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Why my son is a genius

Yes, I know all parents think their kids are smart. :) This is how Matthew amazed me recently:

On the back of a board book about Good Night Baby Signs, there was a picture of a little girl who is featured in another baby sign board book (in which she is doing the sign for flower). Matthew saw the girl's picture on the back of the Good Night book and immediately started doing the sign for flower.

He has tons of signs (about 40) and loves to tell us about his world. In the middle of a tantrum about not wanting to sit in his highchair, he looked at the chair, which has fish drawn on it, he stopped whining, did the sign for fish, and returned to his tantrum immediately. :) At least signs give you a few seconds break from the insanity. :)

Grandpa did it!

Grandpa stopped by early one morning this week to lend us a card table for a dinner we were hosting. We visited for a few minutes and then he headed out.

As I was getting Matthew out of his highchair, I smelled something foul and asked, "Did you do a stinky, Matthew?"

Smiling, Hannah said, "No, it was me!" I laughed.

Three seconds later, she added, "Actually, it was Grandpa."

And more belated posts

+ At breakfast yesterday, Hannah says to me: "I'm getting bigger. You're getting smaller." Oh that it were true. :) Fortunately, from her perspective it is!

+ As we were waiting for some friends to come play, Hannah remembered that her girlfriend didn't have a "baby" (younger sibling). About her mother, Hannah said, "She needs to grow one in her tummy!"

+ At dinner, we ask Hannah to take 3 bites of a new food. We've talked about how she's a big girl, she's 3 now, etc. and needs to eat 3 bites. When looking at some soup she didn't want to try, she said, "Actually, I'm 2!"

+ This week there was a pajama party day at preschool but Hannah insisted on wearing a dress. "Mom, you wear dresses to parties!"

More belated posts

+ Hannah has been understandably confused about the Trinity lately. Jesus is God's Son and Jesus IS God? Recently she mused, "Jesus was born in a manger. God blesses us. What does "Lord" do?"

+ When on a recent shopping trip with Shae, Hannah saw him give some money to a bell ringer outside a store. He explained that this money was for people that don't have enough money for food or presents, etc., and that God has blessed us with enough and enough to share. She replied, "Yeah. We have lots of money." (I am not sure, but I think this comment came from the fact that earlier in the day she took all the coins out of my coin purse and was amazed to see how many there were!)

+ On Disney DVDs (can you tell Shae's in the movie business these days?), there's a part before the show where the letters "DVD" come out in silver and then Tinkerbell flies out and taps them with her wand. Hannah exclaimed recently, "That's Tinkerbell! She has boobies." A little baffled, my quickest response was, "Maybe she's a mommy." You can tell what I use mine for most these days. :)

+ After shoveling snow a few weeks ago, we came in and I offered Hannah some warm apple cider for the first time. She said she would try it and if she liked it, she'd hold her hand like this (thumbs up) and if she didn't, she'd hold her hand like that (thumbs down). Later that week, I learned that the letter of the week was "J" at preschool and kids had a jelly bean taste test where they employed the thumbs up/down assessment. Too funny!

Lots of belated posts...

+ Hannah said she was finished with her cereal the other day but she hadn't eaten much. I asked her if she wanted to take a few more bites and as she set it on the table, she said, "No. I'll just put it here to dry."

+ Thoughts on gender:

- "Matthew's a boy because he can't wear my skirts"

- While playing with playdough, I remark, "That's a beautiful star, Hannah." She replies, "No, it's not. It's a boy star."

- While I'm doing a workout video, "Do daddies exercise?"

- "I have a question for you. Why do men not wear clothes at night?" (Shae sleeps in his boxers!)

+ Hannah offers Matthew a toy. He pushes it away. Frustrated, she says, "He doesn't want it! I want him to want it."

+ After breakfast this morning:
Mommy: Are you all done, Hannah?
H: No. I want fridge.
Mommy: What do you want?
H: FRIDGE.
Mommy: You want something from the fridge? What do you want?
H: Yes, I want FRIDGE.
Mommy: I'm sorry, honey, I don't know what FRIDGE is.
H: You know, it's just a treat you eat when dinner is ready.

Mommy thinks to herself, racking her brain, realizes Daddy was in charge while she was shopping yesterday... remembers she made some Christmas treats.

Mommy: You mean you want fudge?
H: Yes! That's it!

Matthew Walking... or not

My Big Girl

I had to shower after exercising and before leaving the other day and Hannah asked to watch a video so I told her I'd take Matthew upstairs with me while I showered. She offered, "I can be his mommy downstairs!"

Yesterday, we looked out on a gray day (Mark, if you're reading this, it wasn't really that gray--the colorful fall leaves look lovely on overcast days--you'll love it here) and Hannah said, "Looks like a good day for going to school out there." She cracks me up!

BedTIME

We got Hannah a clock with a big digital display and have told her that she can come out of her room when there's a 7 in the morning. It has worked wonderfully! But the clock is just a little too exciting. At first, she emerged from her room whenever she a 7, or two 7's! (1:27pm, 7:47pm, 2:07pm...)

The other night after having been in bed for a while, Shae had to go up during our small group Bible study because she was almost shouting, "There's two bees! There's 2 bees, Daddy!" Shae was a little cross and replied sternly that there were NO bees in her room, etc. Hannah insisted and he finally realized what she meant: 8:08pm. Yes, 8's do look like bees. :)

Another time this week Shae went in to try and quiet Hannah, who showed no signs of going to sleep. When he opened the door, he saw that she hadn't gotten OUT of bed (for which there is a consequence) so he told her to close her eyes. She said, "But then I can't SEE anything! I want to sleep with my eyes open so I can SEE, Daddy!" What do you say to that?

Participles and gerunds

+ "I don't want to wear shoes, Mommy. I want to go barefooting!"

---------
Mommy: It's time to get ready for school, so let's clean up your crayons and paint.
Hannah: But I want to do some more arting.
---------

Funny Faces

After reading a book with that title from the library, here are our funny faces...

What Matthew Has to Say These Days

Literalist

Trying to pass the time as we awaited our airport pick up back in Mpls, I suggested to Hannah that we count to 20. Sometimes we count off, one saying the evens the other saying the odds. I said, "I'll say 1 and you say what comes after 1."

Me: One.
Hannah: What comes after one.
Me: No, I mean you say the number that comes after One: two.
Hannah: Two.
Me: Three.
Hannah: No, actually TWO comes after One.

Accumulated funnies

These are things I've jotted down from the last month:

Hannah in princess mode waving her wand says, "I made you a dress. I made you clackey shoes. I made you blonde!" (I verified the last statement... You mean a wand? "No, blonde. Like blonde hair."

When offered some delicious cuisine at dinner: "I don't want that. Give it to YOURself."

Another night at dinner my cooking fared better. Unprompted, Hannah declared, "You're a good cooker, Mommy!"

Mallards and the like

While reading a word book in Spanish, Hannah was curious about who was who in the family of ducks on the page.

H: Is the mommy brown?
L: Yes, she is.
H: Is this the daddy?
L: Yes, daddies have green heads.
H: MY Daddy doesn't have a green head!
L: Daddy Mallard ducks have green heads.
H: Yeah. My Daddy doesn't have a green head.

How families grow

A few hours after seeing a program about adoption on TV, Hannah reflected at lunch:

"Kids are from China, too. But I got my baby brother at my house. Actually, I got him from the hospital."

(I LOVE that she says "actually"--cracks me up!)

Powers of observation

Hannah has loved her Tues/Thurs. am preschool class. She tells me the most interesting things about it. Tuesday's highlight was that one of the teachers had shiny shoes like hers. Her words:

"One of the ladies we were walking with had shiny shoes, too! They were shiny like fish."

Me: "Were they silvery?"

H: "No, fish are kind dark silver. They were light golden."

Grandma's birthday

We celebrated Aunt Natalie and Grandma McCowen's birthdays this week with a family dinner. Hannah was feeling a little under the weather and was not a very cooperative eater. Finally, it was the eat a few bites of your dinner or no cake ultimatum. She thought it over and opted for no cake. She looked up and said, "Grandma, we're not going to have any cake, okay?"

Rainy cheese

We've had some hilarious conversations in the last month. My favorites from this last week:

Lunchtime. I cut up cheddar cheese for Hannah and she requests "rainy cheese".
L: What kind of cheese do you want?
H: Rainy cheese.
L: I don't know what you mean, honey. What is rainy cheese?
H: You know.
L: No, I don't know.
H: Yes, you do. RAINY cheese. You know, when it thunders and there's lightning and the sky is dark. RAINY CHEESE!
L: Rainy cheese? I don't know what you mean, honey. This is the only kind of cheese we have in the house--cheddar.
H: Rainy cheese, like this (makes rain motion with hands.)
L: Do you mean grated cheese, like this? (I get out the grater. I guess it does kind of look like it's raining cheese when you do it!)
H: YES! Now you understand.

Point of view

When he's bored, full or otherwise disinterested, Matthew starts rubbing his food into his hair. He had just had a shower with me the other morning and starting mashing cottage cheese into his clean hair two bites into breakfast. I groaned and Hannah laughed. I said, "It's not funny, Hannah. He needs to eat his breakfast. He just had a shower (etc.)" She said, "It looks funny to me!"

Cut out for supervisory work

In preparation to move on to the next activity, I asked Hannah and her friend Daniel to pick up the toys that they had finished playing with. Daniel started helpfully and Hannah stood by without helping. I asked her to pick up and she said, "I'll be the watcher."

She busted that one out again when she was in the kitchen with me helping make a cheesecake. I asked if she wanted to help with crushing the graham cracker crumbs and she said, "No. It's your turn. I'll be the watcher."

Swing Low, Sweet Chariot

Matthew was fussing in his highchair before breakfast the other day and Hannah pulled her chair toward him. She said, "I'm gonna comfort him a little bit." And then she proceeded to sing "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" to him. Sweet!

At nap time today, Hannah was picking her nose as I was singing to her. I improvised, "Swing low, sweet chariot, don't pick your nose..." She thought this was hilarious and we sang it over and over but she wouldn't stop picking her nose. When I asked her to stop, she said, "Well can you pick your nose and I'll sing it to you?"

Early altruism

Shae brought home some (more) Target dog stuffed animals from the annual nat'l sales meeting. Before growing our collection, I suggested to Hannah that we go through her MANY stuffed animals and choose some to share with kids that don't have any. She was very receptive to the idea and immediately went to get one to share. She was kind of amazed that there are some kids who don't have toys. She said quizzically, "But Taylor Beth (neighbor friend) has toys." Then she asked, "Can we go in the car to take the toys to them?" She ended up parting with about a third of her stash. A good start.

I hope I can teach her about giving half as well as my mom taught us.

Nasal consonants

As I was putting Hannah to bed last week or so, I was humming some of the words to a lullaby to her. She asked if I knew the words and I said, "I don't know all of them, but I do know the tune." She was quiet for a few moments and then said, "Jesus was in the tune!"

Then the explanation of TUNE and TOMB. :)

Fun with Gpa and Gma and Cousin Becky

Grandpa and Grandma McCowen took Hannah and her cousin Becky on our light rail train recently. As she told me about it, Hannah said, "We were knocking on the doors. Grandma had a good idea. We went to sit somewhere else."

Grandma filled in the cracks: apparently the girls (maybe just Hannah? :)) were pressing the emergency alarm button and the conductor came on to see if it was really an emergency or not. And I can just hear Grandma saying, "I have a good idea..." Thanks, Mom and Dad, for this special outing!!

Breakfast at Matthew's

Back to the Blog: Part II

+ Matthew has a new Animal board book with real photos of animals. There's a shot of a male kangaroo and Hannah exclaimed, "Look, that kangaroo is going poopy!"

+ More potty training anecdotes: Hannah has taken to saying, "Just a minute, Matthew. I need some privacy." She then closes the door and proceeds with her business.

+ After finishing her popsicle (all fruit, of course :)), Hannah's hands were sticky and Daddy advised her to lick her hands and wipe them off. She obediently licked them off and then wiped them on Daddy shorts. Nice call, Daddy. :)

+ We've been talking about table manners lately and it's definitely registering... I asked Hannah if she wanted a banana or some berries and she didn't answer.
Growing impatient, I asked again. She smiled and said, "My mouth is full, Mommy."

Back to the Blog

Here we are again after a long hiatus... life doesn't seem to slow down... ever.

Anyway, we've been saving up all kinds of great sayings for you:

Big news in our house: Hannah is in underwear! From the potty training front lines:

When we went to the bathroom together, Hannah patted my thigh as I was using the potty and said, "Good job, Mommy!" Nothing like a little encouragement when on the john.

We're big into rewards with potty time and Hannah came up to me with a small toy yesterday exclaiming, "Mommy, if you go to the potty you get this!" And after I used the bathroom next, she proudly presented me with my prize.

Matthew is awake with me as I write, so I will have to write more later... his fascination with the dresser is waning.

Telling it like it is... politely

After a short night, I made myself some of the fantastic coffee my sister Amy brought from Costa Rica. Taking a sip, I said, "Ahhhhhh." Hannah asked if it was too hot and why I said, "Ahhhhh". Explaining that it was delicious, special coffee from Aunt Amy, I gave her a little in a spoon. She let it dribble out of her mouth, unimpressed.

"That coffee doesn't taste very good to me."

Pretty polite assessment for a 2 1/2 yr old. I was expecting, "Yuck!" :)

Yes-No Toes

Before funny and not-funny finger came yes/no toes. Meals must inspire creativity at our house because this happened at the table, too. Hannah lifted one foot from under her booster seat's tray, placed one big toe on the leg of the table and said, "This is the YES toe." And then with the other big toe, "This is the NO toe."

Me: "Hannah, would you like some cottage cheese?"

Up goes the YES toe!

Me: "How about some salsa?"

The NO toe answers.

I'll try to get this on video. It's quite amusing.

The Funny Finger

At breakfast today, Hannah held up one finger and said, "This is the funny finger." Holding up a finger on the other hand, she said, "This is the not-funny finger." She proceeded to alternate holding up each of these designated fingers to cue funny or serious faces from me and herself. Hilarious! Later in the day she tried it out on Uncle Will and Grandpa, too! She cracks herself up. That's the best part.

Busted... again

Having children keeps you honest.

Scenario #1: We're getting ready to go outside. I have my arms full with Matthew and 14 other things. Hannah picks up her shoes that she wore to the park in the morning.

I say: "Hannah, please don't put your shoes on in the middle of the floor because they might have sand in them."

She turns one over just to see. Sand pours out.

I say in a plaintive tone, "PLEASE, Hannah! Mommy just asked you not to put your shoes on there because I don't want sand all over the kitchen floor. I just cleaned it!"

While I'm speaking, she's pouring more sand on the floor.

I continue my pleading (never plead with a 2-yr-old)instruction while Matthew's jumping out of my arms, the water's running, I'm trying to get sunscreen on him, etc. Once I can get to Hannah, I ask her why (never ask a 2-yr-old why) she didn't listen to Mommy, etc.

She says, "Mommy, don't whine."

(*Note: parenting lesson learned--tone of voice is not an effective disciplinary tool. Actions speak louder than words. If only I didn't have my darn hands full all the time!!! It's hard to get over to her to take her to a time-out, etc., right away.)

Scenario #2: Matthew is spitting out everything I offer him for breakfast. Not a great way to start the day (not to mention that he was up at 5:48am.) In frustration, I say, "Grrrrr. I don't know what you want, Buddy!"

Hannah chides, "Don't growl at Matthew!"

Not so

After a particularly messy lunch, I was cleaning up Matthew and said, "Come here, Messy Man!" Hannah objected, "He's not Messy Man! He's Buster Boy." Yes, she's right. That is one of our favorite nicknames for him. Then I started to clean her up and said, "Come here, Messy Mama." She objected again, "I'm not a 'Mama'! I don't have boobies with love-milk*!"



*Most everyone has heard our term (borrowed from our most excellent naming friends, the Browns) "love-milk". It's our way of talking about Mommy's milk, different from cow's etc.

Semantics

At a recent family gathering, I heard Hannah's cousin say, "No hit, Hannah." I came over to see what was going on and I asked if she'd hit her cousin. She said, "No. I just tapped her."

Later that week, I asked Hannah not to spin with her Magna Doodle toy (hard plastic) in her hand because she could hit Matthew in the head with it. A few minutes later she was at it again and said, "I'm not spinning. I'm twirling." That's the kind of sass you get from a verbal 2-1/2-year old!

Perfectionistic procrastination

A word from Mommy: Here I am *finally* and I am just going to write the few things I had jotted down this week... no more waiting until I have everything together. :) I had a long list of great sayings and I have misplaced it, alas. Since I can't find it, I won't wait any longer.

+ As we came over the top of the hill near our neighborhood park, Hannah looked down on the 4th of July carnival set up and exclaimed, "Oh my gosh!" So cute to hear those words for the first time out of her mouth.

+ When I told her some friends were coming to play, she said, "How fun is that!"

+ Mimicking me, she sat in the rocker in Matthew's room, wrapped the boppy around her, leaned back and said, "Here's the deal..."

+ I've offered Hannah some juice when working on potty training as a special treat to increase fluids, etc. She knows it's only for when we're working on the potty, though. She declined it the other morning and when I offered several hours later, she said, "Mommy, I said no."

+ We love the things she picks up on from books and games, etc. She saw some coins on the counter (2 nickels, 1 penny), and asked me, "Which one is different?" Just like the game in some of her coloring books. :) She also loves to mimic the questions I ask: "Why do you think...?"

+ Hannah is very dear to Matthew at times. He was putting some non-food object in his mouth behind my back yesterday and Hannah came up to him gently and said, "No, honey. No, honey."

More to come...

Father's Day video attempt

Matthew being tickled!

Little Neologist

I love the words Hannah makes up. Today, she said Matthew was "a little bit fusserated"--and indeed he was both fussy and frustrated.

Prayers

I love to hear Hannah pray. Last week she thanked God for: "Trees...tools (who's her Daddy?)...Taylor Beth (our neighbor friend)... and the Bible."

Too cute

Maybe this doesn't sound as cute when I write it down, but one of the things Hannah says that cracks me up is "sleeve shorts" instead of "short sleeves". "Can I wear sleeve shorts today, Mommy?" "It's hot outside. I need sleeve shorts."

Wow

I was frustrated with Hannah's behavior the other day and she asked me if I was mad. I explained that I was frustrated and she said, "Can you sleep so you'll be happy?"

Video trial - click on middle

Eloquence

I offered Hannah an apple or an orange at breakfast today (out of bananas, again! This time she just asked, "Why?" when I told here there were no bananas). She pondered my offer for a minute and then said, "I was thinking of orange."

She's got the rules down

I recently got some write-on placemats with numbers and letters for Hannah. I was showing her how to trace and draw with washable markers and she looked at me, concerned. She said, "We don't draw on mats. We draw on paper, Mommy." (Yes, that is the refrain we've memorized regarding marker use up to this point--We don't draw on bodies, etc., we draw on paper.)

Naming

Today Hannah was sitting a few inches away from the kitchen table on a booster with a tray. She put all of her toes (currently painted pink) up against the underside of the table then hid her big toes under it. "Where's the Mommy toe?" she asked, smiling.

New and Improved--check out the video!

Just click on the "play" triangle in the middle of the video, even if there's no image yet. Enjoy! And thanks, Leah, for your inspiration. You are the wind beneath my wings.

Not napping

As of right now, Hannah has been in her room not napping for the last hour and a half. She is currently proclaiming, "I love Barney!" in her loud, into-the-monitor-I-know-you-can-hear-me-Mommy voice. And then she asks, "Do you love Barney, Mommy?" Barney comes on after Sesame Street. Don't ever let your child watch it. Even once. It will be with you forever.

Empathy

Lately, Hannah has been going into the kitchen when she's hungry and trying to help herself to something to eat. I've been trying to teach her to ask first, not to open the fridge on her own, etc. When standing with the fridge door open today, she asked why she needed to close it. I told her close it because we needed to keep the cold air in, to keep the things inside cold. She closed the door. Then opened it and peeked in, saying, "Are you guys cold in there?"

Close encounters

This post is a tribute to all you second-borns and on...

To date, I have rescued Matthew from:

1. Having his eye gouged out with a meat thermometer ("What are you doing with that, Hannah!!!!???" "Poking his eye.")

2. Cranial trauma from a corn poker

3. And today: a haircut with a butter knife.

Two-year-old Theology

Hannah loves to ask questions and uses it as a stalling technique when she doesn't want to go to bed, leave a place, etc. She often asks about people she sees or about people we've read about--What's his name? Where did he go? What is he doing?


Tonight she was talking about Jesus and said, "What did he do?" I returned the question and she said:

"He picked up the children." (the story of when the children come to Jesus)
"He died. And He rose again."
"He healed Bartimaeus."

Then... "Does Bartimaeus have blood on his eyes?" (the blind man that Jesus healed) I explained that no, he didn't have blood there, he was just blind, etc. She was still concerned, "Does he have bandaids on his eyes? Does he need some of MY bandaids?"

More food wonders

Matthew has a very sensitive gag reflex and still has trouble with anything that's not very smooth in his mouth. He was crawling (not literally, just scooting, really) on the floor and found a little piece of food, gagged and lost his breakfast of mango and cottage cheese. Hannah saw the whole thing and exclaimed excitedly, "Shoot! It's yellow!"

Get on it!

Matthew gets very excited and screeches/squawks quite loudly at times. Hannah finds this distressing and tells him, "No!", very sharply. I try to explain that he's just learning how to talk and what his voice can do. I tell her again and again that it's not her job to tell him "no". The most recent time this happened she waited a few seconds after my admonition and then asked, "Can you tell him 'no', Mama?"

Food fun

Before I left for Colorado last week, I didn't have much produce in the house since I knew Shae wouldn't be eating too much in my absence. I offered Hannah an orange or an apple at breakfast. She asked for a banana. When I told her that I didn't have any bananas, she said, "WHAT?!" I think it's the first time I haven't had bananas on hand.

I baked some cookies today just before lunch and Hannah was begging for some, of course. We told her she could have one after lunch. She ate it excitedly and then asked for another. I told her she couldn't have another with her lunch but maybe later for a snack. She asked, "Is it snack time now?"

Much to my chagrin, ranch dressing is one of Hannah's favorite things. She'll eat just about anything with it. And she'll eat it off her fingers without dipping anything in it--a habit we're trying to discourage. She had carrots & dressing at lunch today and Shae said to her that he'd take it away if she ate it off her fingers. Hannah said, "Take it away." Shae looked at her to see if she meant it and she clarified, "Take the carrots away." I tried not to laugh. :)

Buzz

One of the books we currently have from the library is called "Buzz". It's about all the "buzz" noises you hear during the day. One page shows Daddy shaving and I was acting it out as I read to Hannah.

She looked at me with concern and said, "You don't have those!"

"What don't I have?" I asked.

"Beards."

Taking the temperature

Hannah is pretty aware of emotions and I've been trying to name them with her so she can talk about them. She's aware of mine, too. After she'd been quite testy, she looked up at me and said, "Are you happy?" That's the day she learned "frustrated". :)

Body talk

Hannah and I were showering together and she was soaping my legs as I was shaving them. I said, "Mommy has long legs, doesn't she?" Her reply: "No, they're big." Thanks, Hannah.

A planner already

Hannah loves to write in my planner whenever she can. I left it out on the table and came back to find her scribble all over the page. She said, "I drew my errand, Mommy!" I didn't know she knew what I wrote in there!

A bad cold

As I was fixing breakfast, Hannah exclaimed proudly, "I blew a bubble! I sure did." I came into the dining room a little confused because she didn't have anything on her tray (no milk, etc.) with which to blow a bubble. I quickly saw what she meant as she smiled with a big, snotty nose....

Little parrot

I called to Hannah from the living room where I was sitting with Matthew. She replied, "Just ONE minute. Be patient!"

Old McDonald

One of Hannah's favorite songs is" Old McDonald Had a Farm". Recent variations include:

And on that farm he had some...


...bubbles...with a blub blub here and a blub blub there... (sung in the bath)
...eyes...with a blink blink here and a blink blink there...
... fork... with a scoop scoop here and a scoop scoop there...

Why?

Hannah's new favorite word. Nough said. Should I start counting it with tic marks? lllll lllll lllll

Keeping an eye out for him

Shae's been helping some friends with a house project and his back was sore the other day so he asked me to rub his shoulder. Hannah saw from across the room and exclaimed, "Don't scratch my Daddy!"

Thanks to our readers!

Thanks to all of you who read and have let me know! I'll try to keep posting, especially things that embarass Shae for Eric and Natalie.

Little eyes miss nothing

Hannah was helping herself to some crackers from a box on the table and noticed on the flap of the box there was a little "+" sign among other symbols. She said, "That's a little cross. Jesus died on it." (Apparently she got the Easter story down!)

Bones in there!

At lunch, Hannah held up her forearm and said, "There's bones in there!" Where does she get these things??? I asked her and she said, "I just know it."

Cut like a lamb

This morning I asked Hannah if she wanted her strawberries whole or cut. (She has a high-maintenance vein from her father and sometimes cares about such things.) She said, "Cut, like a lamb." I said, "Cut like a lamb????" "Yes! Cut, like the lamb!" I then remembered that we'd been talking about shearing sheep and how the shepherd cuts off their fleecy wool... I love the connections she makes!

True

Hannah and I were reading stories with some of her stuffed animals on her bed the other day and she suddenly said, "Let's just talk. Books are dangerous!" I have no idea where she got that one! But she's more right than she knows... :) Laughing a little, I asked her to elaborate and tell me why they were dangerous, what dangerous means, etc. but she just started laughing, too.

Asking too much

When I ask Hannah a question and she doesn't know or remember the answer, she's started saying--in my exact tone--"Do you remember? Can YOU say it, Mommy?", just like I prompt her.

Who's who

Again, Hannah was upstairs and Matthew and I were on the main level. I called up to her, "What are you doing, babe?" She replied, "Who's babe?" (She's right, I usually call her father "Babe", not her.) Then she said, "Where's Shae?"

Just a minute...

Hannah was upstairs in our bedroom and I was asking her to come downstairs with me and Matthew. She replied, "Just a minute. I'm checking my e-mail!" Hmmmm. Wonder where she's heard that before. :)

Learning from the Bible

Hannah and I have been working on learning some Scripture verses from a packet for kids with pictures for each one. She's got a few down now, starting with "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." Except she quotes the reference as Genesis 1:1:1. I've tried to explain that there's just two numbers--1:1. But she's convinced it's 1:1:1.

Another verse is Isaiah 43:5, "Fear not, for I am with you." The picture for this one shows a little girl surrounded by the letters GOD on all sides. After working on this one, Hannah said, "Where is God? Is all this (waving her arms all aound) God?"

She told him

One weekend morning, Shae came downstair with just his pj pants on. He was standing at the sink in the kitchen and started doing some goofy flexing to entertain Hannah. What did she think of it? With a concerned look, she said, "Put a shirt on, Daddy."

Does anyone read this?

Just curious... I haven't written in a while in part because we've been traveling and fighting the Mice War on the homefront. Also, I wonder if it's worth posting. I'll update the things I've been meaning to add for now.

The Bottom Line

Yesterday Hannah saw me make a birthday cake for a friend. When I announced this morning that it is Miss Julie's birthday, Hannah asked, "Can we eat it?" Just like her (Grand)Mom!

Altruism

At our family celebration of Shae's birthday last week, Hannah and her cousin Becky (4 mos. older) were sitting at a kid-sized table adjacent to the grown-ups. As we were eating cake, we looked over to see that Hannah had finished the cake on her plate and was reaching across the table and eating Becky's! We asked her what she was doing and she replied cheerfully, "Sharing!"

Overheard

From the bathtub the other night: "Old MacDonald has a farm, e-i-e-i-o, and on that farm he has some bubbles, e-i-e-i-o, with a blub blub here and a blub blub there..." I love the songs she makes up!

What you find when your 2-yr-old helps you put the groceries away

Nerdy clarification

I just wanted to add a nerdy clarification to the post about Hannah's creating words in Spanish. It's not actually "random" syllables that she puts together. She has internalized enough Spanish to create phonologically possible words--that is, words that could actually exist in the order and combinations of syllables in which she creates them. It's amazing what the human brain can do with language!

Theology vs. Dairy

On our way home from church this morning after Bible study, Hannah was singing to herself. I thought she might have been singing a song she learned in class. It sounded like "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus..." I asked her if she was singing a song about Jesus and she said, "No! CHEESES. Cheeses, cheeses!" (I had told her she could have some cheese for lunch.)

In her eyes

During my Wed. am Bible study, Hannah goes to the preschool nursery at church where they play, have a snack and do a little lesson. A few weeks ago it was about obeying Mom and Dad. The teacher had cut out lots of pictures of men and women from magazines and the kids had sheets that said, "God wants us to obey..." with a place for Mommy and Daddy. Hannah chose a handsome, clean-shaven guy in his 20's wearing a tie for Daddy. Mommy? A 30-something plus size model. Thanks, Hannah!

Hearing yourself...

...out of the mouth of your own babe: Hannah woke up an hour into her nap crying loudly. I went in to comfort her and see if I could get her to go back to sleep. She calmed down and I left & closed the door. All was quiet for 20 minutes and then I heard her on the monitor, "Mommy, I'm awake! I'm awake!" I came down after a while and when I opened the door she said, "Thank you for obeying, Mommy." Wow. :)

Spanish

Hannah's interest in Spanish has waxed and waned. I try to read/talk to her daily in Spanish. We always get books from the library in Spanish to complement our selection at home. Currently, she seems to think that I am just making things up when I speak Spanish. She's started creating words in "Spanish" by just combining random syllables. She was asking me how to say several things and asked the word for hair clip. It slipped my mind and I told her I couldn't remember it right then. She said, "I know it! It's ro-hee-a."

Fun with music

We've been having a good time with a Wee Sing & Pretend recording from the library.

There's a version of "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" that starts on a sunny day, then the rain comes and you row faster, row faster, jump to shore, tie up the boat, and run for cover. After tying up the boat, Hannah ran the couch for the afghan (cover :))!

Another song about bugs ends with marching ants and ants in my pants. Later, Daddy was reading a book about animals and eating and he asked Hannah what the aardvark eats. "Ants... in my pants!", she replied.

Sass from a 2-yr-old

Again, trying to change Hannah's diaper (man, I'm ready for her to be potty trained!!!!), she was squirming and I said, "Hannah, I need you to cooperate here." Her reply: "I'm not cop-er-ating."

While reading to the kiddos on the couch, Hannah was getting grumpy when one of Matthew's flailing limbs grazed her. "NO!", she shouted. I explained that Matthew wasn't trying to hurt her, that's just how babies move, etc., etc. When it happened again she screamed "NO!" again and I said, "Hannah, I don't like that 'no'." She said, "I like that 'no'." Cheeky girl!

Holy Cow!

We were playing in Matthew's room and Hannah wanted to be changed on HIS changing table. I laid her back and as soon as I opened her diaper, she exclaimed, "HOLY COW!" --just like Shae does when Matthew has a big blow out... her intonation was perfect!

Hannah-isms

I love to hear Hannah's linguistic growth, exploration and creation. Some of my favorites as of late are:

After marching slowly, she called out, "Go fastly, Mom! Fastly!"

While tumbling and wrestling in the living room, she landed upside down in my arms.
"Upside up, please!", she requested.

After getting in the car with snowy shoes, she announced that she made "feetprints" on the seat in front of her.

Like Daddy

Last night Shae was changing Matthew's diaper and he did a raspberry on his tummy (brrrrr noise). In the dining room, Hannah heard the noise and laughed, "Daddy tooted!"

And on a related note, most of you have heard this one, but it is my favorite Hannah-ism of the last few months: Hannah passed some gas. Some NOISY gas. I asked her if she tooted. "Yeah, like Daddy!", she replied with a smile. (For the record, I own up to passing my share of gas, but I do it more discreetly!)

Where's her face?

One of Hannah's favorite pastimes is pulling books off the shelves in our bedroom and "reading" them to herself. She is particularly excited if they have pictures. I was getting dressed and she came to me asking urgently, "Where's her face? Where's her face?", as she held open my "Nursing Mother's Companion"... lots of drawings of breasts, but no faces.

My Edenic Home State

I was reading the story of the Garden of Eden to Hannah yesterday and she asked who the man and woman were (even though she knows :)). When I told her the man was Adam, she said, "He's in Colorado!" (My sister Amy is dating a guy named Adam. :))

Starting Solids

We've been feeding Matthew some cereal and Hannah is very interested but concerned about him since he doesn't keep much in yet. She said, "Uh oh! Matthew spilling. Matthew too saucy."

PU!

We came in from the snow yesterday because Hannah had a very stinky diaper. As I was getting ready to change her, she said, "Stinky poopy. Peeee Yew! Just like the skunk on Noah's ark."

Here we go

I'm going to try my hand at blogging. There are so many funny things that Hannah says (and Matthew's sure to follow) and I try to write them down, remember to tell family and friends, etc. I'm going to see if this is a good way to accomplish that! (And we just want to be as cool as Elijah, Cal, Isaac and Sammy!)