Aileen
"Someday I want to paint my house yellow."
"I want to get married and dance." (similar to how she saw it happen in the Cinderella movie)
cuddly, affectionate, sweet
can be very sensitive and will get upset at a minimally stern voice
"merica" - harmonica
"fridger" - refrigerator
Avery
He is seven years old and claims, "I haven't had pistachio pudding in YEARS!"
Ate a Brazil nut and asked, "What is an American nut?"
Each night, Avery kisses us with a "hug kiss" before bed, and says to his mom, "Good night, my sugar plum!"
Hoards empty cereal boxes in his room because he cannot stand the idea of throwing out a perfectly good craft project item.
When we were picking out new bedding for Aileen's toddler bed, I found him pushing all of the pillows into the storage shelves. He had misread "plush pillow" for "push pillow".
One morning, while he was retrieving his plastic piggy bank from his shelf to put in his allowance, the pig broke in two. We decided that was because of the weight of all the change in it, and that we needed to convert it to bills at the bank. Avery gathered up the load of coins and put it in a large yellow Easter basket. We gathered in the van and drove to the nearest bank. He toted his heavy basket to the teller counter inside. We were by far the most animated customers in line. There, he began telling the bank teller about how this was his first time inside the bank, the story about how his piggy bank broke in two from his allowance money, what he is saving up for and emphasized how much money he had. The teller asked how he would like his money broken down into bills, and he replied, "mainly twenties". As it turns out, Avery had saved approximately thirty dollars in change. The teller put it in an envelope, handed it to him and asked if he would like a treat. Of course he exclaimed excitedly "Sure!". He noticed a sign in their window that discussed rewards for banking through their branch and asked if the sucker was the "reward", and said very loudly for the benefit of others in the bank that "the sucker is AWESOME!". Aileen, always the quiet observer, happily enjoyed a free sucker too.
