Snapshot: Giovanna

Name: Gigi

Current age: Just shy of 5

Current Interests: Fashion, "playing orphans" with Tutu, being read The Little House on the Prairie series, talking about possible themes for her 5th birthday party (so far she has come up with a blueberry theme, clown theme and a Marilyn Monroe theme), playing outside and getting dirty, jokes and silliness, sewing and drawing, peeling and cutting vegetables as a sous chef to whomever is making dinner, hearing us tell stories about our family, making other people laugh, and playing with Orion.

Current Fears: The draft.  She is concerned that the men in her life will be drafted into war.  I don't think this will last long, but it is definitely one of the times I wish I had held my tongue and not given her the "adult explanation".

Some recent gems...

Gigi sits down in the new little rocking chair...
Orion: Ooooo, can I sit?
Gigi: You got to do phone book this morning, and I didn't.  So I'm going to sit because you're not the center of the world.

Gigi, cleaning up the magnatiles in our bedroom...
Gigi: I'm cleaning up right now.  My heart doesn't want to but I am.

Talking about what people have said our family members look like...
Gigi: Well, if Papai is President Obama, then I am a nun.
Me: What?  I don't understand the connection.
Gigi: Remember, President Obama has two daughters and they are nuns?
Me: Are you thinking about Galileo?
Gigi: Oh, yes!  It's Galileo!

Me: And so and so is having a birthday party.  She is turning 5.
Gigi: Wait.  She's bigger than me?  I thought I was bigger than her.  Then why was she kicking and hitting my chair on Sunday?  She knows better.

Chatting in the kitchen...
Gigi: I'm too little to be in love with someone or have a girlfriend or boyfriend!

Gigi: Mom, I thought Bruno Mars got shot while he was doing his talk.
Me: I think you mean Martin Luther King Junior.
Gigi: Oh yeah!  Did some people not like that he said the color of your skin doesn't matter, but only your character?  Were they acting like teenagers?

At the dinner table...
Gigi: I better eat my food because I know Papai wants to go [to FHE at our friends' house] and it's illegal for an adult to leave a child all alone at home, right?

Gigi singing to herself, about the existential question that she grapples with the most...
Gigi: And they all joined hands and tried to go to Heaven because they thought Jesus could tell them how the dinosaurs died...  how the dinosaurs died....

Snapshot: Orion

I haven't captured the kids in a few months, so here goes!  

A friend set up a little Valentines backdrop a few weeks ago to take festive photos for Grandparents, and invited anyone to come and bring their littles, so we gave it a whirl.  I wish I were better at photography, but I like how they came out, because I love that little face.

Name: "Marcos OOOOOwion!"

Current Age: 2 and a few months

Current Strong Interests: the sock fuzz between his toes, friends and new toys, being defiant and ornery, balls, vehicles, puzzles, desserts, saying "I'm tired" and "I'm frustrated", building with legos/magnatiles/blocks, "tough time" with Papai, apologizing, helping out in the kitchen, potty talk with Gigi, talking all the time, the Temple Song, "Brazil songs", and being a big boy.

Things he says: 

Gigi, parenting Orion in the next room.
Gigi: Orion, go to timeout!  One...  Two... -
Orion: No!  You're not the office!

Pretty much every time he is busted and has to apologize.
Orion: I'm sorry for hitting you, Gigi.  Thank you for apologizing, I forgive you.
Gigi: No, I'm supposed to say that!

Asking to go outside last week.
Orion: Can I go outside and play with bubbles?  On the duck?  On the dick?  Out there?
Metta: Oh!  On the DECK.
Orion: Yeah, on the deck.

Orion washing his hands, to Gigi who was crowding him at the sink.
Orion: Give me space.  I'm washing my hands!

Orion, when some friends were over and their baby son was put to bed in Orion's crib.
Orion: I don't want baby Sam in my bed.  It make me upset!

Marcos: Orion, I just gave a talk at the Priesthood Meeting.
Orion: Wow!  That's awesome!

Metta: Orion, you did it!  You are becoming so independent!  Can you say "independent"?
Orion: No!  I don't want to!  I don't want to say independent!

Orion, asking me to put the Pentatonix Little Drummer Boy video on the computer.
Orion: I do the computer?
Metta: No...
Orion: My job is to sit on the sofa!

Orion: There's boogies in there!  I can't breathe very well!

Trying to teach Orion Portuguese.
Metta: "Ce-va-da".
Orion: I can't say that word.  It's kind of tricky for me.