Dear Kids,
Here are some random stories about you.
- Livia loves stuffed animals, and she often surrounds herself with them at bedtime. I always check on the two of you before I go to bed. Sometimes I find that Livia has so many animals around her that I don’t know how she can even breathe. I usually remove a few. Her favorites change from day to day, but she has always seemed to be particularly fond of Bruno (a monkey), Gigi (a pink poodle), Tails (a white rat), and Apricot (a giraffe).
- Lately we’ve been doing a game called Animal Toss just before bed. I take a stuffed animal from the closet and ask who wants it. Then I throw it to whoever seems to want it the most. This has led to Marshall’s renewed interest in stuffed animals. He has been using them to build what he calls “bridges” on the floor. The only animal he ever asks to sleep with is the weird-looking, pink one that is maybe supposed to be a rabbit (we call it an alien—that’s how weird it is).
- The other night we used stuffed animals to outline a pond on the floor and then pretended to be frogs. We read frog stories. Then Marshall dictated a frog story to me, which I will post later. It was close to bedtime at that point and Marshall asked if the two of you could sleep in the pond. I said, “Sure!” The floor may not be particularly comfortable, but you’re old enough to get back into bed if you’re uncomfortable. You stayed in the pond all night, though, and you sure looked cute sleeping like that.
- A few months ago Marshall drew his first picture of a face. He gave it hair, eyes, a nose, and a mouth. He told me that it was me. Then, when we showed it to his dad, Marshall said it was a picture of his dad. I had no idea that Daddy and I looked so much alike! 😉
- For a while Livia shushed us every time we told her to do something. She did it so perfectly that it was beyond rude. We were almost at the end of our tolerance for it when she suddenly, and for no apparent reason, gave it up. Whew!
- Both of you still like to wear your hoodie towels on your heads like capes after your bath. You look like superheroes. When Livia says “superhero” it sounds like “super tato.”
- Marshall likes to watch videos on YouTube. He has always been fascinated by volcanoes and periodically asks for volcano videos. One day he was so entranced with one that he refused to come to the kitchen for lunch. He was perched in front of my computer, chanting, “Where’s my lava? Where’s my lava?”
- As Marshall was watching his volcano video, Livia was in the kitchen eating scrambled eggs, which she usually won’t touch. She was smiling and chanting, “I like it! I like it!”
Love,
Mom