Ivy, what’s your favorite…

Color – Blue (So, let me tell you a little story. There was a week or two of school where all the kids were encouraged to dress a different color every day. And every day Ivy insisted that she had nothing green to wear or that all her red clothes were dirty or that she didn’t like brown. Until pink day. Pink day she was all pink. According to John when he asked about her sudden enthusiasm for color day she said, “I can out pink anybody!” But that was then, we are into blue now. Apparently. )

Animal – Dolphins and manatees. (That’s news to me as well. Good thing I ask these questions, already I’ve learned so much!)

Food – Pizza

Clothes – Dresses

Dog – Trip

Cat – Cassie (It’s mutual. Cassie goes and sleeps on her bed even on the nights Ivy doesn’t track her down and lock her in her bedroom,)

Person – You

Thing to do – Play with Natalie and Sarah. (Sarah is Natalie’s mom. And sorry Sarah, I don’t actually think she wants to play with you. This is just her way of differentiating her friends named Natalie)

Thing to do outside – Play on the rope swing (The rope swing is very popular around here!)

Chore – I don’t have one. (Oh so true!)

Time of day – Night

Place to go – Water park

Song – Let it Go (Please could someone convince her you only sing “Let it go” twice in the chorus not three times!)

Flower – Rose

Farm Animal – Horses

Thing about school – Recess

Friend – Lucy

Movie – Frozen (Our friend told us Frozen is like crack for kids, I think he’s right.)

Thing to do with Clara – Play baby and mamma. (The game that will not die.)

Thing to do with Jane – Take a bath. (That’s funny because every time she takes a bath and Jane wants to get in with her she freaks out and says she hates taking baths with Jane.)

Thing to do with Dad – Work in the workshop.

Thing to do with Me – Have you read to me.

Book – Pee Wee Scout

Meal –  Dinner, because we can have dessert. (Yeah!)

Thing to do in the car – Play with magnet books. (I agree magnet books are a fantastic toy to bring out on long car rides.)

What do you want to do when you grown up? Be a diver in the Olympics. (I’m already cringing waiting to hear what John has to say about that!)

Anything else? –”I love you Natalie!” (Awww!)

That’s it, the final installment of “What’s your favorite…” until next year! If a year is too long to wait you can entertain yourself with Ivy’s previous favorite things:

Ivy’s Favorites at Six Years Old

Ivy’s Favorite Things at Five Years Old

Ivy’s Favorite Things

Jane what’s your favorite…

Color – “Green!” (So it’s possible, green is her favorite color. Or it’s possible that she has NO IDEA what colors are what and she likes the sound of “GREEN!” best.)

Animal – cat

Food – sandwich

Clothes – glasses (She doesn’t own glasses and she is highly discouraged from borrowing her parents.)

Dog – Storm

Cat – Gypsy

Person – Ariel (Are mermaids people too?)

Thing to do – games

Thing to do outside – playin’

Chore – “money chores” (The older girls occasionally have “money jar chores” Jane has not yet joined them but perhaps she should!)

Time of day – “Go to school.” (Not sure about this, perhaps she is talking about taking Ivy to school?)

Place to go – “Go gummy bear foot.” (This isn’t a place to go, she’s been calling “bare foot”,  “gummy bear foot” and that’s just too cute not to share, so I didn’t press for a real location!)

Song – “Happy Birthday To You” (Sung to me of course. She sings all day long!)

Flower – nothin’ (Further asking got a “Green” and “Nope” odd for a girl who’s been picking everything that blooms in the yard.)

Farm Animal –vulture (Not a very successful farm apparently.)

Friend – Clara

Movie – Tinkerbell (Gag me.)

Thing to do with Clara – eatin’ food

Thing to do with Ivy – Nothin’ ( Poor Ivy! Let’s chalk this one up to Jane’s unwillingness to answer questions the two of them play great together!)

Thing to do with Dad – playin’

Thing to do with Me – Jane: “Doing stuff with you.”  Me:  “Like what?” Jane:  “WITH YOU!” (Got it!)

Book –  “Me read.” ( I investigated further and discovered that she meant that she likes it when she reads books to herself.)

Thing to do in the car – “Play with you.” ( I drive the car while suppressing my irritation with the back seat. I do not play in the car.)

What do you want to do when you grown up? “I six.”  (Further investigation, revealed nothing. When she grows up, she’ll be six. End of story.)

Anything else? – Jane: “My animals.” Me:  “What about them?” Jane:  “I have allllllllll” (No idea…)

So, what I really discovered doing this is that while Jane talks, and tells stories, and demands things, and sings songs all day long she doesn’t really answer questions. It took forever to gather the answers that I got because she initially answered everything “GREEN!” or “NOPE!” Not only does she not answer direct and random questions like, “What book do you like reading best.” but she also is quite good at evading everyday questions like, “Do you want to go outside?”. This is something which I hadn’t at all noticed until I started asking about her favorites and now I wonder how I missed it. For such a little talker she’s hard to pin down… perhaps when she’s grown up at six she’ll look into becoming a lawyer.

For last years investigation on Jane’s favorites go here:

A Study To Determine Jane’s Favorite Items At The Age Of 15 Months

Clara what’s your favorite…

Color – Blue ( We started out so succinct and normal…)

Animal – Clara: “Neeeighhh! I gave you a hint!” Me: “Horse? ” Clara: “And one more…” Me:  “Unicorn?” Clara: “Yes, and one more… WHOOP!” Me: ” A monkey?” Clara: “Yeah!” (….And there’s the Clara I know and love!)

Food-  hot dogs and brats

Clothes- “Fancy dresses and fancy pants AND fancy headbands.”

Dog- Digby

Cat- Momma cat, Cassie and Gypsy

Person- “Mom you don’t know? IT’S YOU!”

Friend- “Lola and Liberty”

Thing to do – “Go to Lola’s house.”

Thing to do outside-  “Swing on my favorite part of the rope swing, I always think I’m going to marry it. I have dreams of marrying a real rope swing!”

Chore- “Get the eggs!”

Time of day- Afternoon

Place to go- “Monkey Joe’s, zoo’s, aquariums and two more things… Going to Grandma Pats and going to Grandma Mary’s house and Lolas house and NeNe’s house… That’s all.” (Possibly we should have had a discussion of the meaning of the word favorite.”

Song – Wave Over Wave (Yeah, I don’t believe it. She never wants to hear this song and yells when she has to listen to it.)

Flower – “All the flowers in the wide world! … Don’t say wide world.” (So, I guess just “All the flowers.” then?)

Farm Animal –horse, goats and bunnies

Movie –Dora’s Easter Egg Hunt, Strawberry Shortcake (Are these even movies?)

Thing to do with Ivy – “I don’t like doing stuff with Ivy…But I play with her when you ask me to play with her.” (Then she looked at me and said, “Is Ivy going to read this!?” I told her no and she let her answer stand.)

Thing to do with Jane –Playing Darling and Mama. (My least favorite game, the one that involves fake crying, is, sadly, still her favorite.)

Thing to do with Dad – “Go to the bakery and story time and…” (She must have been running out of steam because she never made it any further on that one.)

Thing to do with Me – “Plant flowers and you push me on the rope swing.”

Book – “The Girl that doesn’t share her toys.” (Never heard of it.)

Meal- Breakfast and Dinner

Thing to do in the car –” HONK — PUURRRR!!!” (What this means is that what she likes to do is pretend snore at the top of her lungs. This cracks me up and drives Ivy crazy- which likely explains why she does it.)

What do you want to do when you grown up? “A grape picker that sells grapes… AND selling goats.” (Grapes?)

Anything else? – “Nope.” (Amazing!)

You can take a look back at Clara’s previous answers here:

Clara’s Favorites at Three Years Old

Clara’s Favorites at Two Years Old