Sick-day sillies

Since we're all sick, I'd like to focus on some of the positives of our last couple of stuck-inside-days:

When preparing for bed last night, Jell said, "Mom, 'cause we have a fire in our room, can I wear shorts to bed?"
"Jell, there's no fire in your room!"
"Uh-huh mom. There it is - the humidiFIRE."

Jell dresses herself these days. She came in to me with this outfit on - ta dah! "Mama, look it matches. My shirt has stripes and my pants have stripes too!"Then when we had to run a quick errand, she grabbed this sweater because, "look mom, MORE stripes!" She has yet to learn that more is not always a good thing. And by the way, this outfit was complete with polka-dot socks and pink sparkly shoes.
We have an echo in the house. Today Jell told me, "When I was a little baby, I was in the hospital." Then Meri immediately said, "Weah I wa da beebee, I da da da bapal." She nearly always repeats everything Jell says, even after I've answered the question, meaning I have to answer, "Mom, which princess is singing this song" twice, everytime it is asked. She also likes to do nearly everything Jell does. That means when it's time for bed and I say, "Jell, lie down," Meri sits up, just so I can tell her the same thing. If Jell throws her food and goes to timeout, Meri watches, throws hers then asks, "I doo to timeout too, Mama?" Ya think?

I just enjoyed a puppet show where a Halloween mask sang me Christmas songs. And Johnny Appleseed kept popping up to say "hello."

Jell calls my dad "Bopa." This came from when she was really little and tried to say grandpa. We liked it and it stuck. However, when Meri says it, it's more like, "Boo-pee." My dad feels a little gypped.

Meri thinks this is a flute and has been walking around the house all day making music with it (humming as she goes - it's one of those wreath door hanger things).
These little sculpture things are usually their instruments of choice (they usually play with my piano books in front of them on the floor):
A fantastic side-view of our dedicated little musical genius-in-the-making:
When playing with their pretend kitchen, Jell likes to "make you some hot chocolate that we call tea." Every time I try to convince her that we don't drink tea, she replies, "No Mama, it's hot chocolate but we call it tea."

Jell has recently starting trying to refuse to bathe. Everytime I tell her it's time for a bath, like this morning, she say, "No Mama! I don't want to take a bath! I smell nice already!"

And the other day when Jell was in the bathroom and Meri joined her (Meri likes to help her wipe - it is disgusting, and she's not allowed to do it if I'm around), Jell became outraged and started yelling, "I need my practicing! I need my practicing!" It took us a good 10 minutes to sort it out and realize what she meant. She now knows the real word and yells, "I need my privacy!"anytime any one of us tries to get near to help. This little stroke of modesty from the child who, when she decides she needs to go potty, announces it at the top of her lungs, drops her pants and waddles to the bathroom (from whatever room in the house she happened to be in), bare buns, with pants around her ankles (no picture of that thankfully). When this happens, Meri likes to run up, smack Jell's bare behind and yell, "Bum-bum!" Yes, I do live in a zoo.