday Funnies

Dorothy and I were looking closely at a penny.
Me:  What is on the front?
Dorothy:  A head and a body.
Me:  What is on the back?
Dorothy:  A tail.  A train.

Dorothy:  When you were a little girl did you used to play Anna and Elsa with Aunt Mary Beth?

Dorothy:  I did something.
Me:  No response.
Dorothy:  You say, "What did you do?"

Dorothy collected all the checker pieces in her hands and asked, "Mom, can I throw these?"  I said, "If you pick them up, yes, you can throw them."  She said, "I already picked them up."

Dorothy walked into the living room fresh from bed, with messy hair and sleepy eyes, and her first words were, "Can you wash sheets?"

We were playing doctor with Dorothy's dolls.  The baby doll was hurt because she didn't wear her helmet and she fell off her bike; I was fussing at the mama doll and saying it was her job to make sure that her baby wears a helmet.  Dorothy, playing the part of the doll mom, replied, "I was just too busy on my computer I didn't notice."

Invented ice skates

Chillin'

In Training

After

Before