My granddaughter is ten years old now, though in some ways she will always be my baby girl. 
When she was three and her brother was one, I took care of them for about a year and a half when my daughter returned to her nursing position at the Janeway Children’s Hospital. This was just before Paul and I moved to Newtown.
During the routine of caring for them, I would jot down anything our little girl said that made me smile.
At three years old:
“Nanny, I’m ‘boring’!”
“Oh, you are, are you? How about we go for a walk then?”
“Can’t we do something ‘funner’?”
Padmé was the name of her first cat. While she stroked her head gently: “I love Padmé even when she scratches me.”
While we were making cookies: “You’re going to Lead Cove this weekend, are you?”
“Yes, Nanny, so you’re going to miss us for a while.”
Her baby brother fell, bumped his head and cried. When he finally calmed down, she looked at me sadly and said, “I don’t like when that happens to my brother. It makes me scared.” (How well she articulates her feelings at such a tender age.)
“Nanny, it’s raining. Can I go outdoors with my ‘amp-brella’?”
“Your mac and cheese is ready, sweetie.”
“How come you didn’t say ‘roni’, Nanny?”
“I don’t want to grow up, Nanny.”
“Everybody grows up, honey. Why don’t you want to grow up?”
“Because I want you to always babysit me.”
She and her brother were fighting over something. “I’m so disappointed in him!”
(And continuing to build her vocabulary:) “This is so frustrating!”
(In reply to something I said to her:) “Apparently!”
This one floored me: “Oh, Nanny, I don’t know what to do with my life!”
She was telling me that she saw a cowboy when she was out with her mommy.
“He had a real cowboy hat and cowboy boots!”
“Where did you see him?”
“At the booze store.”
“When I grow up, I’m going to get married.”
“And who are you going to marry?”
Matter-of-factly, she said, “My brother.”
Four years old:
Holding her brother’s face in her hands: “His eyes are so beautiful, I could cry!”
Talking about her bad dream from the night before: “My dreams are broken.”
“What did you dream about last night, Nanny?” (I think she’s the only person who ever asked me that!)
“Nanny, you’re so sweet.”
“Why am I sweet?”
“Because you do so many things for us.”
She was telling me about the dead, mangled shrew that her cat Ginger had brought home recently. “Nanny, you could see inside it. It looked like old wires, like inside my very old couch.”
I commented on the cut on her leg.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” she said fearfully. The next day she announced out of the blue: “I’m ready to talk about my ‘owie’ now.”
We were out for a walk around the block when she pointed at a little girl across the street. “That’s my friend!”
“What is her name?”
“I don’t know…”
She told me about one day when another relative came to babysit. “When I saw it wasn’t you, I screeched!”
“Why, sweetheart?”
“I wanted you, Nanny, because I love you so much. I’ll love you till the stars fall from the sky…but that will never happen, so I’ll always love you.”
*Only last three photos were taken by yours truly. All others taken by the children’s Mommy and Daddy.
What cute things did your children or grandchildren say?
Please share below!
Further Reading: Kids Do Say The Darndest Things
Jennifer's Journal 