Yesterday afternoon, Coco walked into the room with a bowl of cheddarpuffs. She told us she had seen the bag on the counter, opened it up, popped one in her mouth and said, “cheddarpuff divine.”

Today Daddy and Coco were at the playground at school and it was time to go. Daddy suggested doing something fun and asked if Coco like being happy or sad better. She said she liked both. Larry said “Really. You like being sad?”

“Yes,” she said, “because when I’m sad I cry and I get to taste my tears and they are salty and delicious.”

Then she said she like to be happy like when it’s spring and warm and she feels happy all over.

Minky was playing with her dolls the other day. The dolls have very elaborate conversations, but now Minky is adding attributions. After one doll ’said’ something to the other, Minky added, ‘…she said, looking over her shoulder.”

Saturday night, Daddy was telling Coco that he once walked from here to Boston. “You did not!” she yelled in reply. “Yes I did,” said Daddy, and added, to prove his point, “and I stopped at every bar along the way.”

After a slight pause, Coco said, “I’m confused. What on earth is a bar?”

We were just watching Word Girl (great show) and I asked Coco what her favorite word was. She said, “mom, cause I like my mom.”

My daughter has drawn a portrait of me. It’s phenomenal! I especially like my sly, Oscar-the-grouch-like smile.

Tonight Coco suggested we pretend that she is the stepmother and I am Cinderella. After a while of pretending, we got the nighttime routine going, with me assuming my usual role of mommy again. But as she was putting her pajamas on, she said, sighing:

“Oh, Cinderella. I dream of old fashioneds, of dresses, [dramatic pause] of loving and hearts.”

Wow.

Layr told me that Coco recently said she is going to have hair on her arms and legs when she grows up.

This morning I asked her about it.

“Hair like Daddy?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“Do I have hair on my arms and legs?” I asked.

“No.”

“Will you be like Mommy or me when you grow up?” Layr asked.

“You (daddy),” Coco answered. Then she held out her arm and asked, “do you see the blades of hair?”

Coco (read with a very enthusiastic tone): “I can’t wait to be a grown up. [pause] Can you not wait to die?”

On the way to the Hobo Picnic yesterday, we listened to a Portuguese lesson. The talking in the car sounded something like this:

CD narrator: “now say ‘I speak a little Portuguese.’”

Larry and me: “Falo um pouco de Portugues.”

Coco (simultaneously): “I speak a little Portuguese.”

CD narrator: “say ‘a little.’”

Coco: “a little.”

Larry and me: “um pouco.”

This made us laugh so much that we couldn’t say the Portuguese part.

Occasionally, Coco did say the Portuguese words and she wasn’t half bad.

Those are my genes.