August 1 – Daniel: “Where’s Pa?” Me: “He went to work.” Daniel: “Why’d you make him do that?”

August 2 – At Whole Food Market

August 2 – Faith of a black bean seed? Daniel has a bowl of macaroni and dried black beans to use to create objets d’art. He and Poppy planted some black beans in a mug and put them in the kitchen window. Since these were black beans meant for consumption, Poppy and I had assumed they were of a variety that wouldn’t reproduce. Daniel, on the other hand, had continuing faith. He watered and kept check on his beans and notified me this morning that they had sprouted.

August 3 – Daniel wanted Papa to pretend to be various bugs, which he did. As an ant he said that he liked to eat sugar. Daniel: “But sugar isn’t good for you because it doesn’t have any minerals in it.” Later in this conversation Daniel was saying that he liked to eat bugs (not sure how it got there). “Bugs taste like meat and juice. Lady bugs taste like licorice.”

August 7 – “When can we go to Sodor?” (The Island of Sodor is where Thomas the Train Engine lives.)

August 7 – Trying out the desks

August 7 – Pretending to read a book: “And this says ‘Girls, he’s and womans'” Papa: “Which one are you?” Daniel: “I’m a he. I guess I need to read all this mess.”

August 8 – Demonstrating a funny noise when holding one side of his nose: “I think there’s a cricket in there.”

August 8 – Got on ear muffs to see Ice Age at the theater

August 10 – I was singing Mahna Mahna. Daniel: “Why do you like to sing that song?” Me: “Because I think it’s funny.” Daniel: “Don’t sing it, but it is quite funny.”

August 11 – Playing with his leapfrog explorer before going to the market.

August 12 – ‎Olympic training‎

August 12 – Studying the clouds: “That one looks like God walking around.”‎

August 13 – ‎Playing with a water sprayer on a pretty day

August 13 – Drying his hands on my shirt: “You’re a towel, right?”‎

August 14 – Typing and clicking on Papa’s laptop: “Whoopsiedaisy! What’s all this mess?”‎

August 17 – Wanting the camera I keep in my purse: “Where is that thing you used to take pictures at the park one time? It’s a phone that doesn’t make calls.”

August 18 – ‎The lady working in the deli at Publix was already very amused with my conversational four-year-old. As she was having trouble getting the tamper proof wrapping off a bottle top she said her hands didn’t work as well as they once did. She really cracked up when Daniel said with empathy, “I know how it is.”

August 20 – ‎Last time we were at Kroger, Daniel asked the self checkout attendant for stickers. This is one of the ones she gave him. On the way home he asked me what this and that said, which of course I couldn’t read from the driver’s seat, so I had him spell them for me. He spells “integrity”, “honesty”, and “respect”. After each I would say the word and define it for him. Then he spells “noisulcnl”. I can’t imagine what this word could be. He spells it two more times. I have no idea. Only later do I look at the sticker and not only realize it was “inclusion” backwards, but what lead him to spell it backwards in the first place.

August 20 – ‎Daniel: “I don’t want to be smart.” Me: “What do you want to be?” Daniel: “Boring.”

August 22 – Daniel had lunch with a view of the ducks.

August 22 – ‎Me: “What kind of girl are you going to marry?” Daniel: “She will be sweet and nice. She will be funny. She should know how to cook. She should know how to do everything.”

August 23 – Daniel to me while standing on his head: “Did you do this when you were a little boy?”

August 23 – “Mama, can we go back to Target any time we want?”

August 23 – “Can you just hang out with me?”

August 24 – ‎Daniel is descended from several wood workers. He demonstrated that part of him this morning when he assembled a screw driver, loaded it with an allen bit, removed 8 screws and disassembled his step stool.‎

August 24 – ‎Me: “What’s wrong?” Daniel: “I don’t want to talk about it. Let’s talk about it tomorrow.” Me: “OK Scarlett”

August 25 – ‎Poppy reassembled Daniel’s stool yesterday but Daniel is very quickly took it apart again. “Poppy left that bit in there because he knows I like to make messes.”

August 25 – Daniel interrupted me while I was singing to tell me something. Then he said, “OK. You can resume that song.”

August 27 – ‎Playing in a weeping willow‎

August 27 – ‎Coming home with the erector set‎. Hoping this will cure the need to disassemble his stool.

August 27 – At Toy’s R Us Daniel was playing sweetly at the train table with a barely walking baby girl. The girl’s mother asked him if he had a little sister. “No, but I have a Mimi. She’s a grown up, but she’s really little.”

August 28 – Daniel just used the Walgreens automated line to order two prescription refills. He will take good care of his elderly parents.

August 28 – ‎My poor baby with his runny nose and low grade fever. He’s sitting on the erector set bucket taking apart things I’m making.‎

August 29 – ‎My funny little snotty nosed Scarlett. Me: “Can you blow out that side of your nose?” Daniel: “No! I’ll do it tomorrow.”

August 29 – ‎My pitiful sick boy taking it easy on the couch.

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July 2 – Daniel: “A long time ago I lost a balloon. I thought it was funny” Me: “I’m so glad you thought it was funny. I thought it was sad.” Daniel: “The reason I thought it was funny is I laughed so hard it made me cry.”

July 3 – Daniel hiding under the covers on our bed: “I went that way. I’m not here. Pa said that.”

July 3 – Tried to talk Daniel into watching some Gilliagan’s Island. “No, I don’t want to. Maybe when I’m 40…  or 7 or 5 or 6.”

July 6 – Daniel playing restaurant: “”They have the wrong kind of corn. It’s not organic. It’s French.”

July 6 – “I learned how to speak in Spanish. See I can count in Spanish. Cinco, mayo, twenty, tango!!”

July 8 – Me: “King David wrote a lot of songs and they have a lot of them in the Bible.” Daniel: “Did he write Jesus Loves Me?”

July 9 – “You! Tickle Pa rather than me.”

July 10 – Daniel was pushing a mini cart at Kroger. I was in a near run behind him. He says, “Why do you keep grabbing things?”

July 10 – Today at lunch: “The peas are yummier than you can imagine.”

July 11 – “Do you never get tired of loving on me?”

July 13 – At Starbucks

July 16 – I love Daniel’s mixed metaphors, especially since I’ve been known to mix a few myself. This morning’s was so cute: “hot as a whistle”.

July 18 – Daniel can always ask some pretty interesting questions, but he was in particularly high form tonight, leaving me mentally exhausted. Topics included naming my maternal lineage as far as I could, how did Adam and Eve live without a refrigerator, do bad people like pretty things in nature, why does Poppy not have Facebook, and are men sad that they can’t have babies. There were so many others I just can’t remember. Somewhere in it he had us pray that God help him not pick at his lips.

July 19 – Daniel had his annual checkup. When we got back from the doctor he promptly called everyone he knew and told them his blood pressure was zero.

July 23 – “When Jesus was a baby was God a grown up everywhere else?”

July 25 – Yesterday Daniel used his gift card from Aunt Christina to buy a light sabre. Despite all of Poppy’s efforts to convince him otherwise, he’s still calling it a light “saver”. My son hasn’t really used it as a sabre, but it has so far been a cell phone, remote control, microphone, vacuum cleaner, weed eater and a giant pen.

July 26 – at Harris Teeter

July 27 – “When I was a lima bean, was all I could say was ‘waa waa’?”

July 28 – Daniel to Papa: “You be the princess. I’m the king.”

July 31 – Daniel talking about his secret spy wrist communicator: “I can talk to people through their TVs. I talk into this and that weather thing pops up on their TV and I talk about the weather.”

June 1 – Daniel was pretending that dollar coins were cookies. He was naming each of their flavors and some were interesting: vanilla, chocolate, M&M, Snickers, nut, green bean, and feet smell.

June 4 – Speaking of the oven thermostat: “Is it really smart like me?” Me: “Oh no. It’s not nearly as smart as you.” Daniel: “But it’s smart? Like TiVo?”

June 4 – Tonight Daniel was really cutting a rug and I started singing the Bee Gees I Should Be Dancing. “No, Mama. Sing something I can dance to.”

June 5 – After a spoonful of lima beans: “I swallowed one and chewed the rest.”

June 5 – Me: “Why don’t you want to watch TV anymore?” Daniel: “It’s just all boring because you don’t do anything.”

June 5 – “Can I make egg salad after every nap and every night night?”

June 6 – “Does everyone like their birthday? Even bad people? Are they nice on their birthday?”

June 6 – “Tickle me into pieces.”

June 7 – Pushing the big cart at Costco

June 7 – Writing on the chalk board doors at Whole Foods

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June 8 – Daniel to me: “When you were a little boy did you like to take a bath when you didn’t feel good?”

June 9 – Daniel visited a our friends’ new baby

June 11 – Found this in the kitchen.

June 12  – Got the curls really going today

June 12 – Daniel was playing on the deck and out of the blue held out his hand and told me to hold it. I didn’t know what he was up to. When I took his hand he said a prayer. It was the sweetest thing.

June 18 – At a plant nursery

June 22 – “You’re a stranger, Poppy, but I love you.”

June 22 – Four-year-old revenge: “You know, there is this store that sells popsicles that taste bad. They have flavors like wood, paper, stickers, things like that. I’m going to get you one. It tastes like nose drops.”

June 23 – Daniel making a ringing noise with one of his toys: “Don’t answer that. It’s your grandmother. She’s going to try to sell you something you don’t need. Another TV.”

June 24 – Daniel tells story after story about this elusive “grandfather” of his. They are extremely tall tales and some are quite funny. “One time my grandfather wanted to know what was behind the TV, but when he pulled it out, it fell in the floor and breaked (sic). Then when he watched TV, it was only half.”

June 25 – Daniel talking to a pretend doctor on a toy phone: “That’s the only thing I can do?!? Oh man!”

June 26 – Shopping at Whole Foods

June 27 – Daniel told the waitress “I’m starving”.

June 29 – Daniel has his whole week planned out.

May 1 – “I’m all wore out from all that sleeping.”

May 2 – “I said ‘Hi’ to one of my neighbors.”

May 2 – “Mama, what is above the clouds? I know Jesus is above the clouds, but what is above Jesus?”

May 2 – “Is God beside my bed? If I cry in my bed, does He fix it?”

May 4 – Daniel, playing PacMan, having just been eaten by a ghost: “Does he like how I taste?”

May 7 – Examining the flowers outside the doctors office

May 8 – Trying another park

May 8 – I just found six dollar coins in the freezer. That’s what I’d call hard cold cash.

May 11 – Daniel: “I’m really full of water.” Me: “You drank of lot of water. You must have been thirsty.” Daniel: “I wasn’t. It just happened.”

May 11 – “Can you cuddle with me forever, all day and for the rest of my life?”

May 15 – Daniel tried his best to befriend a groundhog. I guess groundhogs don’t understand the meaning behind blowing kisses.

May 15 – Balancing boy

May 16 – Daniel’s firemen figures just performed a musical.

May 18 – Me: “Do you get cabin fever?” Daniel: “Not often. A little bit, but not very often. Poppy gets cabin fever every one nap.” Me: “What does he do about it?” Daniel: “He goes somewhere for a few minutes. Then after one nap he goes somewhere for a few minutes again.”

May 22 – Daniel added an interesting line to his prayer at nap time: “Everyone needs to be saved or the police are going to come.”

May 24 – Daniel to me: “Did you like to play in the mud when you were a little boy cause you thought it was fun?”

May 25 – I had to change plans around a bit this morning on my little sweety, which he didn’t like and upset him a bit. I apologied to him and he said, “But Mama, you have nothing to be sorry for.”

May 28 – “Mama, I’m a sweet pickle.”

May 29 – Mr Curly playing outside in the cooler weather

May 30 – Daniel playing restaurant: “What do you want?” Me: “Fried chicken.” Son: “What kind?” Me: “White meat.” Son: “We’re out of white meat. All we have is dark meat.” Now isn’t that like most servers to ask your choice when there isn’t one?

May 31 – “Was that a swell idea?”

April 1 – Daniel speaking of a toy store: “Can we go to Phillip’s today? It’s more fun than going to Kroger.”

April 1 at the park having just gone down a slide –

April 2 – Listening to Daniel sing “Doobie doobie doo” while playing at the park.

April 3 – Daniel so sweetly applied eye shadow all over one side of my face. I hated to wash it off but didn’t think Kroger was ready for the Gene Simmons look.

April 3 – Seeing Daniel talking to some much older girls at the park: “Did you talk to some girls?” Daniel: “Yeah. I said Hi to them.”

April 8 – Daniel was playing with a bendy snake and said that when it was all bent it was in German and when he straightened it back out it was in English.

April 11 – Is Daniel going to be punny? We were peeling and slicing former Easter eggs and he says, “This cracks me up.”

April 11 – Daniel asked what Jesus sounded like and I told him that the Bible didn’t say, just what he said. He said, “I think it doesn’t say because he sounds like Poppy, but isn’t Poppy.”

April 17 – At the farmer’s market

April 18 – “I need food every one nap. The toot toots let out the energy and I need to eat food to put more energy in.”

April 19 – “Mama, you’re the best.”

April 24 – Daniel: “Why do you not wear your glasses when you sleep?” Me: “Because my eyes are closed when I sleep, so I don’t need them.” Daniel: “I keep my eyes open when I sleep. I have to see my bunny. I have to know if I have the right leg.”

April 25 – “Now the nice lady is going to sing, Amy Grant.” Sings in falseto. “That wasn’t her. It was her grandfather.”

April 26 – In the car seat reading about trees

April 26 – A bit muggy, but sunny and warm

April 27 – self portrait with Leapster Explorer camera

April 27 – The comedian strikes again. “Do you need some time?” Lifts his shirt and a sand timer falls out.

April 30 – Cutie relaxing with his Leap Frog Explorer

April 30 – Climbing the rope web

March 3 – “I want Ma to give my bath, not Pa. He doesn’t do very well. Pa uses too much soap.”

March 8 – I was talking to Daniel about the days before electricity and modern conveniences. Daniel: “Did they have computers?” Me: “No” Daniel: “How did they look things up?”

March 11 – Daniel asked why the time changed. I told him I honestly didn’t know because I’ve never heard an explanation that I thought made sense. He said, “Maybe they don’t know what time it is.” That’s as good an explanation as I’ve ever heard.

March 12 – “They are called chick peas because they come in an egg. You crack the egg and the peas come out.”

March 15 – “I have an idea. After my nap, let’s go to Pets’R’Us.”

March 19 – I pointed out Mill Creek as we were driving beside it. Daniel says, “My great great grandfather used to swim in there.” I’m not aware of this myself, but for all I know it could be.

March 20 – Daniel is singing his own made up song very loudly at Harris Teeter: Jesus is coming right now.

March 22 – Daniel talking to a bug: “You are so cute. You are just fabulous!”

March 28 – Daniel misplaced my favorite camera. In his words: “I put mama’s camera in a lost place.” In the little over three years of his mobility, a lot of things have been put in that “lost place”.

March 29 – Every morning Daniel asks me how many days until his birthday. He has mastered anticipation.

March 30 – “I’m hungry as a button.”

February 3 – Daniel runs in the bathroom and weighs himself and runs back and announces his weight. A minute later he runs back in the bathroom saying “I’ve got to go see if I’m growing fast.”

February 6 – On finding the calculator he’s been missing for a few days: “I’ve needed this for years.”

February 8 – “That’ll cost ya three hundred sixty dollars.”

February 10 – Daniel hands me a length of paper from his calculator: “Here’s your receipt. I made math.”

February 10 – Daniel pretending to be hatching from an egg (two laundry baskets): “I’m a little chicken that goes quack.” The next time he hatched he said he was a wolf.

February 10 – Coming back from Costco he asks, “Did we go on a date?”

February 14 – Daniel was disappointed that we aren’t having a turkey for Valentines Day.

February 15 – Someone being impatient honked at me which lead to lots of questions from Daniel. Then he came up with his own hilarious explanation: “Sometimes when people get older they kind of get angry.”

February 18 – Daniel: “Tickle both of my necks.” Me: “How many necks do you have?” Daniel: “Two.”

February 22 – “I need my special agent pen.” He reaches down and pulls a pen out of his sock.

February 23 – Handing me a wildflower: “These grow all over the place.”

February 27 – I asked Daniel if he could spell jeep. “J E E P”. I had to refrain from fainting because I was driving.

February 29 – Daniel was admiring his curly locks in the bathroom mirror. Then he laughed and said “I need a hair cut.”

February 29 – Daniel, jumping on the bed: “I’m getting my exercise.”

Daniel is pushing a mini cart at Kroger. I’m in almost a run behind him. He says, “Why do you keep grabbing things?”

Daniel’s aunt, uncle and cousins were visiting from New Mexico and Texas last weekend. We met them at a restaurant and Daniel got to play with his cousins Jaiden and Jentry. The table cloth was paper, so they colored on it and traced each other’s hands.

January 2 – Daniel hands me a piece of paper he’s written on: “This says Mama is a funny guy.”

January 5 – Papa: “I love you, little man.” Daniel: “Awww. Isn’t that nice?”

January 6 – Daniel was curious about breaker boxes when I told him we had to turn off the oven at the breaker box. Looking at a picture of one he was guessing what each switch was for. He pointed to one and said, “and this one turns off the Sun.”

January 6 – On Special Agent Oso there is a character named Dottie with a pretty extreme Southern accent. Daniel said something then said, “I sounded kind of funny when I said that. I sounded like Dottie.”

January 8 – Daniel: “Knock, knock.” Papa: “Who’s there?” Daniel: “Boo.” Papa: “Boo who?” Daniel: “Banana.”

January 8 – Daniel: “I’m going to sing you a lullaby.” Me: “That would be wonderful. Please do.” Daniel: “I’m just going to sing it in my brain.”

January 9 – In the spirit of full disclosure, Daniel walks up to the appliance repairman and says, “I have a virus. It’s making me sick.”

January 9 – Daniel called his great grandmother and said “I have a virus. I just can’t figure out what’s going on with me.”

January 10 – Me: “How are you this morning?” Daniel: “Well enough.”

January 11 – Daniel put various items in Glad storage containers and put them under the tree playing Christmas presents. Then he said, “Where is my camera? I need to take a picture of you before you open the presents because that’s how we usually do it.”

January 13 – Daniel woke and needed a little reassurance at 1 a.m. As I left his room he said, “I love Mickey and Friends and Ma and Pa.”

January 14 – Reading words off a plastic cup from Swanky’s – Me: “Do you know what ‘chill’ means?” Daniel: “It means relax.” Me: “How did you know that?” Daniel: “Sometimes I hear my voice. I hear my voice in my brain and it tells me stuff.”

January 19 – Daniel: “You let my pea juice cool off and let it get all funky.”

January 20 – Daniel looking at a cross section of a slice of celery: “God made this heart for me because He loves me.”

January 25 – Daniel: “I don’t like to grow.” Me: “Why?” Daniel: “I don’t want to be any bigger than I am right now.”

January 27 – Daniel, after saying a bunch of gibberish: “Listen. I’m speaking in a different language.”

January 27 – Coming home from a nice trip to Kroger, I hear from the back seat: “Welcome valued customer. Beep beep beep. Do you have any coupons?”

January 29 – At a self checkout at a grocery: “I’m the checker and you’re the bagger.”

January 31 – Daniel got in a laundry basket and set another laundry basket inverted over him. He said he was an egg. I asked if he was a chicken or a lizard. He said he was a dinosaur.

January 31 – Me: “I love going places with you and being with you every day. You’ll grow up and meet a pretty girl and get married and I won’t see you every day.” Daniel: “And when I’m done being married I’ll come back and you will see me again.”