Original subtitles

previously on "the little couple"...

your mother told me the doctor can't believe

that you're upright.

Jen: I'm going to need a hip replacement

and about to have surgery because my right one is failing,

which would definitely be a bad thing.

time to leave for the airport, my app is telling me.

airport time, yay!

Jennifer is going for surgery in New York City,

but before mommy has to go do that stuff,

we're gonna have fun.

holy cow, that's pretty cool.

yeah, you can go.

you guys have your christmas lists all done?

-yeah. -Zoey, what do you want?

aww.

I'm just thinking about how sweet my kids are

and how much i love them

and i don't want to leave them tomorrow.

you're all set? all right, i think so.

going under the knife, it gets worse every single time.

I'm a high-risk patient,

and there's a lot of things that can go wrong.

i just think i want to see my kids, you know, grow up.

you know, i would hate to miss that.

love you very much. take care of the kids.

I will.

i don't know if i'd ever be able to recover

from losing my spouse,

so when you think about that worse-case scenario,

it puts you in a bad place.

♪

(bike bell rings)

♪

-- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

captions paid for by discovery communications

♪

♪

what's the doctor's name?

deborah: dubro? dubrow?

can i call him dr. b?

dr. b? yeah, why not?

that's what i did all the doctors --

dr. k., dr. b.

it's much easier.

Jen's in the o.r. for her hip replacement,

and she's, you know, being operated on,

so me, my mom, and my mother-in-law, judy,

are impatiently waiting.

(computer chimes)

uh-oh.

the announcement.

no.

I'm nervous as can be

because she's been through too much already.

she's had her orthopedic stuff and she had her cancer stuff.

(machine beeps)

okay. ...two, three.

(groans)

you okay?

(exhales sharply)

when you think about that worse-case scenario,

it just puts you in a bad place.

i don't like Jennifer going for surgery.

where's the doctor? go get the doctor.

i think he's on his way. well, go stand by the o.r.

no, no, no, I'm not gonna --

did you ever hear the expression patience is a virtue?

so let's practice that.

I'm not known for patience.

i am so not known for patience.

I'm not a good waiter. right.

yeah, it won't be that long.

judy: my daughter's had over 30 surgeries.

it started when she was 2,

and it's hard sometimes to think about how many times

i put my daughter through all this.

are you okay?

i just keep thinking,

"how many times can she do this and come out good?"

there's just so many times we can be lucky.

don't even go there 'cause i can't go there.

Bill: right now the kids are at the hotel,

and it's probably better off

that they're there instead of at the hospital.

judy and i, we're, you know,

pretty stressed out at this point,

and i don't want to worry the kids anymore than they already

are about mom's well being.

so it's better that they're hanging out at the hotel.

Zoey, who are you talking to?

do you want me to ring the doorbell?

okay, got it.

(imitates fanfare)

oh, yeah, see. i told you have a...

ohh...

♪

♪

i thought i was really done with this.

really? i really did.

who told you that?

my daughter's a doctor and I'm still going through this.

unfortunately, that's just not the way it is.

no matter how much it goes on, we can never get used to it.

now every time they have an operation like this,

you always worry.

we've always been fortunate, both of us,

to get through it, you know, so many times,

and you're always afraid for the other shoe to drop.

you keep waiting for the bombshell.

that's why we got to enjoy every day

and all the good times we had together.

-hey. -hey.

-how are you? -good.

mathias: so, she's going upstairs to the intensive care unit

and she still has a breathing tube in,

and they'll take the breathing tube out

when they feel she's ready. okay.

we don't want to pull it too early

because if we pull it too early,

you know, it's hard to get it back in --

the feeding tube. right.

so, we'd rather have her awake, breathing well,

everything stable before we take the tube out.

okay.

but the surgery went exactly as planned.

in fact, the intubation, which we had been worrying about

a lot, went much smoother than we had anticipated.

we were able to keep the metal shell of the cup,

we took out the plastic liner, put a brand new plastic liner

and locking ring in. okay.

so it went as smoothly as it could.

great.

you know, really possibly ask for.

well, that's great news.

i couldn't have asked for any better.

no. you guys have any questions?

no. you okay?

you guys good?

okay.

he's all good.

judy: i've watched her endure so much.

i've been blessed again.

she made it through and she's healthy,

and that's all that matters.

this is a very good day.

thank you, doc. it's good to see you again.

i'll see you in about 10 years for my next revision.

(chuckles)

hopefully. thank you.

I'm happy.

i'll be able to rest a little bit easier

once she's got the tube out and she's talking to me.

then after that, i'll brief the kids in a few hours.

so i'll check in with those guys.

but, you know, it's the biggest hurdle to get over,

so we made it past it.

she's out. she's out.

that's all that i needed.

♪

♪

(sighs)

what are you doing?

what are you doing?

what do you think of central park?

is that, like, the prettiest view?

yeah, they got horsies right down here.

see all those horsies?

Zoey: yeah.

you can see. you can lean on me.

see -- all right, not too much.

not too much.

I'm not a pillow.

so, after Jen's surgery,

i had a chance to go back to the hotel to, you know,

give the kids a down low that mom was okay

because they are all too familiar

with what going through surgery means,

and right now, i need to spend time with the kids.

so, good news, mom's doing really well.

she's got her walker. just for a little bit,

but you're not allowed to say that...

...otherwise i'll get beat up.

so, here's the important stuff, all right?

I'm gonna go and check in on mommy again.

she says, "i love you."

she's doing well. she's hurting a little bit.

she's hurting a lotta bit, actually.

her leg's hurting her a lot, and she's going to stay

in new york for a few more days, okay?

Jennifer's surgery went really well,

which means that she's gonna be discharged on time.

so only a few days post-op and we'll be able to go home,

which is great because christmas is next week,

and we have a lot to do to prepare.

can we get a, um...

a kitty. a t-o-e-y.

yeah, yeah, yeah.

what? t-o-y.

t-o-y? yeah.

toy.

yes, i know how to spell. I'm glad you do, though.

t-o-e-y.

no, it's t-o-y.

okay, so you want a toy, huh?

you guys each want a toy? yeah, yeah, yeah!

i want a toy.

all right, let me tell you something.

you guys have been great the entire time you're here,

so I'm gonna say it's possible.

no.

all right, we can go... yeah!

...just for one.

♪

come in. come in.

hello. hey.

how are you feeling?

doing much better this afternoon.

yeah? well, i mean, better today.

okay, good. so much better today.

yesterday i had my hip surgery, and everything went really well,

but, you know, due to some concerns

about pulling my breathing tube, they kept me intubated,

you know, on a ventilator a little extra long.

for me, you know, the more times

i have to have a medical procedure,

the worse it is.

but all that matters is i got through it,

i have a new hip, and, you know, i lived.

now it's just the long road to recovery.

excited to see the kids, get back home,

and get back to crazy life.

so, what I'm thinking is since we took

our first few steps this morning,

you feel a little more comfortable on your feet.

i'd like to be able to get into the bathroom

to use the commode so that now whenever you have to go,

nursing can help you into the bathroom.

and i can use the little one, right?

yay, thank you. yes.

I'm so excited.

they try and get you up as soon as possible

after hip-replacement surgery, which is kind of crazy.

but, you know, they want you to keep moving

and just, you know, slowly get to walking and going home.

all right, you ready?

so as we get moving forward a little bit...

so i don't have to do this again.

(laughs) oh, don't worry.

i know, I'm sorry.

I'm like, "I'm getting nervous now."

no, don't worry. don't stress.

okay, so prop those arms up behind you.

behind me? yep.

(grunts)

much better than this morning.

you get used to it a little bit.

yeah, improvement.

much better.

making it to the bathroom is a huge milestone

because if anyone has ever had a foley catheter in you

for an extended period of time, you know it's not very pleasant,

but it's also not easy to get out of bed

to go to the bathroom either.

so I'm a little worried, but i just got to,

you know, hope for the best.

you ready?

i think.

(inhales sharply)

coming up... here we go!

while Jen's in the hospital recovering,

we took an opportunity to go to this place called the fire zone.

but first...

the kids are back at the hotel, by the way.

they were, of course, asking about you.

"how's mommy? is she feeling okay?"

Jen: of course I'm missing the kids.

i wish, you know, they could come visit me in the hospital,

but right now I'm not feeling so hot.

i want to see them.

♪

you ready?

i think. go ahead, stand up.

you can put about 50% of your weight on to that foot.

(inhales sharply)

bend in the knee actually should feel a little bit of relief.

surgery is over and now it's really the recovery period,

and i do need to start getting moving.

and that first sort of try at walking is gonna be

just to go to the bathroom.

can you keep your hands on my back?

man: yeah, of course, of course. thank you, thank you.

you can lean back if you need to.

okay, thank you.

i just felt like i might fall backwards, and that would hurt.

nope, you're good.

i am very eager to be done with the recovery

and physical therapy because until it is time for me

to start walking on my own again,

i won't be able to run around with the kids and Bill

and do everyday life, like, you know, seamlessly.

step with that leg, push down through the hands.

yeah.

now, it does feel really height discrepant still.

between the legs? mm-hmm.

give it a little bit of time still.

the leg with the new hip clearly feels longer.

that's something i've experienced

with prior hip replacements,

but, you know, the challenges when you're a little person,

even a little bit of discrepancy,

which might be unappreciated in an average-statured person,

Will be more exaggerated in someone who is shorter.

i know.

yeah, give it a little bit more time.

the goal or the hope is that it Will settle in over time

as the muscles and the joint relaxes a little bit

so i can walk smooth and straight.

yay! how do you feel?

good. you doing okay?

yeah. not dizzy or light headed?

mnh-mnh. pain's okay?

yeah.

it's very disorienting after you've been laying down

for 24 hours to get up and move around, but she did it.

she's very, very tenacious that girl.

good job, kid.

i think my leg's longer.

oh, it's much longer.

yeah.

it's like you grew a tail. oh, stop.

it's weird, it's like blue, wiggles by itself.

what'd you do?

the fact that Bill is always trying to make me laugh

definitely makes things easier.

this is how you're supposed to do it.

you're not supposed to be using my spirometry.

you know, i think if you're all glum and serious,

especially when you're in a lot of pain,

that does not help the pain go away.

have you worn these?

no.

this is for your eyes, not your genitals, right?

oh, i said that in front of people.

(laughs) well...

Bill: i rely on humor to draw attention away

from the seriousness of what we're dealing with.

sometimes i do it in inappropriate circumstances,

but my main goal is to make sure

that she's not focused on the negative.

so, the kids are back at the hotel, by the way.

Jen: i want to see them.

they were, of course, asking about you --

"how's mommy? is she feeling okay?

what can we do to help?

how can we take care of her when we get home?"

aww.

of course, I'm missing the kids.

i wish, you know, that they could come visit me

in the hospital, but right now I'm not feeling so hot.

so maybe a couple of days of just rest is not a bad thing.

i love you. i love you, too.

I'm glad you're doing so well.

right. so head out soon.

so that i can not deal with you?

(laughs) no. i want to lay down.

my leg's hurting me, actually.

do you want me to lower your bed?

yes, please. yeah.

having family that are Willing to come and support you

and be there when you're going through a rough time

is the best thing i could ask for,

and i think that's something

that i hope Will and Zoey always feel,

as well, growing up is that support of having family there

through the good and the bad

because that's what family's for.

give me a kiss.

bye.

(chuckles) all right, love you.

i love you, too.

bye. give the kids a kiss for me.

I will. good job today.

thanks. (chuckles)

♪

here we go.

we've been in the city for a few days

while Jennifer had her surgery and is now recuperating.

oh, it's over here.

here's the door.

kids can't stay in the hotel for all of that time,

so today we're at the f.d.n.y. fire zone

because i have two uncles that worked in civil service.

one was a cop, the other was f.d.n.y. for 30 years.

chuck: welcome to the fire zone!

it's part of a real fire engine, yes.

it's real?

well, parts of it is.

i am a firefighter, chuck kotov,

and we are at the fire zone in New York City.

you want to go up there?

i got it. you got it.

I'm just gonna make sure. okay.

chuck: this is our learning center.

kids love to play on the fire engine.

they love to try on the helmet, the coat,

go in and out of the cab.

they love it.

yeah, this is my aunt jeannie,

that's my mom, barbara, that's the kids' nanny, kate.

so we have a little bit of a crew here.

and there's another old man floating around somewhere.

he's chuck. he's my stepdad.

-oh, yeah? -yeah.

(imitating siren)

Will, stop it.

(laughs)

stop it!

(laughs)

what do you mean?

i don't know what that is.

what?

-ow! -ouch.

you're right there.

here you go.

oh, you want to try the real hat.

okay.

they are heavy, so have dad kind of hold it for you.

Bill: here. got it?

it may be a little wiggly woggly and it'll fall off.

he's got a melon that can hold it.

Bill: it's great for my kids to see what the f.d.n.y.

is all about because my uncle, the fireman, passed away in 9/11

and his wife, my aunt, jeannie, she's with us today.

jeannie: it's my favorite one.

oh, that's nice.

it was a tough time for all of us,

but not nearly as tough as it was for her and her kids

and those closest to them.

you know, i hope their kids someday appreciate the fact

that they have some great people in their family

that they can, you know, call true heroes.

i promised mommy i'd take a picture of you

with the fire jacket on.

so, since Jennifer's getting out of the hospital

earlier than expected, we get to go home tomorrow.

Jen's gonna continue her road to recovery

and getting back to work,

and we're gonna get back to planning for christmas

because it's right around the corner.

hey, Will, one more picture.

one more, buddy.

kid kills me.

coming up...

Jen: be gentle.

hey, hey.

ow! did he bite you?

no, he tried to.

I'm just really worried he's not gonna survive.

-oh! -ew!

give me that!

♪

Jen: hey, Bill.

honey, would you be Willing to help me lay down

so i can do a few exercises before lunch?

sure.

you're gonna measure me?

from the top of my head?

i don't know if it goes long enough.

does it? oh, you got it.

how tall am i? 34?

I'm actually technically 38", so i think you missed a few.

i hope I'm 38". either that or i shrunk.

did they shrink me after surgery?

uh-oh.

no, i think they gave you a half inch.

I'm three weeks now post-op

and i really had a pretty smooth recovery.

you know, no complications and i didn't have

any blood clots or any infections.

hey, Willy, toys on the floor here.

christmas is over.

we have to put away christmas decorations soon.

at times, i definitely had a little bit of pain,

but to be honest, it was a great holiday.

we tried to make the most of it and not stop any of our,

you know, normal activities as much as possible.

what i love most about christmas is the fact

that we get to spend it with all of our family.

now we have two kids that love christmas

and that makes it so wonderful.

it's a lot of fun.

(laughs)

Will, are you gonna help?

since i've come home, i've been doing physical therapy at home

to keep my muscle strength up.

you know, they were all cut up and rearranged,

so i've got to gain certain strengths back

so when i can walk, i don't just kind of fall.

you want to help mom take off her shoes?

can you do it very gently?

thank you. good job.

the other one. careful, don't push it in.

really gently. really gently on that one, okay?

how? gentle.

undo the lace.

mm-hmm. thank you.

there you go.

all right, shoes on the floor.

thanks, bud. okay.

for the most part, the kids have been great and quite helpful.

every time i drop something, Will or Zoey Will pick it up

and give it to me.

so i can't complain. they've been pretty sweet.

are you ready? go.

1...

i already did, like, 10 of these.

...2, 3, 4...

5, 6.

4 and a half...

oh, stop.

5...

I'm better at nagging than she is at doing the exercises,

so, you know, it balances out.

what are you doing?

I'm holding you, stabilizing. I'm not gonna fall.

all right. 1...

just tell me if I'm out of alignment.

nope, you're good. 2.

Bill: in this particular situation,

my experience is certainly a little bit helpful.

i know when she is serious about, you know, the pain.

i also know when she's fibbing, though.

good, I'm done. i'll just lay here.

that's it, just one set?

yeah, a couple times a day.

but my goal is to make it as easy for her

to recover as possible.

'kay. 'kay.

so, how you feeling?

just gonna lay here a minute and then...

want some ice?

sure, you want to ice me up?

sure. yeah.

you gonna do that? i think i do.

Jen: i think this time of recovery is good in that

it makes me slow down a little bit,

but, of course, it's also not so good in that

I'm anxious to get back to work and to, you know, start driving

and to get back to regular routines and normal life.

want a nap?

i could cover you up with a blanket.

well, soon i want a blanket 'cause this is very cold.

Bill's been pretty much super mom,

super helpful just like when i had cancer.

i mean, he does it all.

he helps, you know, make dinner, clean up, put the kids to bed.

he's been a very good husband and been very kind to me.

how's your scar? it's good.

want me to look at it?

no. let's take a quick peak.

no, not right now. come on.

let's take a peak.

oh!

(laughs)

♪

♪

be gentle!

hey, hey. gen-- no, no.

you don't need to turn him, 'member?

he does it all by himself.

now, the other thing is,

'member, we can't have maggie watch too close

'cause maggie might want to, you know, attack him.

harry is our hamster.

it was something that Will actually asked

on his letter to santa.

he wanted a hamster, and santa delivered.

so, I'm just really worried though

that he's not gonna survive, so I'm trying to coach the kids

on how to be gentle yet, you know, careful.

are you gonna put maggie outside?

gentle.

he might need help with the door, honey.

maggie's a tremendous fan of the hamster.

hey, careful.

careful, careful.

maggie would love that hamster

with a little barbecue sauce on it.

for maggie, not for us.

we don't want to eat the hamster.

Bill: be gentle.

be gentle.

ow! did he bite you?

no, he tried to.

so, go like this.

Jen: maybe you're holding him too tight.

no, I'm not. okay.

he's just really scared what I'm doing.

he's pooping.

oh! ew!

give me that!

did he vomit?

he poopied. oh, pooping.

is that all his teeth?

okay, okay, okay.

i think harry needs a break.

♪

♪

no, no. no, no, no.

thank you, love.

you make cupcakes?

gummy bears?

where?

oh, yeah?

oh, really?

oh.

what?

(laughs)

of course, being post-op, Jen's kind of stuck at home,

so we've been trying to be creative about what we could do

to keep her occupied and make her happy.

mom's a big fan of cupcakes and so are the kids,

so they decided to make cupcakes for mom.

Jen: did you guys wash your hands?

Bill: we're gonna get there. come here.

all right.

you know what? never mind.

i got it. okay.

get back down.

Zoey, what are you doing?

all right.

you guys, go wash your hands at the sink with the soap.

when Jennifer and i bought the house,

one of the things that we needed to renovate was the kitchen.

everything was really high up and very inaccessible,

so we decided to renovate so we can,

you know, do our everyday things there.

we can just replace the island

and not have to tear out the entire kitchen

in order to retrofit it.

of course, it wasn't a cheap project.

no kitchen renovations are,

but it was certainly worth every penny for us

to not have to, you know, walk up and down a step stool

with a pot of boiling water or to be,

you know, transporting knives up and down steps.

it's definitely a good thing.

you got to -- eh.

here, come on, you got to open it up.

ooh!

wow, i don't know how you didn't get eggshell in there,

but you didn't. okay.

all right, go wash your hands, quick.

Will: can you help me?

yep, hold on.

(laughs)

all right, Zoey's gonna do this part.

okay.

mm-hmm. mm-hmm.

why don't you just dump the rest in there?

yeah. there you go.

i mean, i like cupcakes, but i might be worried

a little bit about, you know, the saliva being in there

'cause they licked the bowl and then they licked their hand

and, you know.

(giggles)

Bill: now we're gonna go in the oven.

ready?

all right.

Jen: yeah, smells good.

(groans)

so, the cupcakes come out great.

we didn't burn them, so plus there.

wait, how do you...?

you got to push to the side.

this? yep.

push it, push it to the side.

kids had a great time decorating them.

some of them are a little overboard on the icing,

but overall, they did a really good job.

nice job, William. thank you.

whoa.

be careful, that's a glass plate.

yeah. i didn't put gummy.

you didn't put gummy bear? thank you.

i love it. it looks great.

thank you.

Jen: when you have down time for surgery,

it means having more time with the kids and with Bill.

you know, when i had cancer it was the same thing.

i couldn't go back to work for quite some time,

and the silver lining

was i had more time with Will and Zoey not long after

i brought them home, so that was a really critical time for us.

i think the time that i had from, you know,

recovering from surgery is precious time.

time that, you know, i wouldn't trade for anything.

Bill: hey, don't forget to clean up and wash

all the dishes when you're done, okay?

what?!

all right, thanks so much.

what?!

(chuckles)

(Jen laughs)

coming up...

so, how are you feeling?

getting a little sore, it's the end of the day.

we're gonna go back to work tomorrow.

Bill: Jen wants to get back to work, but, you know,

i don't want her hurting herself,

so i think it's too soon.

♪

I'm just gonna use the restroom, okay?

no, no, careful. gentle.

thank you.

okay!

the car?

yeah. yeah, of course.

Bill: after moving to florida from texas,

the kids have jumped into school with both feet --

they're making new friends.

my son has joined cub scouts.

when i was a kid, i was in cub scouts.

i was hoping that my son would get into it.

so now we're scouts, which is kind of fun.

I'm not gonna break your wood.

this is hard to break.

pinewood derby is an annual event

for cub scouts to participate in.

basically, it's a thing where, you know,

you get a block of wood,

you get four wheels, a couple of nails,

and you're supposed to make a car,

and then you get to race it.

okay, let me show you.

we got to make this thing much lighter.

that's right.

when i was a kid, i made a pinewood derby car.

me and my dad worked on that car.

i think it was mostly my dad

and i kind of just picked horrible colors apparently.

but the pinewood derby cars are fun.

you get to spend time with your kid.

being able to live my early years through my kid

is definitely one of the things

that i abuse a little bit too often.

okay, so the car specifications --

2 and 3/4 inches by 7 inches.

the bottom clearance between the car and track

can be 3/8 inch.

that height. daddy?

fire?

i feel like that's more than 3/8ths of an inch.

yeah?

we can try and find fire decals.

it's probably easier.

no, that makes sense.

i don't know if we're gonna get it done the way

that Will has it in his head.

I'm hoping that we do, you know?

i don't want my first pinewood derby race

with my son to be a flop.

you want to do it in this color?

seahorse blue?

you want to do it your way?

i don't blame you.

♪

♪

Jen: can you put this in the sink, please?

yeah.

are you drinking this or are you done?

yeah.

let me show you something.

see, if you break off the nubbin first.

try that and then see if it works better.

come on, strong. strong.

fight the power. can you help me?

focus power.

ready?

no, wait. oh.

you can't say wait while I'm in the midst of being the hulk.

want me to karate chop it? no, no, no, no.

no karate chopping the corn.

oopsie, i broke it.

dude!

(laughs)

what's going on over there?

things have taken a turn for the south -- uh, worse here.

Bill: after Jen's big surgery, she's finally getting a chance

to go back to work tomorrow.

so I'm cooking dinner tonight. it's hailing.

Bill: all right. hey, hey, in the trash can only.

we're gonna do surf and turf.

the turf is more for the kids and me.

so, roll it and then tuck in the sides --

tuck in the side.

Jennifer is a big lobster fan,

and so we decided to cook some lobster.

so, how are we feeling?

getting a little sore, it's the end of the day.

are you taking your medicine?

yeah, i took it. you took it today, right?

yeah. we're gonna go to work tomorrow.

do you want to take me right after you take them to school?

have to, yeah. okay.

you know, I'm always worried that

Jen pushes herself too much.

there's a little part of her that's always focused on work,

but, you know, i don't want her hurting herself

or doing too much or over exerting herself.

because I'm gonna go observe something at work.

i very much appreciate Bill looking out for me

and being worried about me,

but I'm glad to finally be back to work and get back to normal.

of course, I'm also a little sad too

because i won't have as much time here with the kids.

but it's okay.

back to the grind.

probably have to come back here just to grab everything

'cause there's no way we'll be ready to go.

no, no, no, and i have to get a shower somehow.

packed up and, yeah, i got to shower you.

no, i do.

they know that. they take showers, too.

(giggles)

(laughter)

coming up...

what do you think?

good?

(laughs)

♪

(Zoey yelling)

that's steamy.

(laughs)

I'm so thrilled that Jennifer's nearly done with her,

you know, big recovery.

she's gonna have some p.t.

that she'll have to do outpatient for a while,

but she's going back to work tomorrow,

and she needs to kind of take it easy.

that's steak.

oh, yeah.

that's cooked.

the butt? what do you mean?

hold it flat.

that's right, that's a tail.

Jen: I'm very glad that i had more time

with Will and Zoey during my recovery.

I'm sad to see that go, but I'm also excited to get back

to regular routines and normal life.

all right, bon appétit.

did you say thank you to dad?

thank you. thank you, dad, for cooking.

you're welcome.

try it.

(chuckles)

what do you think?

good?

no. shouldn't be.

it's probably just a little well done.

you can spit it out in your napkin.

spit it out in your napkin.

oh.

(stifled laughter)

the food was...decent.

wasn't my best work, but i'll get there,

and, you know, maybe next time it won't be as...tough.

Jen: when are you doing your pinewood derby?

do you know?

do you want to eat the pepper?

yes?

(laughs)

no.

no, you wear it -- you sew it on later.

you don't take it off in order to put on the patch, you goof.

no.

Will is at an age where, you know,

some of the conversation that we have, you know,

sometimes it goes off the rails a bit, you know,

and Will's still a kid, he still loves to be playful.

you know, but he's growing up.

time flies so quickly, you know?

we've been together for six years now,

and it feels like it's been a day.

you know, i don't want him to grow up so quickly.

Jen: so, you ready for the new year?

it's gonna be busy.

well, i mean, it's starting, though, now.

it's just begun. it's gonna be very busy.

2019.

okay, we'll work on that.

pinewood derby first, and then we'll take it from there.

despite the fact that Jennifer had to have hip surgery,

which was kind of inevitable, 2018 ended quite well, actually.

you know, our kids are continuing to surprise,

astound, amaze.

they're doing wonderful things.

they're growing up right before our eyes.

Jen: I'm, of course, over the moon proud of Will and Zoey.

i think, you know, everything that they do,

they tackle with their whole heart

and all their effort, and so I'm super proud of them.

I'm super proud of everything they do.

I'm a lucky mom.

you got a loose tooth?

-mm-hmm. -could be.

yeah, could be. it's wiggly?

eat corn.

yes.

oh, my goodness.

well, let's hope it falls out soon for the tooth fairy.

all right, put it under your pillow.

(laughs)

next time on "the little couple"...

if you...

...do that.

makes it smooth, right? yeah.

Bill: Will recently joined cub scouts,

and this weekend is the pinewood derby.

woman: Zoey's so excited, huh?

i know.

(laughter)

today, I'm taking Zoey to her bollywood class.

she immediately was all into doing indian dance.

roll!

♪

man: hello, young man.

-hello. -what's your name?

Will. Will?

it's race day.

this is our first race.

make some noise, guys.

(cheering)

here we go. for all the marbles.

Will's pretty excited about the possibility of winning a trophy.

if he's let down, i just don't want to take

the wind out of his sail.

aaah!