You Can Count on Them

"Owwie! Me huwt mine sumb!"

"Oh, did you hurt your thumb, Michael?" asked Jen.

"Yes, me huwt mine baby sumb." 

"Your baby thumb? What's your baby thumb?"

He held up his little finger.

"That's your baby thumb? What's this one?" Jen pointed to his thumb.

"Sumb."

"What's this one called?" She pointed to his index finger.

"Pinkie." Turns out he has three pinkies, between his thumb and his baby thumb! :-)

Have a very happy Thanksgiving! (And if you were worried, his baby thumb got better.)

"What's a U-Turn?" Nathan inquired.

His sister met the challenge. "It's an outer space satellite. I think. Or maybe it's one of the planets."

Nathan concurred. "Yeah, it's a planet. U-turn."

You never know what you'll learn next!

Toddler-English English-Toddler Dictionary

babas: n. a plastic container equipped with a nipple for feeding babies: do mine babas?

boo: adj. color between green and violet: da die is boo.

dandle: n. a cylinder or block of wax with a wick that is lit to produce light as it burns: me bwow out youse dandle.

dean: adj. free from dirt, marks, or stains. v. make something or someone free from dirt or mess by washing or wiping: mine boo babas dean?

die: n. the region of the atmosphere and outer space seen from the earth: me see moon up in die.

debt (det): v. acquire,  come to have or hold something: Mama debt dandle?

do (doe): v. move from one place to another. Often used as an abbreviated form of the question, "Where is": do mine hapa?

hapa: n. a round fruit of a tree of the rose family, usually with red, yellow or green skin and crisp flesh. May be used for dessert, cooking fruit, or making cider: me want hapa.

nap: n. an opaque white drink rich in fat and protein produced by cows and other female mammals: dadda debt mo nap?

peas: adv. used in polite requests or questions: peas debt me mine nigh-night; used to add urgency and emotion to a request: mine nigh-night peas! mine nigh-night peas!

tease: n. a dairy food made from the pressed curds of milk: me want mo tease peas. 

verbal: n. a car with a folding or detachable roof: me see verbal!

who: n. a vehicle carrying firefighters and equipment for fighting fires. Makes the sound "whoooo!": mama set up mine who, peas?

"Daddy, today we made Challah!" Nathan exclaimed when I picked him up from preschool. Their class at the Jewish preschool was focusing on Shabbat (the sabbath) for the week, and the kids actually got to make Challah, the special braided Shabbat bread. Picturing a roomful of 12 squirrelly 4-year-old bakers, I had to smile. 

He continued. "I have a good idea. Maybe we can make Challah at home!"

"I don't know how," I said. 

"First, we have to have ingredients," he said.

"That sounds right to me," I said, still dubious. 

"Yup. You make it with ingredients." Then he fell silent, and I assumed the case was closed. An open-and-shut deal. But after a minute, he piped up from the back seat and surprised me.

"First we take sugar and hot water," he said. "You can't eat the sugar. If you eat it, then you can't make Challah."

"Okay," I went along with it for the sake of argument.

"Then you need eggs and flour and salt, and oil. You mix it together until it gets real hard." Unbidden, into my mind popped a picture of something like a hard-dried lump of pale play-dough.

"Then you pound it and pound it and pound it." Tables of squirrelly preschoolers pounding their lumps of dough.

"Then you braid it. You have to put it over and through, over and through, over and through." I was following him.

"Then you have to leave it to rise until tomorrow."

I was quite impressed at the effectiveness of the preschool's teaching! If we'd followed his recipe, the lack of yeast would have sabotaged us, but otherwise it seemed like my 4-year-old had actually learned how to make bread. Our whole family enjoyed the loaf he brought home the next day, and I was even more impressed. It was excellent. Now if only he could internalize and follow directions for using the bathroom that well . . . 

Peanut Gallery

Today in the car Michael yelled out (and I do mean yelled--this boy has lungs!) "Vewdiva!"

Hmm?

"Vewdiva!" "Duza!" "Duza!" "Bug!"

Oh . . . he's joined the game! Convertible, Cruiser, Bug!

Alter Ego

Last week when I posted the costume photos, Nathan asked me not to put the pictures of him on the computer.

This week he released the rights to it, or at least granted his permission--so here they are. (Click them to see larger size.)

How's that again?

Our family's become expert at spotting VW bugs, PT Cruisers, and convertibles in the past month, after Susanna's friend Abby taught her the game. Every conversation in the car is now punctuated with comments such as "Cruiser!" or "I saw it first!" "No you didn't!" and so on. It's very relaxing.

Nathan's 4-year-old contribution has been to call out "Bug!" or "convertible" with no reference to reality.

But on the way to school the other morning, it dawned on him that the little yellow VW bug on our porch is the same as the bugs that his sister calls. So he made his first actual sighting.

"Yellow bug! I saw a yellow bug!"

"Good job, Nathan!" I encouraged him. Then he delivered the coup de grace,

"I know which one is not which one, and which one is which one."

Toddlerese

Understanding each other is hard enough, even when we're face to face and can pick up facial expressions and body language, which psychologists say carry 60% of the communication.

When I'm driving, I'm deprived of that 60% because the 2-year-old sits right behind me. Not to mention that since I'm driving in L.A. 90% of my brain has to be devoted to the road . . .

Michael: Me wissen dum dah.

Me (thinking, Ooh, this should be easy. I already got the first two words!): You want to listen to something?

Michael: Uh-huh! Me wissen dum dah.

Me: You want to listen to . . . uh . . .

Michael: Me wissen dum dah!

Me: uh . . . do you want to listen to Finding Nemo?

Michael (amused at Daddy's typical silliness): No Nemo! Dum dah!

Me: Snow White?

Michael (with the tone of You idiot!): No, dum dah. Dum dah!

Michael (now irate): No! No! Dum dah! Dum dah!

Me (smart enough, at least, not to suggest Veggie Tales, which is "Dedgie" in Michael-speak, and deciding to switch strategies): Do you want to listen to a story?

Michael: No! Dum Dah!

Me: Do you want music?

Michael: Yeth! Dum dah!

Me (relieved that now it's just a process of elimination): Do you want Kirk Franklin?

Michael: No! Me wissen dum dah!

Me: Chris Tomlin?

Michael (in tears): No!

Me (the light dawning): Tim McGraw?

Michael: Yeth! Dum Dah! Dum Dah!

I've never been so ecstatic about putting the Tim McGraw cd in the player.

"My Nice Bed"

Today Nathan ceded his old toddler bed to his brother.

"Me wike my nice bed."

"Double me up! (Cover me up!)"

"Dada dake mine dib away. (Daddy took my crib away.)"

I had mastered climbing in and out of my crib. 

My new toddler bed is so much easier to climb in and out of!

Lost in Translation

Having a two-year-old is like living in another country. Even the most basic communications can be grueling, taking enormous energy and time. For example, on the way home from school the other day. . .

Michael: Dadda. Tap. White?

Me: uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...

Michael: Dadda. Tap. White?

Me: Daddy's something white?

Michael: No! Dadda. Tap. White.

Me: Daddy's . . . uh . . .

Michael: Dadda. Tap. White!

Me: Sorry, Michael, I can't understand!

Michael: Dadda. Tap. White! Dadda. Tap. White!

Out of pity for you, the reader, I'll omit the increasingly urgent variations on a theme. Then, by a stroke of serendipity, just as we had reached a panic level, we passed a traffic signal, which enlightened me.

Me: Ohhh . . . Daddy stopped at the light?

Michael, frustratation giving way to great relief and joy: Yess! Dadda. Tap. White!

I guess the difference is in other countries people don't usually repeat themselves ten to twenty times. Usually you just both smile and nod, pretending you understand, hoping they don't notice. A two-year-old never lets you get away with it.

How It Really Happened...

I'm learning so much about history from my kids, now that they're in school. We were driving in the van when this interchange took place:

Nathan: The first man to walk on the moon was . . . was . . . the first man to walk on the moon was, um, Eisenhower.

Me: Eisenhower?

Nathan: Yup. Eisenhower was the first man to walk on the moon.

Me: I think you mean Armstrong.

Nathan: Oh, yeah, Armstrong was the first person God created, so that's why he was the first man to walk on the moon.

Me: Well . . . actually, Neil Armstrong wasn't the first person God created. There were lots of people on earth, and some people got in a rocket and went to the moon. Neil Armstrong was in the first space craft to land on the moon, and when he got out he became the first person to walk on the moon.

Nathan: Yes, and he was zery, zery strong.

Two Pirates and a Monster

Pirate Princess, Elmo, Cap'n Jack, Spidey, and Stitch

ready for a night on the town

Two Brothers

Our Happy Family

The Spoils of Battle