“Kate, you came in our bed last night.”
“I had a bad dream.”
“Kate, you’re not supposed to come into the bed. You are supposed to get daddy and go back to your bed.”
[Yes, I *totally* threw Dan under the bus on that one.]
“I didn’t have a bad dream. I had a nightmare. A nightmare is a scary bad dream. Babies have bad dreams, and they can’t get out of them. That’s why babies cry. But I can leave a bad dream. But a nightmare I can’t leave. So I have to come to bed with you. A baby can come to bed if it’s just a bad dream. But I can only come if it’s a nightmare.”
++
On Sunday, Flora decided to run away. Kate decided to run away with her. Flora decided this was okay.
They ran away to the playset in the back yard.
“We took beans,” Kate pointed out. “And drinks and chips. You have to eat. And we took some toys. You have to play. And a blanket. Next time we run away to our new house, we’ll do it on a sunny day.”
++
Kate built a few new “creatures” with the K’Nex sets she got for Christmas last year. Each time she added or changed something, she introduced it with a flourish: “And now for my latest convention!”
She’s so awesome.
Red Pen Mama 
This age: full of frustration and awesomeness 🙂
That is exactly 100% right. I think there’s something to the “middle child syndrome” for her, too. But oh, gosh, when I have the time to focus on her, it is so worth it for both of us.
I ran away to the back yard once, actually to a lean-to shed in the vacant yard next door, because I was mad at Mom. She was so nice about it, helped me pack my lunch and all, that I quit being mad and didn’t want to run away any more. So I decided I was just going out for a picnic.
Yes, as they ran away, they were in the house about 10 times getting supplies. And then after an hour or so, they packed up the stuff from their “new” house, and came back.
Oh I love this. LOVE THIS.
We should mix up our six kids and see what happens some time. And take video.