Bean & Toot being cute. Thanks, guys.

I don't think that Marley will ever be a criminal mastermind,  She's too emotional.  One mid-heist tantrum, and she'd miss the getaway car.  And also, she announces when she's doing something she shouldn't be.  I hear quick steps, the proverbial pitter-patter, followed by giggling, and when I go into the kitchen, Marley smiles at me and says, "I'm sneeee-king."  No, you're not.  Not when you make a public declaration, and not when I can see the bounty of chocolate chips or gummies or whatever forbidden fruit you have piled before you.

Sometimes when I leave Marley and Rudy together, Bean reads to her sister.  It's adorable.  The stories she makes up are often nonsensical, which is even cuter.  There are lots of dialogue tags, especially, "he [or she]  shouted."  Other times, Marley tugs Rudy around, which is worrisome, mostly because Rudy is pretty much powerless, and partly because Rudy at almost four months is at least half Marley's weight (at three and a-half years).  This will be big trouble soon enough, but this morning, it wasn't.  After breakfast, I left Rudy, content, on her playmat, attempting to force a purple hippopotamus's foot into her mouth.  By the time I came back into the living room, Marley had pulled her to one side and then squeezed in beside her, unselfconscious enough to let me film their ridiculousness.  I love Rudy's little smirks and the way that Marley tries to entertain her little sister with the play salt shaker but ends up mesmerizing herself.  Oh, Beanie.