Dialogue
February 23
Ian yelled at me to not let Nina near his cars…

Daddy – “Come on Nina, (picking up Nina and heading to a different room) Ian wants to play by himself.”

Ian comes rushing in a few moments later, guilt trip having fully gripped him. He hands off a toy to Nina and runs back out of the room.

A moment later he runs back in and says in a high pitch voice —
Ian – “‘Thank you, thank you!’ That’s Nina saying that.” (Yes Ian filled in words for Nina.)

He runs out, but then runs right back in.
Ian – “I forgot to say you’re welcome… You’re welcome!”
———–
That night, I checked in on Ian even though he was supposed to be asleep. He asked what I was doing. I told him I came in to talk to him. For a moment, I paused, because I thought I could hear Nina cry. Ian took this as a sign that he was supposed to come up with a topic —

Ian – “So whats going on daddy? How’s it goin?”
———–
February 25
Daddy – “Are you so cute?”

Nina – “Yeah.”
———–
February 26
Ian – “Do you know what rhymes with sun? Done and bun!”
———–
Ian – “We have to wear our pirate masks so that we can get stuff that’s expensive from under the floor!” (He’s thinking of buried treasure under the ground, but doesn’t quite have it right yet.)
———–
Ian – “Daddy you didn’t let the bug finish talking.” (This one’s hard to explain but I skipped past an intro to a video game that had a talking thing that I’m guessing the game publisher spent millions of dollars creating and animating. I just found it funny that it was referred to as a bug.)
———–
Nina – “uh uh uh!” Then points through one of our gates at a stool. That would be the first time I’ve seen her point at anything.
———–
Nina – “Opuh.” (She handed me a vehicle that opens up, so I believe that was “open.”)
———–
Daddy – “Pillows don’t belong on the floor by the door where dirty shoes go.”

Ian – “But the pillows are drums!”

Daddy – “They can be drums in the living room.”

Ian – “But daaaadddyyyyy (elbows down wrists up) it’s for a concert and the concert needs drums all over the wooorld! (arms outspread slightly)”
———–
Ian – “What are you doing with that box?”

Daddy – “Recycling it.”

Ian – “You could reuse it. It is good to reuse stuff. Let’s reuse it!”

Daddy – (Laughs and asks Melissa if she can hear all this…)

Ian – “It looks long we could put something long in there like a handle.”
———–
February 27
About a month ago I made a joke that I was going to pull the car out of the garage and leave without Mommy while we were in the car waiting for Melissa to get some last-second stuff for wherever we were going. Ian took me seriously and cried his eyes out like you wouldn’t believe. He went from fine to broken-hearted in about a half-a-second flat. I explained that I was kidding, and that it was just a joke. He stopped crying but was still visibly upset.

So a week or so ago we started heading out of the house, I put Nina in the car, Ian in his car seat, I sat down to wait for Melissa and get the car warmed up. Ian says from the back seat “Don’t leave without Mommy, and DON’T TELL ANY JOKES.”