Less Loved Than a Lima Bean

When Quinlan is feeling under the weather or overtired, she can get quite mean. Tonight, after a day when Evelin was sick and thus not as available to Q as the little one would like, she was in rare form.

After telling me that she didn't love me and musing as to why Mumma couldn't have have married someone else^*, Quinlan started listing out the only people she loves:

1. Her Kindergarten Teacher


2. Her Best, Best Friend in Kindergarten


3. Old Blankie (the blanket she's had since she was an infant


4. Her Other Best Friend in Kindergarten

She then made a point of telling me that she didn't love me at all. Testing her resolve, I asked which she loved more, me or lima beans; she replied, without a pause, "Lima beans."

I then asked if she loved Mumma more than lima beans; she said no. I asked again, and she realized she was confused, because she does love her mother more than lima beans. She slotted Evelin in around No. 100 on the list of people she loves best.

After a few minutes of calmness, Quinlan burst into a sob: "I can't love Old Blankie third!" (Sorry Best, Best Kindergarten Friend; you're number three now.) As she reorder the top of her list, she threw out Evelin's name as being No. 20; then she quickly changed it to No. 10.

I, however, remained less loved than lima beans.

A bit later, after Quinlan had fallen asleep, I went to check on Celeste, who could hear most of the conversation through her wall. I asked if she loved me more than lima beans and did a bit of a snort laugh before saying "You, of course." (To be fair, I knew how she'd respond: the girl dosen't at all look forward to fall, when the farmer's market has fresh baby lima beans that I love to cook up by the quart with shallots and tons of olive oil ...)

After a short pause, Celeste asked: "Daddy? Do you love me more than lima beans?"

"Well, lima beans are really good ... but I love you more."

^* I told her that Mumma and I had fallen in love, and she starts in with a sing-song taunt: "Mumma fell in love."