It's not what you say, it's how you say it

"Mom," says Lindsey in a serious tone, with a grave look on her face. "I'm excited to go back to school, but there's a boy in my grade who is kind of naughty and I'm not looking forward to seeing him again."

"Really?" I say cautiously, with a hundred questions swirling in my head. Does he tease her? Is he pulling her ponytail? Does he trip her in the hall? I can feel the momma bear in my chest ready to pounce. I know who this boy is: he isn't in her class but is in her grade. I see him every day at their after-school program when I pick up Lindsey. He always seems to be playing nicely with the other boys, but then those 30-second interactions can be deceiving.

"He's just not very nice," she says. "He's always saying, 'What the BLEEP!'"

"You mean he says a bad word?" I ask.

"No," Lindsey explains, "He says 'bleep.' But it still isn't very nice."

"So his actual words are 'What the BLEEP?'" I confirm.

"Yes," she says. "He's really mean."

We finally settle on the fact that it isn't what he says but the circumstances under which he says it which makes him mean in her mind. My advice to her is to avoid him, something she's apparently been pretty successful at doing up to this point anyway.

Those kids who say "bleep," though. Boy, what troublemakers.

Days of the Week Feet

We bought day-of-the-week socks for Marissa last weekend. As of this morning there were only two pairs left: Thursday and Friday.

"Mommy," she called from her bedroom, "What day is it?"

"Thursday," I call back.

"Does that start with an 'f'?" she asks.

"No, it starts with a 't,'" I say.

"But you said Furzday," she calls, coming in to my bedroom, holding her Friday socks in her hands and emphasizing the "f" in the word as only Marissa can.

"No, it's Thursday, th- th-. It starts with a 't,'" I say, trying not to laugh.

"Okay," she says, and dutifully comes back with the Thursday socks.

What a kid.

"Scribbly" hair and other such stories

Yesterday marked the first day back to our schedules after a long holiday break. The girls were excited to see their friends again after a long hiatus, though Lindsey was a bit sad in the morning about not being able to stay in her jammers all day and just stay home. I was too -- after all, it was 9 below zero when we left the house yesterday morning, makes for a difficult re-entry into our regular schedules.

But all sadness of the holidays being over seemed to dissipate when we got home in the evening and heard about the girls' days. First Lindsey gave us a practical blow-by-blow description of playing Uno, her new favorite game, with her friends at Mpls KIDS. Her friend Emma got Uno for Christmas, so she was super excited that her best friend knew how to play too!

Then we heard from Marissa about how her friend Kira got a haircut. I'm not sure which child this is, but Wayne knew her and mentioned how much curlier the girl's hair looks now that it's a bit shorter.

"Yeah," Marissa agreed, "Now it's all scribbly." And she made a gesture like she was scribbling on a piece of paper. I like that adjective, that's a new one -- instead of frizzy hair, it's scribbly hair.

And Marissa was so tired that during their "resting" time right after lunch she actually fell asleep and napped. That's a new one!

Fun with Pronunciation

Today our family went to an educational toy store, where Lindsey and Marissa could pick out a gift with some money they'd gotten as valentine's gifts. Marissa was looking at one toy which has to do with color identification. She pointed to each of the colors and named them correctly: I imagine you can guess what the colors are by the following: "Wed, boo, lellow, orange, purple, geen!"

Her pronuniciation is not the clearest, so I decided to help her with the last word she'd said. I said, "Marissa, can you say grrrrreen with an 'r'?" I asked, emphasizing the "r" in green.

She says to me, "Geen wif a r."

And she didn't even know she was being a smart-ass.

The 44th President

Today Lindsey came home from school and told me they got to watch TV today.

"We got to see the new prisoner," she said.

"You mean the new president?" I asked.

"Yes, the new president of the new knighted states," she replies.

I said, "That's great! Do you remember his name?"

She says, with perfect pronunciation, "Barak Obama."

That's my girl...

Marissa's newest little saying

Marissa has always entertained us with her little antics and sayings. It's not what she says, it's how she says them that's so funny, so it's hard to repeat for others.

But she's got a new one now she's been using for about a week that warms my heart.

"Know what, Mommy?" she says.

"What honey," I'll say.

"I like you a lot," she'll say.

I like to hear that one as many times as she wants to say it!

Marissa's Evolving Language Skills

I remember when Lindsey was about the age Marissa is now she went through a period in her speech in which she sounded like a little Italian girl:

"I-a wanna go-a park."

"Dinna dinna! Pasta pasta!" (Even the subject matter was Italian.)

"Whatsa gonna eats?"

Marissa is going through a stage herself, though slightly differently, of course.

She drops the "s" in front of words that start with an "s." So in my previous post, "mell" is "smells." We also hear "tinky" and "tool" frequently. ("Tool" not actually meaning a "tool" -- think about it.) My favorite? "Nuggle." Awwww...

She also is going through a stage of putting an "e" sound at the end of words. Lindsey used the "a" sounds, giving her the Italian accent, Marissa does the "e."

Her favorite word right now is "Uppy! Uppy!" said with arms outreached, waiting for you to pick her up. When she's cold she shivers and says, "Coldy."

Other favorite phrases right now:

"Daddy watch!"

"I too! I too!"

"Sassa do."

"No Dax no!" followed by "Down dax down!" as he tries to get on her booster chair to eat what she's dropped.

She sometimes wakes up at some ungodly hour in the morning, between 4 and 5. Usually you know she'll go right back down when you walk in her room and she says, "Hot miwk." But you are in trouble if she looks at you with mischief in her eyes, honey in her voice and utters these words:

"I pay?"

Put the coffee on, you're up for good.