2009 Kidisms

I have been writing down funny things that the kids say on the sidebar of my blog. I also wanted to keep them as a post so it will be in the blog archives. So here are the kidisms from when I began the blog (in August) until the end of the year.

December 2009
Tess, while listening to "Feliz Navidad" on the radio: "Mom, this Christmas song doesn't even have real words, does it?"
(update: Tess really enjoys this song now, and sings along whenever we hear it: "Ma-lease nobby-blah!")

Miles: "Peek-a-goop!"

November 2009
Miles, anytime something exciting happens: "Whoa, bye-o!" (translation is "Whoa, buddy!")

Tess, during prayer: "Please bless me and Miles so we can go to outer space soon."

I love the names that Tess gives to her babies (dolls or imaginary). Today, her daughter's name was Star-lippy.

Today we played at the park and then met Bryan for lunch. We all used hand sanitizer on the way to meet Daddy, and after Tess used it, she smelled her hands and said, "hmmm...my hands still smell like park." (And, you know, I knew exactly what she meant: equal parts "dirt" and "sweaty kid.")

October 2009
Tess was asking about snot, and where it comes from. I said that our bodies just make snot. She said, "but how? It's not like they have a recipe!" I wasn't quite sure how to respond to that...

In a restaurant, Tess noticed a family walk in and the two tween-age kids were wearing vests (the puffy kind). And just like Marty McFly's experience in the 1955 diner, she said "hey! Those kids are wearing swimming things!" (life jackets...)

September 2009
I was spraying sunblock on Tess and she said, "this must be made with fruit snacks. Cuz it's sticky."

Tess: "Mom, I'm in quite a bit of a predicament right now. I bet you don't know what that word means, do you?"

Tess was reading to Miles from his book about construction vehicles when she got to the page with the cement truck. She said, "and this one is called a sidewalk maker..."

August 2009
Tess, to Miles, while both were in the tub: "Miles, I have a vagina and you have a pa-genis." (Bryan's pretty embarrassed that I posted this...but I think it's funny, so it's stayin'!)

Tess (after Miles had just had a huge sneeze): "Mom, Miles just "bless you"ed all over his bib!"

From my "4 yr old-going on 24 yr old" Tess: She walked in holding an old ugly yellow hair scrunchee and said to Bryan, "Dad, I've come to a realization. I don't think I'm ever going to wear this spongee. I think I would like to give it to mom."

Tess: "Tonight is bath night, right? Because yesternight was not bath night."

Tess came in and told me that the dinner in the oven smelled really good. Then she said “Mom, can I just have ONE bite of that smell?”

Miles started saying "Hi, buddy!" to me today.

Tess is reading!

Tess and I were playing with Miles' new "fridge phonics" game and I started making cvc (consonant-vowel-consonant) words for her. We've done lots of "sounding out" for months now, but she hasn't really been able to blend the sounds together smoothly until today; something just clicked, and she can read any cvc word we try! One happy mama and one proud little girl!!! Yay Tess!

Miss Socialite vs. Mr. HomeBody

Tonight we went to the Ogden Christmas Village. It was pretty fun, but really, really cold. The little buildings in the village are always fun to peek in, and Tess loved it and was happy, as usual, but Miles was kind of grumpy and impatient, as he often is when we're away from home, doing something outside. So we cut our visit a little short, but I did get a few pictures.

It's funny to see the difference between my two kids; I think Tess loves doing new and interesting things, away from home, and she tends to be a stinker when we're at home and she gets bored. Miles loves to be home, doing our usual routine, and he tends to be a stinker when we're out doing something new and unfamiliar. Hmmm...I'm not sure what to do about this??

"A picture? You bet!" (big grin...)

"You want me to do WHAT for the camera? Look happy?! I don't think so!" (crusty face...)

7 Years with this guy...

On Monday we celebrated our 7th Wedding Anniversary. I can't believe that it's been 7 years already; the time really does fly by. Bryan surprised me with beautiful red roses on our actual anniversary, and then we had our annual over-nighter last night. We stay at a hotel every year on our anniversary and the best part is having no kids for 24 hours! This was our first time in 3 years that we were able to go; 2 years ago, Miles was only a week old and couldn't be left, and 1 year ago, we were moving to our new house and had already asked for babysitting help while we unpacked. So this year we were very excited to keep the tradition going. We took the kids to Bryan's parents' house and we just had a great time being together and relaxing. We ate out for lunch AND dinner (anyone who knows me knows how much I love to eat out!), and we saw a really good movie (Avatar--I thought it was really awesome; I highly recommend it.) Then we just hung out at the hotel, lounging in the hot tub, and eating ice cream and M&M's while watching TV in bed. It was great! The best part was going to bed late and sleeping in this morning!

Contagious??

Tess is generally really good in the car. She looks out the window, or reads books, or colors, or listens to stories on CD...usually she's no problem. But once she decides that she's had enough, she is DONE and if you don't get her out of the car immediately she will make the trip miserable for everyone in the van. She'll use anything as an excuse: "I have to go to the baaaaathrooooom!" "I'm hottttttttt!" or the most recent favorite "I have an iiiiiiiitchhhhhhhhhhhh that I can't scraaaaaaaaatch!" So yesterday after she had reached meltdown mode, whining about the iiiiiitchhhhh, she finally said--completely seriously--"Ohhhhh, I think I must have fleeeeeeeeeeeas!" I just about died laughing.

Home Improvements

Bryan just finished our first basement project in this house. He built shelves and wired an outlet for our freezer in the "fruit room" under the porch. He also added an insulated door to keep the fruit room cool and the rest of the basement warm.

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a little bit of a neat freak* ("a place for everything and everything in it's place...") and so I am really excited to fill up those shelves with stuff that is currently just in piles on the floor in the basement. Here are some photos of the finished project.

*notice I didn't say "clean freak." I'm actually pretty lazy about cleaning. Yesterday I walked into the family room and noticed a little finger had written "Tess" in the dust on our TV screen. Good thing she doesn't know how to write "WASH ME" yet.

Our Favorite Little Boy

Miles had his 2nd birthday yesterday. We had a wonderful weekend, celebrating a little bit each day for 4 days. On Friday we went swimming as a family. Miles especially loved going down the big slide with Mom or Dad. On Saturday he got to visit and play with Gramma & Grampa Terry. On Sunday he got to visit and play with Papa, Charlotte, and Gramma & Grampa J. Then on Monday he opened his presents from Mom & Dad. He was definitely a spoiled boy! For his birthday cake I decided to make a DumpTruck. We have a lot of construction in our neighborhood and he loves to see all of the "bih-gucks!" (Big trucks!)

In keeping with Terry family tradition, I thought it would be fun to interview Miles and post his answers...but he's not quite old enough yet to understand, so I'll just post some things I know about Miles. His favorite food is probably crackers or bananas ("nanno"). He loves milk and cheese too. His least favorite food is green beans. I will try to sneak one tiny little green bean speck into a big bite of something else that he likes, and inevitably he'll chew away happily until he detects the green bean molecule and does the dreaded "tongue rake."

His favorite activities are: playing at the park, jumping on the couch with Tess, and of course, watching Signing Time. Miles is very good at entertaining himself and will go down in the basement playroom all by himself and just play for a long time (Tess still won't go down there alone...) He loves to sleep with 3 little stuffed friends: doggy, duck, and elephant. And he loves to have "blanky loves," which is something we started with Tess and continue with him where we just wrap him up like a baby in his blanky and snuggle with him. When he or Tess are really sad or frustrated, they'll go and grab their blankies for blanky loves.

Miles favorite toy varies from day to day. Today it's his new soccer ball, but it will probably change tomorrow. His favorite books are his ABC books and his construction vehicle book. His favorite color is yellow and his favorite letter is W.

We just love and adore Miles. He is a sweetie and brings a lot of joy and energy into our home.

Happy Birthday Bye-o! (buddy)

Here he is getting ready to blow out his "2" candle.

He loved licking the frosting off his fingers.
"Ooh!"

"Bih-guck!"

How big of morons are we??

In June we had a family reunion at a waterpark in Idaho. After swimming and driving home, we realized that we left both kids' lifejackets by the side of the pool. Luckily, when I called, they had them in Lost & Found and said they would mail them to us, using our own credit card (which I understand because it was our fault.) We needed them for a waterski trip and waited anxiously for them to arrive in the mail. Then, one day I got a call from the place in Idaho, and they had been returned to them because the address was copied down wrong! argh. So, they agreed to re-send them (at their cost this time), but they didn't get here in time for the waterski trip. (Fortunately my dad had some extra ones that were small enough to fit our kids.)

Fast forward to yesterday when Bryan & I took the kids swimming, to celebrate Miles' birthday (coming up on Monday!) This morning I was folding all the clean, dry swimming suits to put away in the swimming bag...when I noticed that--you guessed it--the lifejackets were nowhere to be found. ARGH!!! I cannot believe that we did it again! What would we do if we had more children? Leave one of THEM at the pool?

Unfortunately this time there were some very dishonest people at the Clearfield Aquatic Center, because nobody turned them in to Lost & Found and the lifeguard staff has not seen them. Maybe this time we'll learn our lesson and take better care of our new ones...when we get some.

What would I do without Alex & Leah?

Signing Time saved me again! When Tess was little, she loved Signing Time and knew a lot of signs, but she also spoke very early and very clearly. Miles is a total Signing Time addict and I'm lucky that he is because he does NOT speak very clearly. He jabbers long sentences and I usually only understand a word or two. This morning after breakfast he kept pointing to a kitchen cabinet and repeating the word "daw!" I had no idea what he was talking about, so I asked him the sign. He did a sign and I still couldn't figure out what the sign was...finally I realized he was doing the sign for "draw" and the cupboard he was pointing to was where we keep the "straws." He wanted a straw to drink the milk from his cereal bowl. (Whew!)