Lucie and Her Pronuncation

My oldest sister Jessica claims she doesn't believe me when I tell her that Lucie can talk. The past few times that we've visited with Jessica and her family, Lucie has been pretty silent. So I guess I don't blame Jess for her disbelief. But, Lucie really CAN talk...granted, she doesn't always pronouce words properly, but I know what she is saying. Sometimes her pronuciation just makes me laugh...

• Like when she says "Goggy" instead of "Doggy". She can say "Daddy" just fine, so one would think that she could say the D in "doggy". When I try to work on it with her, she just switches to using "Puppy" instead.
• Like when she says "cocklate" instead of "chocolate". She LOVES chocolate...and I love hearing her mispronounce it!

One day in the not-too-distant future, she is going to learn how to say words properly. Right now, I just enjoy listening to her when she talks. She really is a sweet little girl, and I'm so blessed to have her!

What does a hammer do?

One of the perks of being a parent is getting to watch your children learn about the world...and hear all the funny things they say! Today, I had one such experience. This week at preschool, Ella is learning about tools and construction. So, today was "Share Day" and Ella was supposed to bring in a tool. I have a small "girlie" hammer (seriously, it has flower print on it) that has two screwdrivers inside the handle. Since it is small, I decided to let Ella bring it to share. Well, later this afternoon, our friend Dawn and her daughter Olivia dropped by and Ella decided that she wanted to show it to Dawn as well. So, while Ella demonstrated how the screwdrivers came out, I asked her,

"Ella, what does a hammer do?"

Her response? "It hams."

"My father's not crazy!"

When Brett and I first started hanging out NINE years ago, I thought he was pretty funny. He would come up with original and witty things to say that made me laugh. It was only after we started dating and watching movies together that I realized that all those original and witty things were not quite original. A lot of them were quotes from movies that I had not yet seen! Don't get me wrong, I DO think my husband is funny...I just now know that he likes to quote movies. :)

I'm starting to see the propensity to quote movies in my sweet three-year old. I'm not sure if this is something that all young children eventually do, or if she has a flair for the dramatic like her father. But, since we've been traveling so much in the past weeks, she has seen lots of videos and has seen some videos lots of times. Just this past week, I discovered a VHS tape of Disney's Beauty & The Beast at my parents' house -- it's a real find since it is in the Disney "vault" and can't be purchased. Ella knew the story because we have the book, but she'd never seen the movie before. She was quite excited to see the movie and has probably watched it at least four times this week. I realized just how much the movie has been sinking in the other night when we were eating dinner with my mom. Out of nowhere, Ella says,

"My father's not crazy! He's a genius!"

Now, I don't recall ever saying that Brett was crazy, but I might have said he was a genius at some point (because honestly, he does have some genius moments!) But, why would Ella be saying that randomly anyway? Then it dawned on me that she was quoting a line from Beauty and the Beast. I must say, she did recite the line with quite a lot of dramatic feeling. Perhaps we have a little actress on our hands...or just a little girl who will quote movies like her father to entertain others.

37 Week Check-Up & Names by Ella

Just a quick update on my latest check-up. I went to the doc on Wednesday and basically not much is happening. No dilation just yet so it looks like this baby will be hanging out awhile longer. I head back on Tuesday for another check-up.

This week, Ella has been a hoot when it comes to talking about the baby. Lately, she has been pretty consistent in saying that our baby will be a girl, or "guurll" as she says it. I keep asking her about names for the baby hoping that she will suggest something cute. Well, I guess her responses have been "cute" just not actual names! All of her suggestions have started with an "H" and some are actual words and others are made-up words. Here are just a few for your amusement:

• Hookah (No, I do not know where she learned that one.)
• Hippie (not that one either)
• Hengel
• Heenie
• Hahoonie

And no, I don't think we'll be going with any of her suggestions. I have to admit, my eyes watered a bit when she suggested Hippie and Hengel -- I was laughing pretty hard.

"You can't be 'stracting me."

In the last week or so, Ella has started playing with her baby dolls again. Perhaps this was spurred on by the visit of her cousin Baby Amelia. Anyway, the other day, Ella was sitting in her rocking chair with a baby doll wrapped in one of her special blankies. She had the baby cuddled up next to her stomach and said to me, "Mom, I'm feeding my baby so you can't be 'stracting me." I couldn't help but laugh about it. I guess when Amelia was here, we might have asked Ella to back off a bit so Ameila wouldn't be distracted from nursing. Apparently, it made an impression! When I noticed that she was holding the baby to her stomach, I asked her where the baby got the milkies. She responded, "From my belly." I guess she wasn't watching Auntie Aimee too closely! But, in the months to come, I think she will see more than enough nursing around this place.

"I'm sad"

When I was growing up, my father worked as an elementary school teacher. In all of those years, I don't think my father ever went away on teaching-related business. So, when I married a teacher, I never really figured he would go away "on business". Well, things haven't exactly worked out that way. Brett's teaching occasionally calls for him to go away to conferences during the summer and for the past few years he has chaperoned a trip with students to New York City. Plus, he is also involved with working with a company called ABC-Clio and travels a few times a year to work with them. This week, he is away at camp with the high school students from church.

This morning Ella said to me, "I'm sad." When I asked her why, she responded, "Because I want my Dad to come visit my house." Obviously, she has missed her Daddy! When I took a look at the calendar, I realized he has been more of a "visitor" this month (at least in Ella's eyes). Between the New York trip, ABC-Clio and camp, Brett has been gone over half of the days this month. Then take into account that he has been gone at work during many of Ella's waking hours when he has been in town! It has been a crazy month! But, fortunately, he will return in a couple of days and his ABC-Clio trips in July will be short ones. We will be able to spend some nice time together as a family once he returns. Ella & I are both looking forward to that!

"I'm hungry from..."

Now that Ella is almost 2 years and 5 months, she is becoming increasingly verbal in expressing exactly what she wants. It seems like this girl is always hungry, although you wouldn't guess it from her frame. "Mommy, I'm hungry" is something that I hear ALL the time. In fact, she just said it. Anyway, when she is hungry I of course give her some choices. Just this week, she has started being more specific on what types of things she wants. If she doesn't like my choices, she'll indicate her preference with something like "No, I'm hungry from the cabinet" or "No, I'm hungry from the fridger" -- meaning she wants something from the cabinet or something from the fridge, respectively. I love how she calls the fridge the "fridger" -- maybe she combining fridge & freezer?!

Because

Ella has started creating more complex sentences. I can't remember her exact words, but she used "because" in a complete sentence. It was something like "I need to wash it because it's dirty." On the surface, it doesn't seem like a huge deal. But, after she said it, Brett and I both realized that we hadn't heard her use that word before. It's amazing to watch kids learn to master language without you having to teach them.

"A long day" and "So much"

Ella's language skills are progressing. She is learning how to express how much she likes something -- she doesn't always use the right words, but she is trying. If she likes something a lot, she might say "I love carrots a long day!" Maybe it is her version of saying, "I could eat carrots all day long." Who knows!

Also, one thing that has touched my heart recently is how she tells us she loves us. She used to say it to us after we said it to her. But now, she will say it when she feels like it. Just the other morning, she looked over at me while she was eating her cereal and said, "Mommy, I love you so much. And I love Daddy so much." I had never heard her say "so much" before. It was just precious. I've had the privilege of hearing it several times since then too.

Mommy's Names

Lately, Ella has started calling me by names other than "Mommy". A few weeks ago, she learned that Mommy actually has a name. She actually introduced me by my first name to some strangers while we were at Peet's Coffee a few weeks back. Last week, she kept calling me "Janel", despite my instructions to call me "Mom". However, this week she has taken a new approach. She has started calling me "Honey". I guess I call her that a lot and she has picked up on it. It's kinda funny to hear a 2-year old say, "Here you go honey"..."Come here honey"..."Honey I need some juice."

"I Fly"

One of Ella's favorite games is "flying". She made it up on her own -- unless Daddy taught it to her when I wasn't looking. Basically, she stands on our bed with her arms outstretched to the sides. Then she yells, "I fly!" and falls face-first onto the bed. The girl has no fear! She gets such a kick out of it, and honestly so do I. It makes me smile. Thankfully, she hasn't hurt herself yet. She taught it to her friend Harry the other week and instead of a bed they used a huge bean bag.

Weekend in SCV

This past weekend was Winter Camp at Forest Home for the high school students we work with at church. Ella has gone to camp with us before but this year she was deemed too old to go. So, Brett went off to camp with the students and Ella and I headed to Santa Clarita to visit family instead. It was an eating and shopping extravaganza! I got lots of new clothes and supplies for our Italy trip next month and was treated to some great food. Ella had lots of fun hanging with all of her grandparents and playing with all of the toys there. Of course, she also came up with a phrase I haven't heard from her before. While visiting both the Getskow and Piersma homes, she said "I love this place!" Nanna & Poppa Jack and Grandma & Poppa Randy all have lots of fun toys (not to mention hugs & kisses) for Ella. Why wouldn't she love it there?! I suppose the treats they give her don't hurt either. Poppa Jack introduced her to Banana Cream Pie and Pecan Pie. Overall, it was a great weekend. Thanks guys!

"Aunt Castle"

Just after Valentine's Day, we received a padded envelope in the mail from my Aunt Cass. Inside was a beautiful book that she made with family photos and information for all of my aunts, uncles & cousins on my mother's side. I showed Ella the book and told her that it was a present from Aunt Cass. Fast forward another day or two, and we received another padded envelope in the mail. This time it wasn't from Cass but her sister, my mom. But, the moment that Ella saw me pull the package out of the box, she pointed to is and said "Aunt CASTLE"! It took me a moment to figure it out...but I think she thinks that all padded envelopes come from Aunt Cass. Even though I correct her, Ella persists in calling her Aunt Castle so that may just be her name from now on. After all, Cass does affectionately call her home "Cram-a-lot".

"How I do it?"

Last night we had a very fancy dinner -- caesar salad and Domino's pizza. As we were eating, Ella said "I want broccoli." We were a little surprised that she would ask for that, and I replied that we didn't have any broccoli. She looked at me, pointed to my salad and said, "I want that." I told her that it wasn't broccoli but it was salad. Ella again said that she would like some. I seriously doubted that she would actually eat it, but I gave her a piece of lettuce. She picked it up with her fingers and said "How I do it?" I figured the piece was still too big for her so I tore it into smaller bites. Much to my surprise, she ate the small pieces and liked it AND asked for more. We may just have a salad-eater on our hands.

"Tank you dod!"

Today Ella and I were out in the backyard when she surprised me with yet another development. She wanted to play with her kitchen set and I sat down at the table to read. She quickly lost interest in the kitchen, and I soon found her seated beside me. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that she had her head bowed and her hands clasped together. Then I heard her speak quietly, "Tank you dod famee!" Now, since I am with her all day long, my skills at Ella-to-English translation are unsurpassed, and I usually am able to place her words into a context. It took me but a few seconds to realize that she was "praying" a little prayer from a BOZ DVD. (BOZ is a computer-animated Christian DVD series in which "Boz" is a green bear who lives in a treehouse next door to a family with young twins. In each episode, the twins say a prayer at the end of their day of fun with Boz. The prayer goes like this -- "Thank you God as this day ends, for my family and my friends..." Today made me realize that Ella is starting to memorize this prayer! At dinner tonight, we asked her to pray, and she held our hands and said in the tiniest whisper, "Tank you Dod".

Chris-a-mis & Oh-na-ments

Last year we decided to get our Christmas tree during the first weekend in December and we really enjoyed having it up for the entire month. So, we did that again this year. We met our friend Chris Mullin and his family at the tree farm to get our tree. Later when we brought the tree home, we told Ella that it was a Christmas tree and had her try to say "Christmas". She said "Chris-a-mis" and later on pointed at the tree and said, "Chris a made dat! Mr. Mullin!" Maybe it wasn't the best idea to go with Chris to get our tree!

Later that night we decorated the tree and Ella had lots of fun digging in the boxes. Many of our ornaments are not child-friendly. We have some older glass ball ornaments that break easily. Despite us telling her not to touch them, Ella picked one of those up and threw it into the box. I think she was surprised that it shattered, and it made an impression on her. Over the past couple of weeks, she has said, "I broke an oh-na-ment!" at random times of the day. Daddy has even taught her to say, "Accident" when he asks her why she broke it. It's pretty funny. For those of you that we will be seeing over Christmas, she will most likely say it for you too.

"Daddy too wowed"

Almost every day we are surprised by something that Ella says or does. Last night, we put her to bed and then went to the living room. Ella was nice and quiet for about ten minutes or so...and then Brett started playing some music on the computer. A few minutes later, I could hear Ella fussing from her room, so I went to check on her. When I came in she said, "Daddy too wowed" (translation: Daddy too loud). I had to laugh -- she's never said anything like that before. I told her that I would tell Daddy to turn down the music, and when I did, he didn't believe that she actually said that. So, he went to check for himself. When she saw him come in the room, she again said "Daddy too wowed". Still thinking she didn't know what she was talking about, he asked what was too loud and she responded "Music". Brett had a good laugh about that too, and we both gave her lots of kisses before letting her drift off to sleep without the music.

"Ella do dat!"

Ella has started saying "Ella do dat" - translation: "Ella do that". Just yesterday, she used it to tell me that she wanted to sweep the leaves in the backyard. Our outdoor broom is probably at least two times as tall as she is, but she wanted to try. In reality, she just ended up pulling it around the yard and then later bringing it inside the house when I wasn't looking. With each passing day, she just tries to do more and more things on her own. Our little baby is growing up!

"No Want It"

On Monday, Ella woke up with a fever and had it consistently throughout the day and into the night. I could tell she didn't feel well when she took a nap ON ME only about an hour after she woke up. Then later she also TOLD me that it was naptime and wanted to sleep in her CRIB. She was miserable all day and not much made her happy. She didn't want food or anything to drink...and she told me this by saying "No want it" repeatedly. Actually, she screamed it at times. Unfortunately, this sentence has outlasted the fever and I hear it on a regular basis now. It's not just the words -- it's the tone as well. She usually says it with a whine. I guess what goes around comes around. I seem to remember that I was a bit of a whiner myself as a child. Let's just hope that this is a brief phase.

"I'm a mess!"

Today Ella had toast with jam and got very sticky fingers and had jam all over her face. As I took her to the bathroom to clean her up, I had her repeat "I'm a mess." Later on, I gave her some banana, and then I sat down to do some work on the computer as she ate. When she was ready to get out of her highchair, she said "I'm a mess! I'm a mess!" It was so cute, I had to take a picture.