We obviously think our daughter is cute. It is hard to correct her when she says something cute like "I carry you," when she want's us to carry her. I guess in a way we are infantalizing her by not correcting her language. For example for over a year now she has called skeletons or skulls, pirates. I am at fault for this. It all started one day when she saw a skull and bones sticker on someones car. She asked "whats that, mama?" I told her that the people who drove that car must be pirates, because that is what that symbol means." So from then on she has called skeleton's, "pirates." I really thought it was cute especially around Halloween. We would walk into Walgreen's and the whole store would have all these demented, scary dead looking things hanging from the ceiling. Callie would say "look mom, a scawy pirate." I thought that was better than, "look at the scary dead person." Who wants to explain death to a 2 year old. Well, my mom came into town and taught her the real words for skeleton, and jack-o-lantern (pumpkin). She grasped on quickly to the real words and made me realize that I needed to help her learn some new ones. So now what we do is this, she says something like "look mom, an Ariel." Then I say "that is a mermaid." So then she says an "Ariel mermaid, mom." She will repeat the phrase several times until I say something like, "your right." She has not learned to drop the word that she started with. I think she is of the mind set that she is being more descriptive this way. So here is a list of Callie phrases that she has come up with through this process or a process we don't really understand.
Gigi princess ice skates: Disney Princesses on Ice, we talk about it all the time. I am not sure why Gigi got put in there.
Dinosaur tracks: T-Rex or Tyrannosaurus Rex
Mama Dinosaur: also the T-Rex (I am not sure why it is a she, and the mama, since she kills the other dinosaurs, but Callie won't budge on this)
Ariel Princess Centaur: Female Centaur from Fantasia
Eric Centaur: Male Centaur from Fantasia
Wizard Witch or Wizard Boy Witch: A wizard
Playzium: Kids museum
I will have to add more as I think of them. The best part is listening to her prayers at night. She includes a lot of these things. We can't understand the whole prayer but it seems to be a thankful repeat of the day. The few words we can pick out are,
"Heavenly Fader, thank you.....mama, daddy,.....gigi princess ice skates.....Mama dinosaur.....(sometimes she adds some names like) CortneyJim (one word).......grandma and grandpa, .......good night............name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
The prayers keep getting longer so, I think the more words we add to her vocabulary the better.
Monday, November 19, 2007
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Mystery of the Spider House
We made it. We are in our beautiful (new to us) home. Saturday the Elders Quorum moved all the big stuff over. We have been unpacking and arranging things ever since. This might be the first time in 2 years we will be able to unpack and store everything. I have a huge kitchen big enough for Callie's little table and chairs, a back yard with a fountain and nice patio, garage, large pantry, gigantic closet, and did I mention it is three bedrooms. One room is an office, but if you know our collection of books you know it was
Spider house mystery. Ever since we have been coming to our new home to clean it, and now to live in it, Callie has called it "the spider house." We thought it was because when we first came to clean there were a lot of dead bugs, after not having been lived in for over a year. To her spider house was a good thing. She liked the space, and spiders and bugs do not scare her. She often would cry to me, "I want to go to the spider house, mom." She still does this when we are out running errands and she has clearly had enough. When I was coming over to clean or meet with the contractors, I would set up a mini DVD on the fireplace step and she would go and greet her spider in the fire place. At first I thought maybe there was a spider. I would ask her to point and she always pointed in the same spot. I never saw a thing. So I would ask, "Is the spider moving?" "No, mom," was her reply. So then I told her it must be a nice spider. She would talk to it and say hi. I thought it was something she made up. Well, yesterday the mystery was solved. The morning light was hitting the fireplace just right, and I happened to be sitting in front of it playing with her princesses. There tucked secretly under the logs of our fire place was a large, red eyed, black, plastic ant. I busted up laughing, and asked, "Callie where is the spider?" "Right there mom." She was excited that I finally saw it, and I feel bad I did not believe her. I am grateful that it is only plastic, and the spider remains a friendly thing.
Tuesday I put my mom to work. She was such a tremendous help. I feel bad she had to use her precious time here helping me clean out the apartment and organize our new kitchen. There is no way I could have finished without her. We really spent all of Tuesday working on it. Wednesday, we spent most of the day running errands. We spent a lot of time comparing prices for twin beds, trundles, etc. That night we went to the 3 ward Trunk or Treat with Liz, Branden
and Taven (Superman). What a great party! There was dinner, games for little kids, and about 30-35 cars decorated and loaded with treats. Callie came home barely able to hold her spider bag full of candy. We have all slowly made a dent on her stash. Thursday more
unsuccessful bed shopping. Then we had dinner with the McMillan's. Friday my mom left for Texas to see Grandmommy Dorothy. We were sad to see her go, but boy was it nice to rest. My mom never rests she has a lot of energy. Tonight we had Aaron, Kristen and the girls over for dinner. It is so nice to have space to host a real party. We never could have invited a family of five over in New Haven. I guess that is the difference between 649 sq. feet, and 1400 sq. feet. Oh, we love our home.
Spider house mystery. Ever since we have been coming to our new home to clean it, and now to live in it, Callie has called it "the spider house." We thought it was because when we first came to clean there were a lot of dead bugs, after not having been lived in for over a year. To her spider house was a good thing. She liked the space, and spiders and bugs do not scare her. She often would cry to me, "I want to go to the spider house, mom." She still does this when we are out running errands and she has clearly had enough. When I was coming over to clean or meet with the contractors, I would set up a mini DVD on the fireplace step and she would go and greet her spider in the fire place. At first I thought maybe there was a spider. I would ask her to point and she always pointed in the same spot. I never saw a thing. So I would ask, "Is the spider moving?" "No, mom," was her reply. So then I told her it must be a nice spider. She would talk to it and say hi. I thought it was something she made up. Well, yesterday the mystery was solved. The morning light was hitting the fireplace just right, and I happened to be sitting in front of it playing with her princesses. There tucked secretly under the logs of our fire place was a large, red eyed, black, plastic ant. I busted up laughing, and asked, "Callie where is the spider?" "Right there mom." She was excited that I finally saw it, and I feel bad I did not believe her. I am grateful that it is only plastic, and the spider remains a friendly thing.
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