On things you might overhear her say while playing: “If you prick my finger one more time …”

On why she loves her teacher: “She honors me very nicely.”

On her surprise at the directness of our travel plans: “Not even a stop at Starbucks?”

On the toilet: “Do you want to sit on Cinderella’s special chair?”

On her cave (the space behind the couch): “This is a good place. It’s where people get to read books and be things.”

On the division of labor: “Dad, do all the work around the house. And mom, watch my food.”

On snot management: “Sometimes it helps if you stuff it back in.”

On the pile of paper she’s drawn parallel lines all over: “I’m not trying to make something. I’m trying to make work.”

On why we turned off that sitcom to begin with, apparently not quickly enough: “Why was he sleeping with Nadia?”

On latent defensive reactions: “When I get scared of people, I bite them in the face.”