M: Lauren, your supper is ready. Would you like an apple?
L: Yes! Uh apple!
M: OK, would you like corn or green beans?
L: (confused. thinking...) uh apple!
M: Yes, I know, you'll get an apple, but do you want corn or green beans?
L: (more thinking) uh apple!
M: Yes Lauren. The apple is your fruit. You need to pick a vegetable. Corn or green beans?
L: uh apple!
M: (frustrated but laughing) OK, Lauren. Pick a VEGETABLE. Corn or green beans?
L: uh...corn!
M: Corn! Great!
L: (laughing and talking to herself) I picked a BEJ-TUH-BULL...
Yes Lauren, you sure did...
Monday, August 11, 2008
A Weekend with The Nonni
Brodie and I celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary on Friday. In honor of this special occasion, we went to Charleston (where we honeymooned!) for a long weekend - away from Lauren! The Nonni (my mom) came to stay with Lauren and agreed to be a "guest blogger" (as requested by WG2)...
The following are notes taken by the Nonni this past weekend...
L: Nonni, will you play with me?
N: Oh yes! We'll play and sing silly songs and read books and have lots of fun!
L: (turning to Mama) Mom, are you going some place?
M: Yes, Daddy and I are going on a trip.
L: Mom, can you go away now?
We were sitting on the floor playing with her Fisher-Price Little People school bus and Noah's Ark figures. I asked if she knew the song, "If You're Happy and You Know It." She nodded. I sang three verses and she pantomined along. When I began a 4th verse, she said with finality, "That's enough."
She wanted me to read an "I Spy" book to her. Knowing that she had memorized every word already, I suggest that she read it to me instead. She said, "No you tell me what the words are!" One of the pages showed a picture of a flip-flop. I asked her if she knew what it was called. She said, "A thlip-thlop." Close enough...
She brought her lovie "Ducky" into the living room and asked me, "Who...who...who is Ducky's Nonni?" I said I didn't know. She said, "I'll pick out Ducky's Nonni, " went into her room and came back with Ella Bunny and announced that she was Ducky's Nonni. She set both of them on the floor behind the loveseat. The she wanted to know who was Ducky's mother. Snowball (the white bunny) was assigned that role. Next came Henry (the bear) as Ducky's father, followed by Baby (the Prayer Bear), Kitty, a large fleece sheep whose name on the spur of the moment became "Chelly-La...no, Chelly-LA-la," another small sheep, and Olive the turtle. When all were placed in a row, they were pronounced to be "her family and her CHIDREN."
When I told her it was dinnertime, she said, "I'm not hungry." I waited awhile and then asked her if she'd like to help me prepare some snacks for an "Hors D'Oeuvres Party." She was only too eager to assist. An inventory of the fridge produced the following: string cheese, cream cheese (for a spread), turkey cold cuts, and pickled okra. To this was added one fresh cherry tomato because "I like TOE-MAY-TOES," she said several times. We spread the cream cheese on fresh-baked bread, then cut it into tiny triangles and set them on a tray. (The silver serving tray had not come back from the jeweler's, so we substituted a toaster oven tray.) We rolled several slices of cold cuts tightly then sliced them into Princess-size pinwheels. Next we sliced several okra pods into coins, as well as the string cheese. The quartered tomato was added as the touch of color, and all was ready for the party.
Princess Lauren, attired appropriately in her regal pink princess dress, fucshia underskirt, jewelled necklace, ballet slippers (Dora bedroom slippers), and princess be-ribboned hat invited everyone to join her in the castle for the party. Nonni was assigned the role of king, whose name was decreed to be "Mr. King." When questioned by the Princess about the absence of balloons and "ribbons" (crepe-paper streamers?) and presents, the "king" replied that those items were appropriate for birthday parties, but not for hors d'ouevres parties. Some discussion followed about the nature of parties where the principal function is just getting together with friends to laugh and talk and eat and drink.
The Princess devoured all items on the hors d'oeuvres tray and requested more pickles! The king promptly fetched them.
The Princess used her magic wand to cast a spell on the Royal Yorkie (Ellie) and turn her into a ship to take the Princess over the ocean, but since Yorkies are notoriously spell-resistant, the spell-casting failed and we were left with -----sigh-----a Yorkie.
The following are notes taken by the Nonni this past weekend...
L: Nonni, will you play with me?
N: Oh yes! We'll play and sing silly songs and read books and have lots of fun!
L: (turning to Mama) Mom, are you going some place?
M: Yes, Daddy and I are going on a trip.
L: Mom, can you go away now?
We were sitting on the floor playing with her Fisher-Price Little People school bus and Noah's Ark figures. I asked if she knew the song, "If You're Happy and You Know It." She nodded. I sang three verses and she pantomined along. When I began a 4th verse, she said with finality, "That's enough."
She wanted me to read an "I Spy" book to her. Knowing that she had memorized every word already, I suggest that she read it to me instead. She said, "No you tell me what the words are!" One of the pages showed a picture of a flip-flop. I asked her if she knew what it was called. She said, "A thlip-thlop." Close enough...
She brought her lovie "Ducky" into the living room and asked me, "Who...who...who is Ducky's Nonni?" I said I didn't know. She said, "I'll pick out Ducky's Nonni, " went into her room and came back with Ella Bunny and announced that she was Ducky's Nonni. She set both of them on the floor behind the loveseat. The she wanted to know who was Ducky's mother. Snowball (the white bunny) was assigned that role. Next came Henry (the bear) as Ducky's father, followed by Baby (the Prayer Bear), Kitty, a large fleece sheep whose name on the spur of the moment became "Chelly-La...no, Chelly-LA-la," another small sheep, and Olive the turtle. When all were placed in a row, they were pronounced to be "her family and her CHIDREN."
When I told her it was dinnertime, she said, "I'm not hungry." I waited awhile and then asked her if she'd like to help me prepare some snacks for an "Hors D'Oeuvres Party." She was only too eager to assist. An inventory of the fridge produced the following: string cheese, cream cheese (for a spread), turkey cold cuts, and pickled okra. To this was added one fresh cherry tomato because "I like TOE-MAY-TOES," she said several times. We spread the cream cheese on fresh-baked bread, then cut it into tiny triangles and set them on a tray. (The silver serving tray had not come back from the jeweler's, so we substituted a toaster oven tray.) We rolled several slices of cold cuts tightly then sliced them into Princess-size pinwheels. Next we sliced several okra pods into coins, as well as the string cheese. The quartered tomato was added as the touch of color, and all was ready for the party.
Princess Lauren, attired appropriately in her regal pink princess dress, fucshia underskirt, jewelled necklace, ballet slippers (Dora bedroom slippers), and princess be-ribboned hat invited everyone to join her in the castle for the party. Nonni was assigned the role of king, whose name was decreed to be "Mr. King." When questioned by the Princess about the absence of balloons and "ribbons" (crepe-paper streamers?) and presents, the "king" replied that those items were appropriate for birthday parties, but not for hors d'ouevres parties. Some discussion followed about the nature of parties where the principal function is just getting together with friends to laugh and talk and eat and drink.
The Princess devoured all items on the hors d'oeuvres tray and requested more pickles! The king promptly fetched them.
The Princess used her magic wand to cast a spell on the Royal Yorkie (Ellie) and turn her into a ship to take the Princess over the ocean, but since Yorkies are notoriously spell-resistant, the spell-casting failed and we were left with -----sigh-----a Yorkie.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Another lesson from Lauren
When I started this blog I wasn't entirely sure what direction it would take me. The last two posts have contained conversations between myself and my child. I always think of that stupid tv show that was on several years ago "Kids Say the Darndest Things" with Bill Cosby as the host. As of this morning I've realized that the purpose of this blog will be to share the conversations I have with my child on a daily basis because kids certainly do say the darndest things...
This moring I saw a hummingbird perched on my hanging flower basket just resting. I picked Lauren up and pointed it out. We talked about how tiny and cute he was. And then...
L: Do they eat flowers?
M: Well, no, not really, they like to get the nectar out of the flowers...kind of like bees do...see that feeder hanging there? That has nectar in it that Mama puts out for the hummingbirds, but they also like to drink it from the flowers.
L: (thinking) What do foxes eat?
M: Ummm...(wondering how the conversation switched gears so quickly and trying to catch up) I'm not sure...uh...maybe...chicken?
L: (thinking) Cheetos?
M: (thinking she said cheetahs) Cheetahs? What do cheetahs eat?
L: No. Cheetos.
M: Cheetos? Foxes eat cheetos?
L: Yes.
M: Oh...ok...
L: And elephants eat blueberries.
M: Elephants eat blueberries?
L: Horses. Horses eat grass.
M: Yes they do.
L: You know what eats leaves? (and mimics holding leaves and chewing them)
M: What eats leaves?
L: Um...um...CATERPILLARS!!!! (very proud of herself)
M: That's right!
L: What does the sun eat?
M: The sun? Uh...I don't know...
L: I think roses. Like Dorothy the Dinosaur.
This moring I saw a hummingbird perched on my hanging flower basket just resting. I picked Lauren up and pointed it out. We talked about how tiny and cute he was. And then...
L: Do they eat flowers?
M: Well, no, not really, they like to get the nectar out of the flowers...kind of like bees do...see that feeder hanging there? That has nectar in it that Mama puts out for the hummingbirds, but they also like to drink it from the flowers.
L: (thinking) What do foxes eat?
M: Ummm...(wondering how the conversation switched gears so quickly and trying to catch up) I'm not sure...uh...maybe...chicken?
L: (thinking) Cheetos?
M: (thinking she said cheetahs) Cheetahs? What do cheetahs eat?
L: No. Cheetos.
M: Cheetos? Foxes eat cheetos?
L: Yes.
M: Oh...ok...
L: And elephants eat blueberries.
M: Elephants eat blueberries?
L: Horses. Horses eat grass.
M: Yes they do.
L: You know what eats leaves? (and mimics holding leaves and chewing them)
M: What eats leaves?
L: Um...um...CATERPILLARS!!!! (very proud of herself)
M: That's right!
L: What does the sun eat?
M: The sun? Uh...I don't know...
L: I think roses. Like Dorothy the Dinosaur.
Monday, August 4, 2008
Our resident artist
My child loves art. She loves being messy. She loves to paint and draw.
About a month ago Chad and I invested in a bunch of art supplies and organizational drawers and bins to store it all in. My thought was that if the stuff is in a place she can get to it, she can tap into her creative side anytime she wants.
So the artist has been hard at work for several weeks now. In addition to paint, markers, crayons, colored pencils and paper, we got her some pom-pons of varying sizes, buttons, feathers and googly eyes! She's fascinated with the idea of gluing stuff down and has done some pretty interesting (abstract?) pieces using the buttons and pom-pons!
This afternoon she decided she wanted to paint (watercolors) some animals. She asked for help from me. I asked her what animal she wanted to paint...
L: An elephant.
M: OK, does an elephant have a big body or a little body?
L: big body
M: OK, let's paint a big body... (painting by Mama)
L: elephants are brown (as I'm painting the body blue)
M: They are?
L: Yeah, at the zoo. 'Member? And they eat. And they need to drink water. 'Member?
M: Right. OK, let's paint the head (using brown paint now)...does an elephant have big ears or little ears?
L: big ears
M: OK, let's paint the ears...(more brown) What about an elephant's face? What does it have on it's face?
L: (pointing to her nose and scrunching it up) a nose!
M: a trunk?
L: yeah! a trunk!
M: Can you paint the trunk? (hand over paintbrush)
L: Sure! (paints trunk beside the ear) Where's its other ear?
M: I don't know...where is its other ear? Can you paint it?
L: Sure! (paints ear on side of head) it needs eyes...
M: OK...paint some eyes! (she paints an eye)
L: where's its other eye?
M: I don't know, where is its other eye?
L: (FLIPS PAPER OVER) Here it is! (and paints an eye on the back side of the paper) It's on the other side!
Of course, why didn't I think of that?
About a month ago Chad and I invested in a bunch of art supplies and organizational drawers and bins to store it all in. My thought was that if the stuff is in a place she can get to it, she can tap into her creative side anytime she wants.
So the artist has been hard at work for several weeks now. In addition to paint, markers, crayons, colored pencils and paper, we got her some pom-pons of varying sizes, buttons, feathers and googly eyes! She's fascinated with the idea of gluing stuff down and has done some pretty interesting (abstract?) pieces using the buttons and pom-pons!
This afternoon she decided she wanted to paint (watercolors) some animals. She asked for help from me. I asked her what animal she wanted to paint...
L: An elephant.
M: OK, does an elephant have a big body or a little body?
L: big body
M: OK, let's paint a big body... (painting by Mama)
L: elephants are brown (as I'm painting the body blue)
M: They are?
L: Yeah, at the zoo. 'Member? And they eat. And they need to drink water. 'Member?
M: Right. OK, let's paint the head (using brown paint now)...does an elephant have big ears or little ears?
L: big ears
M: OK, let's paint the ears...(more brown) What about an elephant's face? What does it have on it's face?
L: (pointing to her nose and scrunching it up) a nose!
M: a trunk?
L: yeah! a trunk!
M: Can you paint the trunk? (hand over paintbrush)
L: Sure! (paints trunk beside the ear) Where's its other ear?
M: I don't know...where is its other ear? Can you paint it?
L: Sure! (paints ear on side of head) it needs eyes...
M: OK...paint some eyes! (she paints an eye)
L: where's its other eye?
M: I don't know, where is its other eye?
L: (FLIPS PAPER OVER) Here it is! (and paints an eye on the back side of the paper) It's on the other side!
Of course, why didn't I think of that?
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