Alden got some jellybeans tonight before bed, but I made him save some until morning. He said he would keep them under his pillow. That was fine with me, but I told him he would probably forget them. He insisted,

No, I will remember them. Every morning, I check under my pillow, to see if the tooth fairy left me a penny. So I know I will see them.

The kid is probably 3 years away from actually losing his first tooth.

Here’s a tidbit about Jasher: He can’t wear Alden’s old sunglasses, because his head is too big. We were curious and we measured his head. Alden’s head is 48½ cm around, and Jasher’s is 49½ cm!

Here’s a tidbit about Alden: Two weeks ago on the way home from church, Alden complained about being hot. He said, “I’m sweaty. Sweaty is Spanish for hot!” Sometimes he thinks he’s quite a polyglot.

Here’s a tidbit about Eden: Almost every day I give her a chess puzzle. She earns jellybeans if she can solve it. They have been getting progressively harder. Today she figured out this discovered check, and then mated me with just her rook and king.

[fen]8/4kq2/8/8/4N3/4R3/8/7K w – – 0 1[/fen]

I’ve been playing a bunch of chess myself. It’s my latest obsession. I keep playing matches on FICS, and hoping I can bump my rating up out of the beginner’s range.

Our vacation for spring break was at Disneyland Paris. We wanted Eden to be able to meet the Disney princesses while she is young enough to still feel the magic. Eden started asking probing questions before the trip: “Are the princesses magic at Disneyland like in the movies?” “If the princesses are at Disneyland, then did they have to get out of the movie, and how come I can still see them in the movie?” During the trip, Alden had a whim to invent a character that he wanted to describe to us. So while Eden was playing, Alden said out of the blue:

“Beagle” is a monster that comes after you. He eats you. He’s not real though; he’s just pretend. When he sees you…

Eden wasn’t listening at first. She interrupted and wanted to know, “Who’s not real? Who’s pretend?!”

Alden explained again, “‘Beagle’ is not real. I just made him up.”

Eden was relieved at the explanation. She must have a notion that something is suspicious though. She also probably doesn’t want to admit to herself what she knows.

Elisa is a believer in the magic. When we saw the Disneyland light show in the evenings, Elisa was singing along and laughing. Their finale was the song “You can fly.” After it ended, she turned to us and shouted, “I can fly! I can fly!”