Words I love to Hear

The kiddos have some cute words that I (almost) never want to correct. If it weren't for a few college roommates who still had their childish lexicon*, I probably wouldn't correct it. 

From Miss M:

Nick Knock Name - a shortened version of your name. Another name to call you. Her example: "I named my turtle Tree, but his nick knock name is Trrr. (AKA nickname).

Maquarium - the zoo for aquatic animals. We drive past the Maquarium on a regular basis and I love hearing her comment on it.

Miss M is in Kindergarten now (holy cow!) and not loving it--though she's made some friends. I have a hard time convincing her that she can like many things (or people) at the same time. She is the type of girl who only likes one thing. (And in her mind, she's the only one who likes it.) "I like rainbows, mom. I don't like trains anymore. Only rainbows." "I love cats. I don't care about rainbows." "I made friends with Alex so I don't play with Phoenix anymore."

I had to step in on that last one and tell her that it's really good to be friends with lots of kids. She can still be friends with Phoenix even though she's friends with Alex too. I don't think she believed me.

From Pak Man:

Anything ending in 'er' automatically has the letter 'd' added to it. Examples: Spencerd, diaperds, coverds, herd... oh, wait, that one is supposed to have a 'd' at the end. Biggest problem... I say it now too.

This isn't a fun word or pronunciation... just some fun Pak antics. He likes to play this game with me where he covers his cheeks up and has me count to (whatever number he randomly chooses) before I can kiss his dimples. Then we reverse and I cover my cheeks while he counts. I can't resist those sweet dimples. 

I tell him he's a good boy and he started telling me I'm a good boy too (my job is to say, "I'm a girl!). Then he always wants me to say he's a good girl (just to tease him) so I do. He started saying things like--after I lift something heavy-- "You're a strong guy, Mom!" I love his sweet compliments. 

* One of my roommates grew up calling a rubber spatula a kiddie cheater (because it cheats the kiddies out of licking the bowl). She didn't learn until collage what it was really called. 

Another one of my roommates really said Birfday and Valentimes. I never knew if she was trying to be cute or if she really thought that's how it is said... I hope she just thought it was cute but she was so consistent with it that I never dared ask.

Day Out With Thomas

On Memorial Day we took the kids up to Heber to meet Thomas the Train.

Pak was surprisingly excited to meet Sir Toppam Hatt. I thought they'd be scared of him... I was a little. But Pak walked right up to him and gave him a huge hug. M was happy about it too.

They had cute little booths all around. The kids got "Scary Diesel" temp. tattoos on their faces and hands. A couple of people stood around making balloon animals. Em got a flower and was really excited about it... until one of the petals popped.

Here we are riding on the real Thomas. M still tells me, "Mom, you said there wasn't a real Thomas with a face, but you were wrong. I was right. I knew there was real Thomas."

Sadly, I can't find the pics I took on my phone. So I'll steal my favorite from Facebook. They LOVED meeting Thomas. Next up for M... her goal is to go to the National Railway Museum in York, England and see the very last Emily train. All the trains in the show were based on real engines in England at the time (except Gordon, I think). There is only one GNR Stirling Single G left in the whole world... and she really wants to meet it.

Bird Pee

What's with the title? Well, M discovered tonight that some toys have built in censors. For Christmas she received a princess computer... type thing. (I've tried to write that sentence about five times now and I have no idea what to call it.) We call it her computer. It has a little button keyboard and about five different games to play. One of the games is about getting a letter from Cinderella. Only, you get to type in the content.

M already knows how to spell a hand full of words. Mainly names of her favorite characters, people, and a few simple words like pat, hat, sat, etc. So she was calling for help tonight while she was in bed. I went in to see what she needed.

"Mom, I'm trying to type something but it won't let me hit 'OK'."

"What?" I grab the computer and look at it. 'Bird' is spelled in all caps. I sit down and hit the OK button. The game continues. "See, there you go." Problem solved.

"No." She scrolls back to the game and proceeds to type the word 'Bird' again.

"Honey, now just hit OK."

Completely ignoring me she continues typing. 'Pee'. Bird pee? Really? I didn't even know she knew how to spell the word bird, let alone pee. She hits OK and the word 'Pee' disappears. "See? It keeps going away."

I take the computer again and (out of her view) proceed to try to type other words I wouldn't want my four year old typing. Sure enough, it erases anything remotely bad. I then type 'P e e' and that works. I guess they couldn't think of everything. After a few minutes of trying to explain why the game won't let her keep that word, I hand it back (pee is harmless enough that I really don't care) and show her how to bypass the censor. She seems satisfied and I leave the room.

About ten minutes later I'm back in her room again and she tells me how terribly sad she is that the computer won't let her type Bird Pee. Holding back tears and saying things like, "I just really want to type Bird Pee." Like typing bird pee is her one and only dream. The whole time I'm just trying to keep a straight face.

We solved the problem by letting her type it on my phone. She typed it out (along with 100%--she has a strange obsession with 100) and then went to bed.

What's the deal with bird pee? I have no idea. 

Overdue Update

So... It's been a while. We didn't have the Internet for about 2.5 years, which makes blogging very difficult. But.. I'm back, baby!

I've been feeling the need to start journeying more--especially keeping track of the kids. They are funny and cute and so entertaining (and exhausting!).

M is turning five in a few months. My stomach just lurched as I typed that. I can't believe it. She is turning into such a beautiful and sweet and sensitive girl. She is very thoughtful and kind. Kindergarten starts in August and she is excited some days and swearers she won't go other days. We went to the orientation and the sight of so many kids (there are 50ish in her grade) was overwhelming to her. Plus, she is my (and C's) daughter and doesn't like change. I'm sure she will be fine, though.

Thomas and Friends is the hot item at our house right now. Both kids love it (which is nice for playing together, but frustrating for sharing everything). We just got Netflix and the kids have already watched every Thomas movie they have.

Pak is 2.5 now. He is one little ball of attitude. I'm already getting eye rolls from him. He just kind of does whatever he wants to, regardless of what I ask/want him to do. I'm glad he doesn't go with the flow, but I get frustrated. A lot.

He recently found a little wolf stuffed animal that C bought in Minnesota. Pak calls it a cat. It's name is Cat and it says meow. We have tried repeatedly to tell him it's a wolf... or at least a dog. Any time I say it, he adamantly says, "No. He Cat! Meow, meow, meow." The funny thing is that when I'm not around (like when someone is babysitting him) he admits its a "woof" and calls it a wolf the whole time I'm not there. As soon as I come back he tells me its a cat. He's such a cute little twit.

I have aspirations to be an author. Saying I want to write a book and admitting that this has been a life long dream is really hard for some reason. It's kind of embarrassing. I don't know why. I'm probably just insecure. Oh well. As far as I know... nobody reads this anyway. (Or just my family who already know.)

I've been working on a book for while. It's a YA Fantasy. I'm on my... third (?) draft--about 30,000 words in. My goal is 70,000-85,000. Unfortunately I have thought of a way to improve it and I've been thinking of starting over. I don't want to start over. But I think it can be so much better if I do. So... I will.

C is working for the LDS Church as an auditor. He's awesome like that. They own property all around the world and so he goes. He's been to Argentina, Chili, Paraguay, Dominican Republic (three times... four in November), Taiwan, Mexico, Guatemala, Nigeria... and I think more. It's hard to remember because they schedule him somewhere, then change it. He was supposed to go to Peru but went to Guatemala instead. It gets confusing. At least he's been keeping track.

Well, that's about it. Hopefully I can keep this darn thing updated. :D

**The pictures are about six months out of date... We just did family pictures so as soon as I get them, I will post them.

M

M cracks me up.

She announced that "heaven is boring". I tried to explain how heaven is a happy place where we can be with our families after we die. She said, "Fairies are in heaven."
I told her angles are in heaven and angels have wings.
She said "I'm going to be a fairy in heaven."
I said a little more about angels. As I was talking she interrupted me with, "Heaven is boring!"

We went to my mom's annual Christmas concert. We left early because M was getting tired. When we were outside she said, "It's dark outside. The sun is sleeping. When the sun goes to sleep, the moon wakes up."
At this point I pointed to the moon (which was a half moon).
M said, "There's the moon, mommy. Somebody cut it in half!"

She is funny and sweet. I find myself smiling and laughing at her thoughts and observations every day. We love our big girl M.

Pac Turns One!

Pac had his big first birthday the other day. My hubby was heading out of town the next morning so we couldn't do a whole lot in celebration.

I tried to take a good picture of him but he wouldn't hold still. He is such a busy boy. If he isn't clinging to me from exhaustion and hunger he is running around constantly!

Halloween

M wanted to be Rapunzel for Halloween. We borrowed the dress. I braided her hair and clipped almost all of our flower bows in it.