Beautiful Words

Apple seems to be having a vocabulary explosion, something for which I have been waiting patiently for a long time.*  Bus, bath, digger (as in excavator), and Baba (for Grandpa and Homer Simpson, a comparison my dad LOVES) are some of the latest words I’ve heard him say.

In other wordy news, Raisin can READ.  We picked up Eric Carle’s book of animal sounds this week, and she just started sounding out the words.  It’ll be a long hard slog (for me, because teaching is hard!) before she’s reading independently, but I am so excited to see her figure this out.  Kindergarten, here we come!

*Orange is picking up words as well, but she has no interest in playing Mommy’s “Can you say [blank]?” game.  This is the problem with toddlers and yes or no questions: the answer is always no.

Mrs. Hannigan

Me: Please pick Baby Jesus up off the floor.*

Raisin: Why?

Me: He might get stepped on or dirty.

Raisin: He likes it.

*Not a sentence I’d ever expected to say.  In case you’re wondering, she made a Nativity set in Sunday School.

Special Day

My mom had some time off work, so she took each of my kids in turn for a special Grandma day.  Raisin’s day was Friday; they did a craft project and Raisin got her nails painted.  Orange went yesterday; she played with Grandma and got her nails painted.  Apple is gone today.  Since he has been envious of Orange’s nails since she came home yesterday, I imagine he will get a manicure as well.*

My husband and my father will be thrilled.

I don’t think it’s a big deal — he’s two.  But the pleasure of watching Grandpa and Daddy’s discomfort?  Oh, I’ll be milking it for a while, I expect.

*My mom told me he even tried to “paint” his nails himself with chalk last night while I was at work.

Yes We Did!*

Yesterday I thought I felt pretty confident about today’s presidential election.

I guess I didn’t really believe it would happen — I have grown perhaps even more cynical than I admitted to myself — because I am stunned.  I have no words, except:

Thank God. 

*If you are disappointed in tonight’s results, please don’t take this the wrong way.  I know how it feels to believe an election has gone awry, and I do not intend to gloat.  Let’s all pray that the next eight years bring us closer instead of farther apart.

Random!

A lovely young woman called today and asked me to knock on doors for Barack Obama and Al Franken.  Some thoughts on this:

1) While my kids are adorable, and of course always well-behaved, I’m not sure bringing them along on such an errand would be wise for our family or for the campaigns in question.

2) I may not vote for Al Franken (gasp!  not voting for the Democrat!  shocking!).

3) This thought deleted because it sounded like counting electoral votes before they are hatched, or something, and I guess I am superstitious because I can’t say it.  I will just say this: Mondale.  Fellow Minnesotans and/or political history geeks will know what I mean, I think.

In other news:

-The financial crisis is frightening, I admit.  But I woke up this morning and thought, “What if the world ran out of ibuprofen or caffeine?”  There’s your end-times scenario right there, people.

-It’s my own fault, and I am going to pay for it on Thursday when the insurance people weigh me, but my exercise program has been completely derailed.  There are plenty of excuses, but I mostly just want to put it here in black and white that it’s my fault and that I need to fix it because that seems to motivate me to get back on track.

-In addition to giving up their Nuks and learning to use the potty, Apple and Orange are now sleeping in beds.  There are no babies left in my house.  Wah.  (Have I cried about that here before?   Too bad — it’s a mother’s right to whine about how hard it is to take care of a baby, and then to be sad when they grow up.)  Ridiculously cute footnote: when they realize we are not coming back in after saying goodnight, they climb into each other’s beds and comfort each other.  We keep finding them that way in the morning.

-Also unfairly cute: Raisin, who cannot yet read more than a couple of words, “reads” memorized books to the twins in their new beds.  Truly, the sweetest thing I have ever seen.

Hmmm, maybe I should reconsider the door-knocking.  Dress them up in some Obama shirts?  That’s gotta be worth a couple of votes, right?