Monday, August 16, 2010

It's been a while since I posted some of the funny things D has said.  I was thinking of a ton in the middle of the night when I was awake and now I can only remember two, so I'm just going to keep typing and see what I come up with...because we all know that rambling is the #1 way to keep readers interested...

1) Isn't it so cute when kids do something so.... kid-like?  Like the first time they see a shape in a cloud.   The very first time I heard D do this was weeks ago.  We were driving back from the blueberry farm and he looks out the window and says, "Hey mom, look at that cloud! It looks like..."

I was so excited!  What would his little imagination conjure up?

"..a loooong, skinny poop!"

 And I have to say, it really did.


2) Medman, D and I were outside one evening before bed.  D already had pj's on but we had caved for some reason and let him go back outside.  He's walking around in his pj's and rubber boots with his Lightning McQueen fishing pole by the creek that runs behind our house.  Nice and close to three neighbors.  Medman and I hear a funny, fairly loud noise and look at each other in surprise.  Then we notice the boots.  OH!  His boots were squeaking. 

Medman: D, was that your boots?
D: Nope!  It was my BUTT!



3) And there are things that are only funny because I've decided to laugh instead of scream...

During breakfast I leave the room to go to the bathroom.  From upstairs I hear...

Belle: MOMMY!!!!

D: Belle, she'll be right back.

Belle: MOMMY!!!

D: she'll be right back!

Belle: MOOOOOMMMMMMY!!!!!!!!

D (starting to sing his answer): She'll be right BACK!  She'll be right BACK!

Belle: MOOOOOOMMMMMMMMYYYYY!!!!!

D(now in full Broadway musical mode) She'll be RIGHT back back back, She'll BE right-

Belle: MOOOMMYYYY!!!

D:  Belle, don't talk while I'm singing!
 
(silence)

D (singing again): She'll be right BACK! SHe'll-

Belle: MOOOMMMMMMYYYY!!!!

D:  Belle, don't talk while I'm singing!

(silence)

D (singing again): She'll be right BACK! SHe'll be ri-

Belle: MOOOMMYYYY!!!!

D: BELLE!  STOP TALKING WHILE I'M SING-

Belle: MOOOMMMYYY!!!!

D: MOMMY!  BELLE KEEPS TALKING WHILE I'M SINGING!

Belle: MOOOOMMMMYYYY!!

So I did what every good mother would do.  I pulled the bathroom door closed and turned on the water in the sink to drown out the noise. 

Then at nap time while he was praying:
"And God, please help Belle to NOT TALK WHILE I'M SINGING!"

Ah, sibling love.


************
D does say plenty of funny things that do not involve bathroom humor or arguing with his sister, but for the life of me I can't think of them right now. I'm sure tonight when I'm awake I'll think of a half dozen more. 

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Communication?

I posted a bit ago about Belle's growing communication skills.  She was spitting out a handful of phrases in an effort to demand things convey her thoughts.  Besides noting the oddness of going straight from no words to phrases and absolutely refusing to use single syllable words, I was pretty excited that whining and grunting for something could begin to be replaced with a primitive form of communication.

Belle, however, doesn't seem to see the value in communication.  At least she's not convinced that in order to communicate clearly she must align her free spirit with the rules of the English language that the rest of us follow.

She has utterly tossed aside several of the things she used to say, refusing even to repeat them if I say them.  For instance if she does something exciting and I say "You did it!  Say 'I did it!'", she stares at me like I'm crazy and she has no idea what I'm talking about.  Never mind that she said, "I did it!" about a hundred times a day a couple weeks ago.

Instead of normal English, she spends most of her time talking in that super cute baby language that sounds like English, having all the correct inflection and noises and earnest facial expression, but is in fact just nonsense.  I do happen to love listening to the gibberish and like to answer her in a way that sounds like we are having a conversation.  I'm sure that language development people would tell me not to encourage the nonsense talk, but it's so stinkin' cute! 

The problem, of course, is that when she wants her cup - no, she still won't say "cup", "milk", "drink"... - she rattles off a bunch of gibberish and waves her arm around.  Or points at the wall.  Or at me.  Or at her own ear.   And then is frustrated that I didn't get "cup" from that.

To make matters worse, she has now decided that any single word or phrase can mean both its real meaning and its opposite meaning.  I know that sounds confusing, so here are two examples:

1: NO

She likes to say 'no'.   As in:
"Let's go change your diaper." 
"No!" and runs off in the opposite direction.

So "no" means "no".

Except for when I say,
"Do you want a snack?"
"No!" with an excited face as she runs to her booster seat and attempts to climb into it. 

So "no" also means "yes."



2: Here Ya Go!

This is a phrase that has remained in her vocabulary.  As before, she uses it often like this:

"Here ya go!" pointing at some toy she can't reach.  She continues to chant that phrase until someone taller than her retrieves it for her.

So "Here ya go" means "Give that to me" 

But other times she says

"Here ya go!" while walking toward me with a book she wants me to read to her.

So "Here ya go!" means "Give this to you."

And in those two instances her meaning is fairly clear, but what about the times when she is standing near things she can't reach, but holding something else and is looking at me as she waves her arms around or points to her own head and says desperately "Here ya go!  Here ya go!"


Seriously, you need Sherlock Holmesian observational skills to decipher what a one-year-old wants.

Monday, August 9, 2010

Catch up

I've been very delinquent in posting lately, but I have been good at taking pictures of things I'd like to post.  So, since the backlog is getting a bit overwhelming, here's quick snippets of things from around here lately:

THE HOUSE
In an effort to decorate the house on the cheap, I found these beauties at the Salvation Army for $2 each. 

After seeing this done on some blog or another, I bought some "Oil Rubbed Bronze" spray paint and turned them into nice chunky candle holders for by the fireplace.


I found a pattern at Obsessively Stitching to make a teepee tent from a sheet.  Since twin sheets were on sale for $3 at Walmart and since the pattern had almost NO edges that needed to be finished, I made it.  I was afraid that my over-enthusiastic efforts would go unappreciated, but so far the tent has been up for about 2 weeks and gets regular play time every day.  Who knew that running into and then out of the tent while hooting (sort of like an Indian, now that I think about it...) could be so much fun.  I'm sure they like it because of it's authenticity.  Fabric woven from dyed buffalo hair, the same PVC pipe found in the original teepees of the Sioux Indians....



CHORES
I've started to give D some chores.  He has a little chore chart thingy with clothes pins labeled with chores that can be moved from the "to do" part to the "all done!!!"  part.  One is laundry.  It is D's job to match socks and (if he does that before I give up waiting and do it myself) fold washcloths.  He's pretty helpful. 

Belle, not so much.  She just rummages through the laundry basket til she finds two pairs of D's underwear and voila!  Accessories!



SAVE THE EARTH
We went a little green around here.  After seeing a post months ago about small things you can do around the house, I've been wanting to do this.  You take plastic bottles (sprite and gatorade for us), put some rocks in the bottom...

...fill with water...

 ...and place in the tank of your toilet where it won't interfere with the potty working.  :) 

Am I the only one who has never heard of this?  It just takes up space in your tank so less water is used in filling it up.  Granted, not a lot of space, but any water saving is good.


THE ULTIMATE PLAYROOM
And finally, when we moved into this house, I was a little concerned that it was going to be an adjustment for me that the kids would be off playing somewhere far away.  In the old house they pretty much couldn't be out of my sight.  But here with their enormous, awesome play room downstairs from the kitchen I thought I'd spend all day peeking down the stairs to see how they were.

Um, yeah...not a problem.  This was me trying to check email at the kitchen counter.  I had to hold the camera up high above myself to get a good view.  So this is the view that a fly on the ceiling above me would have.  Apparently my legs are the most interesting toy in the house.  Forget the new tent or the seven zillion toys in the play room. 


In an effort to have patience with this, I just breath deeply and chant,

"Someday they won't want to be anywhere near me. 
Someday they won't want to be anywhere near me. 
Someday...."  then my eyes glaze over as I dream of the peace and quiet of that day.

Until I get elbowed in the stomach.