We just finished up an impromptu thunderstorm party, with the whole family looking out the family room window at the very very impressive bolts of lightning. Dexter's been reading up on hurricanes, tornadoes, and thunderstorms so he was pretty jazzed to watch all the cloud to ground lightning bolts. Erin was excited to see "nike-nee" and "doh-doh." And also she thought it was cool that she got to stand on the couch, "ness a Mama." (lightning. thunder. next to Mama.)
A couple weeks ago Dex had Dinosaur camp. So we decided we'd ride to camp in the Dinosaur Train. Or, as Erin calls it, the "Rawr choo choo." Really it was just our blue car. Our "boo neeeewr." Because, you know, you make a "neeeewr" sound when you push your toy car around.
This week Dex has Gymnastics camp, which he adores. It's not at all hard-core gymnastics, which I was a little worried about because it's at a new place for us and it seems a bit more hard-core than the place Dexter currently attends every week. But no. He comes home with stories of cannonballs in the foam pit, and swinging on rope ladders, and jumping on trampolines. So it's all fun. Erin points in her mirror when we drive down the driveway. "Dis nastics?" Yes, dear child. This is gymnastics. "Wash Deck-tew?" Yes, yes. We can go watch Dexter.
She still calls most animals by the sound they make. So we still have neighs, mooo, baaaa, wooof, meow, sssssss, and, of course, la-la-la. Damn Sandra Boynton. The child will never know how to say pig.
Slowly but surely she might be learning her colors. She knows blue for sure. Yellow is a decent bet. And I'm not sure if she knows the color is red, but every time she sees a red truck she points and says "Daddy tuck!" Today we were stopped at a light, and across from us was a school bus. From the back I heard "Wook! Wook Mama! Bus! Bie bus!" And she doesn't even need to see a motorcycle. She can just hear one and she'll yell out "Moe-moe!" And then she will ask "Moe moe-moe?" Which is tremendously confusing until you realize she is just asking to see more motorcycles. She very much enjoys going to the corner ice cream store to eat "ice-ees" and watch "neeewr."
Dex and I have been working on teaching her the rules of the road. So yesterday driving to TheraPlay I asked Erin "What do you do at a stop sign?" Her answer was "GO!" It took the whole trip there to teach her that first we have to stop, and then we can go. Now we're working on the whole "look for cars" aspect of things, too. But now when we get to a stop sign I will ask the question and Erin will answer "Sahp!" And I ask "And then what?" "GO!" Apparently there is no need to look for cars in her world.
I am trying to teach the baby some manners. So she has a nice "peese" and she just learned how to say sorry. She's not quite sure of the context, but it's still fairly cute when you try to use Puff as a pillow and she comes charging up, says "sorry Mama" and proceeds to push your head off the dragon. Today driving home from dinner both kids were being loud, so I pulled over and stopped the car. I immediately heard her little voice from the back of the car. "Sorry Mama!" Awwww. Thank you, baby. Now how 'bout you teach your brother some manners?
She used to say "oock" for thank you, and "weck" for you're welcome. Now she still says "no, oock" if she doesn't want to do something. But mostly now if you give her something she will nicely say "tank you!" and if she gives you something and you thank her she will say "welcome!"
She still says "ah dut" for all done. And at the table she adores eating eggs, and "boo-beaws" and "ra-beaws" and "pa-cake" and "ha daws" and "too-key." She loves cheese. I'm not sure how much she likes to EAT muenster cheese, but she adores saying its name. It is "RAWR chss." She always asks for a "boo" at a meal, and every goddamn time it takes me a minute to realize that she is not starting a game of peek-a-boo, but rather is just asking for a spoon.
I love to listen to her little voice sing. In the car she might randomly break in to the Wheels on the Bus song. So I'll hear "bus rouw a rouw, bus up a dow, bus ope a shut." Sometimes she chooses Five Little Monkeys. "Fie mo-key bump beh, Mama deck-tew, deck-tew sai, no moe mo-key bump ah beh!" (Five monkeys jumping on the bed, Mama doctor, doctor said, no more monkeys jumping on the bed!) And recently in bed she's been keeping herself awake with a lovely rendition of Snuggle Puppy, which I sing to her every time she goes to bed. You can figure it out from the "ooooooh, snuh puppy" part that she sings.
Pieces is still my favorite. Dexter is trying to get her to say excuse me, but still she usually says pieces. So it'll be "pieces Mama" as she tries to walk where I am sitting. "Pieces, Puff" as she has to walk around Puff. "Pieces, Buddy" as she steps on Buddy's tail. "Pieces, neeewr" as the car is in the path between her and the book shelf.
She will repeat anything you tell her. She talks in sentences. She says "huh" complete with appropriate hand gestures. When she is undecided about something she'll say "ummmmmm" while trying to make up her mind. This is often. She is indecisive. She is a drama queen. And she's growing up way too fast.
