Really.

The oldest is trying to charm me into taking him and his brother to a children's matinee on a rainy Saturday afternoon, when he knows full well that means the theater will be packed, loud, and stressful for me to navigate with two children who cannot carry their own drinks and popcorn very well through crowds.

So far he has, seemingly out of the blue, told me how pretty I look today, called me "really crazy smart", and hugged me "spontaneously" while reminding me he loves me roughly four thousand times.

butter up
idiom
Excessively praise or flatter someone, usually to gain a favor. This term transfers the oily, unctuous quality of butter to lavish praise. [c. 1700]
"butter up." The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms. Houghton Mifflin Company, 1992. Answers.com 12 Aug. 2006. http://www.answers.com/topic/butter-up

Whee!

We gave the youngest his first "Big Boy" bicycle today. He promptly jumped on and took off. He never pedaled on his tricycle; we frankly thought we'd have to spend a few days teaching him how to pump with this leg then that one, this leg then that one. Clearly, he already knew how to pedal and pedal well; he was just saving his efforts for the

big league
idiom
1. Sports. A major league.
2. Informal. The most prestigious level of accomplishment.
"big league." The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. Answers.com 10 Aug. 2006. http://www.answers.com/topic/big-league

let's see if I can remember this, this time

I attended my cousin's wedding this past weekend.
There I met family from his father's side. His father is my uncle by marriage, so his cousins on that side weren't my cousins.
Or were they, I wondered.
What do I call them? My "cousin's cousins?"

I thought "maybe it's that twice removed thing!"

I just looked it up on Geneology.com, and no that's not what it means.
But here is what "removed" means:

Removed

When the word "removed" is used to describe a relationship, it indicates that the two people are from different generations. You and your first cousins are in the same generation (two generations younger than your grandparents), so the word "removed" is not used to describe your relationship.

The words "once removed" mean that there is a difference of one generation. For example, your mother's first cousin is your first cousin, once removed. This is because your mother's first cousin is one generation younger than your grandparents and you are two generations younger than your grandparents. This one-generation difference equals "once removed."

Twice removed means that there is a two-generation difference. You are two generations younger than a first cousin of your grandmother, so you and your grandmother's first cousin are first cousins, twice removed.