A did some touchingly sweet things today.

First, she and M and I were walking Allie tonight. M (whom I suspect was hungry) started crying on the walk for no apparent reason. The crying went on for quite a while. A, who had been picking dandelions, starting picking flowers just for M. She’d pick them and then bring them over to M, who by the end of the walk had a fistful of flowers from A. Then M went over to A, twice, to give her a hug and a kiss. A just wanted to cheer up M – very sweet. M has put all of the dandelions next to her bed because she loves them so much.

Then at the dinner table tonight, Allie kept scratching my leg, as she has a tendency to do when she wants food. As usual, I first sang my song to her – "Please… don’t you scratch… my leg. For I don’t… want my leg… to be scratched" (sung to the tune of Bob Marley’s "Satisfy My Soul" – "Please… don’t you rock… my boat. For I don’t… want my boat… to be rocked."). I digress. When Allie scratched me again, I was more strident and told her to stop. A came over to me and put her hands on my leg where Allie had scratched me, and said, "Mommy, I will put my hands here so that Allie doesn’t scratch you anymore."

She’s just been so unbelievably sweet lately. Plus whenever I call her by her name, "A", she asks me to call her "Tiny", which is her nickname.

Daddy was Shabbat parent today and they all had a great time, despite the fact that I had to send a snack that was kosher for Passover and ended up with the very slim pickings at the supermarket: gluten-free chocolate chip cookies and some chocolate-covered marshmallows that tasted like cherry. Daddy said that they marshmallows were actually pretty good.

Finally – Daddy got confirmation from Sally, the music teacher, that there was a substitute music teacher and her name is Betty (not "Bed") and she has white hair. As for whether she is actually 11 inches tall, as the girls relayed to me – that turns out not to be true.