Did you know hair gets darker when it's wet.

Sam loves his purple eyes.  They really are blue with a ring of violet around the pupil.  But if you tell him they are blue he will either yell at you "MY EYES ARE NOT BLUE THEY ARE PURPLE!" or he will respond calmly, "Well actually... they are purple."

He loves his BLONDE hair.  Mom's hair is brown.  Dad's hair is brown.  Adam's hair is blonde.  Joseph's hair is almost brown.  Josh's hair is brown.  When he takes a bath and his hair turns brown he gets upset that his hair isn't blonde.  The other day, he ran into the bathroom while his hair was still wet, and upset said "it's still brown."  About an hour later he ran into the bathroom and got very exicted, "My hair is blonde again!!"

Three-yeear-olds, crazy temperaments and funny attitudes.

Disney Volunteers

Last year Disney had the promotion where you could go to Disneyland (or World) on your birthday for free.  I registered the whole family, however the only convenient option was for Joe and me to go for our birthdays and anniversary.  I bought 2 discounted 2-day park hopper passes online so we could each go every day.  On my birthday I used my free pass and Joe used his first day ticket.  On our anniversary we both used our tickets at both parks, and on his birthday I used the last day of my ticket and he used his free pass.  Since our birthdays are 2 days apart and our anniversary is right in the middle it makes celebrating easy.  This was Joe’s first visit to Disneyland and both of our first visit to California Adventure.

This year Disney’s promotion made it possible for the entire family to go all at once.  The only problem was actually trying to get registered for it.  Everyone was trying to register for the promotion.  We were able to finally get accepted to volunteer somewhere and I was excited about that.  I have heard there are volunteer vacations that people can do but I don’t know much about them.  I remember reading a brief article once about them in LDS Living magazine.   So I was excited that that with this promotion, the kids could earn their ticket and go.  All but Sam were eligible

The first appointment that I set up only would take adults.  I would have done it but it while partially while I was at work so Joe got to take it.  It was working at a bake sale for a retirement community fundraiser event.  He had fun.  They even fed him.  I should have done this job.  What I got to do with the boys (Adam, Joseph and Joshua) is yard work.  We brought 3 hibiscus plants.  The boys each planted one.  Then we asked what else we could do.    We went and placed mulch down over a flower garden.  Then we shoveled gravel and moved it from a big gravel pile to another area where they were laying down plastic.  Under that plastic had been weeds, which Joseph had helped weed.  It was fun nonetheless. 

About a week later, we received our vouchers by email.  Now it's time to plan a trip.

Photos

Adam working hard

Joshua posing

Joseph planting
Adam posing

Admiration

Have you ever looked at your children with complete admiration?  I secretly check them out while thinking about what handsome men they will be.  I hope their good looks will be surpassed by their good nature.

I was checking out Joshua the other day.  He's so gorgeous.  And he's sweet and an all around good kid. I was admiring him, forgetting all his flaws and mistakes and looking at him for all his goodness.  He demonstrated his goodness today.  His brothers were playing a game and he knows they can be rather competitive and he wanted to play too.  He told them he wanted to play but just for fun, they didn't need to keep his score.  He was showing his peace-making skills.

Sam was sleeping.  I love to look at my boys when they are sleeping.  They are so peaceful and it's the only time they aren't trying to drive anyone crazy!  I was noticing how much (as always) Sam looks like Joe.  His personality is a lot like mine, but he looks like Joe.  I admire him when out of the blue he'll say "I love you," "you have pretty green eyes," or "you're awesome."  He gets his affirmations from his dad.  I admire his willingness to show unconditional love and express his love for others.

Adam is going to be such a great man.  He's still learning and growing.  He can be very sensitive to some things and I attribute that to teen hormones, but that sensitivity shows me his softer side.  He is really good at remembering to open my door and let ladies enter first.  I was thinking about that today how he can be chivalrous and I hope he finds a girl that appreciate that.  I look at him and admire how mature he wants to be.  Although he wants to grow up quickly, at this time he's still happy to be my little boy. (don't tell him I said that!)

Joseph is a momma's boy (they all are actually, but he's more so.)  He wants to do everything for me.  I admire him for his servitude.  We went to a wedding reception the other day and Joseph was in the kitchen helping them dish and serve cake and various foods.  He was so well-behaved.  Joseph has ALWAYS been a good helper and getting him to help out is actually the best way to get him to behave.  His teachers at church  let him get the classroom ready and pick up the chalk and eraser from the library.  When he helps, he feels needed.  I admire his service to others.  He is the first one to fall asleep and I stare at him praying that he'll have friends and success in his life.

I feel like I can understand how Heavenly Father and Jesus felt when they created man and saw that it was good!!!  I feel joy in my posterity when I look at my children with admiration.

Sink Bath

When the boys were babies I often bathed them in the sink or bathed with them in the tub.  I am not sure how much they enjoyed it.  Sam loves to take a bath and will often jump in the shower with anyone willing (or even not so willing) to allow him to join.  He even gets upset if we weren't planning on bathing and he wants to.  He doesn't like to be cleaned with soap or shampoo.  He just really enjoys playing in the water.  He often plays in the sink with the water washing his hands, filling up cups and pouring them out, typical toddler/preschooler water play.  Today, we heard Sam in the bathroom giggling and making all sorts of noise.    We were so surprised to find him like this:

Silly Sam!!

What we did in 2009

So I've never done a Christmas Letter and I used to be so good at sending out cards. I actually do have a box of cards that I can use to send out. However, I've become lazy and haven't done it. So this year I am writing a New Year letter of what we accomplished last year. So if you don't care to read it, then you can move onto another of my blog entries instead.

Joe – He fixed the green car (Dodge intrepid) so now it works and Victoria can drive it to work. He went to Disneyland (and CA Adventure) for the first time for his and Victoria's birthdays and anniversary. He works in the Junior Nursery in the ward.

Victoria – She learned to make pumpkin desserts out of fresh (not canned) pumpkins. She went to Disneyland, CA Adventure and Magic Mountain this year. She also works in the nursery in the ward. She learned seasonal loan products (RVs, boats, etc) at work. She's been with USAA 2 years now and her 401k now is completely vested.

Adam – He received the Aaronic priesthood and was ordained a Deacon by his Papa. He serves as the second counselor in the Deacon's Quorum. He played softball for his school earlier this year (7^th grade.) He made the football team again for this school year (8^th) and made the basketball team (8th,) all that practicing with the scouts paid off. He went to camp Geronimo for the first time. He went to Magic Mountain to celebrate his entrance into teenager-hood. He got glasses. He got to play with the Ironwood marching band during halftime of an Ironwood Football game. He went to the temple for the first time with the youth. He got stitches earlier in the year when he collided with a fence at school and it cut his leg.

Joseph – He earned his Webelos and Arrow of light. He is in his 2^nd year of home schooling through AZ Virtual Academy. He is in 5^th grade. He started taking medication. He got glasses. He almost met a rattlesnake. He has recently started reading books and really enjoys them. He went to Day Camp during the summer.

Joshua – He turned 8 and had a fun Army party. He got baptized along with his best friend Aaron on the 4^th of July. He got glasses too. He earned his Bobcat (with help from Aaron's mom, too.) He is in 3rd grade and his teacher at school is one of the counselors in the Primary so he sees her almost every day. He loves his teacher. He got to go to Cub Scout Day Camp for the first time.

Sam – He had surgery. He spent his last year in nursery and will be joining the ranks of Sunbeams. He was potty-trained and had a big boy party. He turned three. He fell in love with Lydia (Aaron's baby sister.) He loves to talk and tell stories and his language has improved since we started blogging although he still can't pronounce eses (S.) He kissed a chick. He dislocated his elbow once when Joshua and he were playing.

I am sure there is more and find that as I blog more I'll have a better record for 2010. Happy 2010!!

Girls are from China

*warning this entry contains proper words for body parts. If you feel uncomfortable seeing words like that, then please stop reading now.*

I have always been of the mindset to teach my children the proper names for their body parts. I grew up calling girls parts po-po and boy parts peecha. I know people aren't comfortable with hearing the proper names: penis, testicle, scrotum, vagina, vulva, breasts (as Sam lovingly refers to as nurses – items that nursed him,) however the boys are going to learn the proper names at some point so why not be the ones to teach them and that our bodies are beautiful creations from our Heavenly Father.
Since Sam had surgery he was aware of his parts that had problems and were going to be operated on. He also recently was potty-trained and became fascinated with his penis in the process. He thinks it's amazing and everyone should have one.  A major problem is mom doesn't have one. He would often ask me where my peanut (he can't pronounce the 's' sound so what we hear is peanut) was. I would explain that girls do not have penis (even though he can't say it right, he gets mad if I call it a peanut because then I am not saying it right.) His brothers convinced them mine was cut off so he was afraid he'd lose his too. I told him girls do not have one at all. He was very uncertain about this and tried inspecting me every time he took a shower with me.

After months of trying to convince him, I finally broke down and explained that girls are not born with a penis only boys are. I explained that girls are born with a vagina and we have other parts that we use to pee (another concern of his.) He happily explained, "Oh!! Girls are from China!!" He has been content ever since.

I suppose if girls are from China, then boys are from Peanutville, it sure beats the Mars/Venus explanation. Since he really believes girls are from China, he says, "I want to go to China with you." Kids do say the darnedest things.

Twelve Eyes

Joshua has been getting headaches and nausea every now and then so we took him to the doctor. The doctor considered his issue could be due to allergies. Sinus pressure can lead to headache and nasal drainage can lead to nausea. I know headaches/migraines can also cause nausea so I wanted to rule out poor vision before we inundate his body with allergies pills since the diagnosis was probable. I scheduled an eye appointment for Joshua.



A couple of years ago we gave the boys color blindness tests found on the internet. It was discovered that both Adam and Joshua are color blind and Joseph is not. The boys (Adam and Josh) freaked out as they tend to do over trivial things. I then explained that I am not a doctor and the test was not given by an eye doctor and therefore I cannot accurately diagnose it.



My grandfather (mom's dad) was color-blind so it was quite possible that my boys could be color-blind as well. It would appear that my mother passed on her color-blind recessive gene to me and my dad gave me his non-color-blind gene. With that probability it would likely be that half my boys could end up color-blind so I would not be surprised if they were.



And now back to the story about Joshua. We went to Nationwide Vision for an appointment. He took all the vision tests and sat in the big chair and wore the eye doctor examination mask (as I like to call it.) It was determined that he is color blind (4 out of 5,) that he has 20/30 vision and is near-sighted. He was told he needed glasses to wear while in school, reading, or watching television. Really? So he told me to help him pick out the cheapest frames to save me money and we ordered his pair. While there I set appointments for Adam and Joseph too.



The very next day, Joseph had his eye appointment. He enjoyed looking at the frames and really liked the nice designer ones!! He took all the tests and got to wear the fancy eye doctor mask. His vision perfect, well almost. He had 20/30 in the right, 20/20 in the left with overall 20/20. He, on the other hand, was far-sighted with astigmatism. He was advised to pick out a pair of glasses to use for reading. We eventually settled on a nice shiny pair and he was so excited. At this point I've decided that Nationwide just wants to sell glasses and having an eye exam is really not about "eye health."



Adam attended his appointment a week later and the other two get to pick up their glasses. They acted like they are so cool. Josh was excited because he had always wanted to wear glasses. Poor kid, braces and glasses, luckily he's cute and can bypass all that teasing kids get. So Adam found out he is color blind 4 out of 5 like Josh. I don't remember ever hearing Adam's test results but I know he wasn't too bad. I know he is near-sighted in one eye and astigmatism in the other. He, like Josh, just needed them for school. He picked out about 20 pairs and we had to narrow it down. Writing this, I realized he is a lot like his mother.



Sam went for his appointment and picked out a pair of glasses that he would not take off. He was so excited he could be Dr. Daniel Jackson that he was highly disappointed when he didn't need them. I was told he was fine now but would need glasses in first grade. Seriously?

So here's your chance to guess which eyes fit the kid. All you get are the eyes and glasses.

A.

B.

C.

D.

Wow look how blue eyes vary among the boys.

Now you can check your answers by looking at face shots here

Sam’s Surgery

*warning this entry contains proper words for body parts. If you feel uncomfortable seeing words like that, then please stop reading now.*
Earlier this year Sam had surgery. Around July of last year I was changing Sam's diaper and I noticed one of his testicles was larger (a lot) than the other one. I felt them and it felt like he had three total (one on the right and two on the left.) It was strange. I asked my friend who was in his surgical residency if he knew what that could be. He wasn't sure. Later after his urology rotation he came across these a lot (in older men.)
It seemed to go away and come back every so often. One time when it was visible we took him to urgent care. The diagnosis: a varicocele (varicose vein in the scrotum,) but submitted a referral to a pediatric urologist to be sure. They had us take him for an ultrasound first. We took the ultrasound x-rays to our appointment with the urologist. He said it wasn't a varicocele but wasn't sure what it could be and recommended we watch it for 6 months and come back later.
Six months later we arrived at our appointment at the urologist's office. This time an ultrasound technician gave him an ultrasound at the office. The doctor visited with us for a couple of minutes. The diagnosis: a hydrocele (sack of fluid that empties and fills) and hernia. While a hydrocele is not dangerous and could go away on its own, since it hadn't repaired itself in 6 months, surgery was recommended.
We met at St. Joseph's outpatient clinic for Sam's surgery. He was actually put under for the procedure. The doctor made a 1-inch size incision in Sam's abdomen. He found the hydrocele and tied it off. Then he stitched up the opening (above where his scrotal sac is) where the hydrocele was located. The hydrocele was left in his body where the fluid was absorbed into his body. Then his abs were stitched up with absorbable stitches and his skin was stuck together with medical super glue. We could feel his internal stitches and scar for months after his surgery. He has healed fine.
If you asked Sam about the scar or the surgery he would say, "I went to the hospital and had surgery on my testicles but now it's normal." His scar is still very little and isn't really noticeable.
I thought I'd post this for those who didn't know about his surgery, but also because we didn't know what was wrong with Sam and had to wait a while for an answer. I shared this story with a coworker and the first thing she asked, "Did he have a third testicle?" Someone she knew had the same thing and that's how they thought it looked too. It's not a third, but it seems like it.

Pumpkin Season

Since we brought home pumpkins the other day from Tolmachoff Farms, I thought I'd put them to good use. My friend Debbie once told me that her friend's mom always used the insides of the pumpkin to make the best pumpkin pie and she had taught her how to do it too. I am not a fan of pumpkin pie. I like the taste just not the texture so I have NEVER made a pumpkin pie. However, now that I have 7 little pumpkins lying around my house, I figured I need to learn how to do something with them.

On Thursday, I researched (googled) pumpkin puree, the official name of the canned pumpkin product. I found several recipes on how to create pumpkin puree. One way was to bake it and then other was to boil it with the skin still on. Either way, once it was softened it would merely peel off the skin. Then place the pumpkin in the food processor and process until it is smooth. I ate a few pieces of it and can't believe how good pumpkin is on its own. Two little pumpkins made a lot of puree.

So now I begin my search for pumpkin recipes. What I have found so far is pumpkin bread, pumpkin bars, pumpkin pie, pumpkin ice cream, a pumpkin pie cake my mom makes, and I bought some oatmeal yesterday and it came with a cake recipe on the back, too. Today I am going to make one of those items. Most likely it'll be pumpkin bars, but the boys really want pie. Joe really likes the ice cream. I still have 5 more pumpkins to puree so I've got time to make many different recipes. I wonder if pumpkin would be good in chili. I can freeze the puree too for later.

PS I typed this with the new blog format in Word.

Sam kisses chicks

I know what you are thinking.  Sam is 3 and he's already kissing girls.  While I may say chick flick to describe, well, chick flicks, I don't usually call girls chicks.  Therefore, here is rare footage of Sam kissing a baby chick. 

Sam kisses chick


I actually felt sorry for the chick because the more he wanted to love it the stronger he'd squeeze it. 


We went to Tolmachoff Farms for a school field trip for Joseph.  It was $10 person and it came with admittance (which includes visiting all the things they have there - even the corn mazes,) a free small pumpkin, picking fresh produce, an ice cream sandwich, and a train ride.  Joseph finally got to meet his teacher.  When he came home and told dad about the trip he said about his teacher, "And she's good looking, too."  Joseph has always liked it when his teachers are good looking.  I allowed Joseph to do his own thing during free time, which I think he enjoyed because he often doesn't get to run free.  I was busy chasing Sam everywhere.  This would be why there are more photos of Sam than Joseph.  And I am not in any photos either, but I was there.   

Photos of our trip to Tolmachoff Farms

#3

Happy 3rd Birthday Sam. You are such a blessing to our lives. We love you our little Luke Skywalker and Dr. Daniel Jackson.

Sam’s Big Boy Party

Sam is having his “Big Boy Party.” I started this tradition with Adam. Once my child is potty-trained we reward him with a big boy party. To avoid embarrassment, if the child is too old, a party is not given. Ever since Sam had his first birthday party he has been fascinated with parties. He loves the candles, the cake, and the ambiance. In fact, he thinks every birthday party he attends is his. He started potty-training right after he turned two. He really liked the potty and whenever we thought he was going to be serious, he’d refuse to use it. He likes to flush the toilet (and other things along with it) and play in the bathroom so he didn’t have a fear for us to be concerned with. We couldn’t figure out how to motivate him. After Adam had his 12th birthday party and Josh had his 8th, Sam was excited and talked about his birthday party all the time. We decided to let Sam know about the Big Boy Party. We gave him two months to earn it and except for occasional accidents, he’s done very well. He picked the venue, Chuck E Cheeses. He has never been there, but has always wanted to go. I am not sure if the desire comes from commercials or his brothers talking about how cool it is there. So we have a Big Boy Party planned for this Thursday. We invited his friends from nursery (those on Facebook at least,) family friends, and family members.

Checking Online

Last night I was working on the desktop PC but I had the laptop right next to me and I was toggling between the two. Sam came over to the laptop and started pressing the space bar. I asked him to stop so I could use the laptop again. His response was, "But I am checking online." Interesting. He is two and he knows there is something called online because we talk about it.

How my children got their names

I read a friend's blog and she posted where her children's name came from so I thought I'd do the same. If you have ever had me explain anything to you, then you understand I go into details that many feel are not necessary to the story, however they are a part of the story so I share all the details.

When I was little, not older than 12-14, I wanted to name all my children so that their initials were ACE. The boys’ names were Aaron, Adam, Andrew and Anthony, with Charles and Christopher as middle names. The girls’ names were Abigail, Alison (any spelling,) Alysabeth (variation of Elizabeth that my mom came up with when I was 10,) and Amanda, with the middle names of Crystal and Catherine. I was hoping to marry someone with the last name beginning with ‘E.’ Anthony Edwards would have been perfect (this was well before E.R.) so that I could have the last initial I wanted. But then I realized there are few people with last names that begin with an E (or that I’d come across.)

Then I started researching names and their meanings and I decided that I wanted to give my children names that had nice meanings. For example, Mary means bitter. While Mary is a nice name, I did not want my child to feel like I was bitter about having her. During this process I found all the names that meant “Gift of God.” Children are gifts from God so I wanted to have all my children have a name (first of middle) that meant that. Some examples are Jesse, Matthew, Nathanael/Nathan, and Natalie (from Nathanael.) So then I was on a quest to give all my children a gift of/from god name. So I made a list of all the names and tried to put names together that sounded good together. I think I still have the list somewhere. Now we will fast forward to my children and I’ll give you the rest of the story.

Michael Adam: Adam was one of my original names and I have always admired Adam (of Adam and Eve.) Before I was married, a friend was taking a psychology class and needed to provide names that he would name his children. Then in a group setting they would pick the name and share with the class. The name he and I came up with was Michael Adam, but his classmates picked Michael. I had been taught that Michael (the archangel) came to Earth and was known on Earth as Adam. Therefore, I named my son Michael Adam and we call him Adam. If he had been a girl, Alysabeth Crystal. Michael Adam = Who is like God, First Man = First man who is like God.

Joseph Nathanael: As you learned previously Nathanael means Gift of God from my gift from God phase. I have always loved the name Joseph, not Joe or Joey, just Joseph. I love Joseph (of Egypt.) I have a friend, Joseph Langkilde, who encouraged everyone to call him Joseph. So he was an example that it is possible to name someone Joseph with the name being immediately shortened. My husband, Joseph, prefers to be called Joseph. I only call him Joe to differentiate between the two of them. I suppose when the kids have moved out I can call him by his true name. There was this black and white movie that was on television when I was about 16 and this preacher kept calling the character, named Jonathan, Jo Nathan. I thought it would be funny (I have a strange sense of humor) if I named a son Joseph Nathanael (Joe Nathan) and called him Jonathan instead. It was a reverse of the movie and became an inside joke between my mother and me. I would have called him Jonathan except he had an uncle by that name and it wouldn't have worked out. We also thought about calling him Nathan or Nate, but 2 others in our ward had boys around the same time he was born and named them Nathan, so we opted for my favorite name, Joseph. If he had been a girl, Alysabeth Crystal or Natalie. Joseph Nathanael = he shall add, gift of God = He shall add gifts of God (more children or lots of grandchildren.)

Joshua Caleb Alexander: Since my boys' names were prophet names I decided to keep the tradition. I was really hoping for Jacob Spencer, however my ex did not like that name. So I made a list of acceptable names and gave it to him. He didn't live with me at the time (he left as soon as I found out I was pregnant,) so I literally gave him a list. My mom wanted Alexander (as a first name,) because she wanted to call him her little Alex. I wanted Caleb Alexander. But my ex knew a kid named Caleb who would bang his head against the wall, so because of name association that became a no. My ex did not like Alexander as a name either for some reason, but was willing to have as a middle name to please my mom. So he had decided on a name and called me and told me that I had to promise that whatever name he chose would be the name otherwise he wouldn't tell me. So Joshua Alexander was born. I was okay with Joshua because he and Caleb were buddies and were the only 2 tribe leaders that came back and reported. Years later, I told Joseph (Joe) the story and he started calling Josh, Caleb. Joshua was about 2 and would act like Caleb was an alter ego. When Joseph (Joe) adopted the boys in 2005, Josh was given the option to add or change his name. We decided to name him Joshua Caleb Alexander, with 2 middle names. We only let him do it because the other 2 were picking strange names and he really was the only one who's name I was unhappy with. Not that I don't love the name Joshua and have become accustomed to it, it wasn't my choice. So I suppose we did it to spite the ex. My ex has since had 2 children named Alex and Natalie. No name was chosen for a girl other then the ones I previously listed as possibilities. Joshua Caleb Alexander = God is Salvation, Dog, Defender of man = God saves and defends men and dogs. (Maybe adding Caleb wasn't so smart??)

Samuel Allen: Joseph (Joe) really wanted to name a son Allen his dad's name. That happens to be my (biological)dad's middle name. I really didn't care for it as a first name, but was willing to consider it for a middle name. It is also Joseph's middle name. Doing genealogy I find that Joseph descended from a Samuel Allen (Allen being the last name) and it was his descendant Elizabeth Allen who married 2 Allreds (Joseph Gilbert Anderson Allred & George Riley.) Her first husband died so she married his brother whose wife had also died around the same time. She had children with both and helped raise his children. So that's where the Allens and the Allreds merge (twice.) So I told Joseph we can name him Samuel Allen in honor of his great-grandfather (about 8 greats.) We were really hoping Sam would be a girl because we worked so hard to chose Emily Elise for him, and then had to scramble for the last 6 months trying to come up with a name for Sammy. Samuel Allen = God hears, handsome = God hears only from handsome people?? (It's a bit ironic (God hears) because we fasted and prayed for a sister. So in His wisdom he sent us a boy. I think He has a strange sense of humor too.)

Emily Elise: the daughter we hope to have some day. I say she's our next one, but Joseph's not ready for a fifth. I know why we chose Elise. Joseph's favorite car is the Lotus Elise. Elise (derived from Elizabeth) is actually a girl's name so we are honoring his car with her name. I like Emma and Joseph's not happy with the name. Imagine having a Joseph and Emma in the same household. So he allowed me the satisfaction of Emily which is similar. Can't wait until he says we can plan for her. I've given up on Alysabeth because I don't her to deal with having her name spelled so differently people can't get it, but my mom will always like it. Emily Elise = rival (I've seen industrious too,) my God is abundance = God will send me many rivals or if she is industrious she will have abundance. (silly isn't it.)

So while Emily hasn't joined our family, I decided to add it since we still plan on having Emily. We talk about her as if she exists and is real. She's just not here yet. I am happy with my 4 boys, whose names are still prophetic names. They seem to be happy with their names. Adam goes by Michael at school because he doesn't want to deal with teachers having to adjust to his middle name. So we have to use both names when we speak with teachers. Joseph is happy with his name. Joshua prefers to be called Josh. Samuel prefers to be called Sammy, Sam or Samuel. When he says his name now it's Samuel Awen Awred (can't pronounce his l's yet.) So now we wait until Joseph (Joe) decides he can handle five. If he does you'll be the first to know.

Toddler Talk

Sam, 2, has been speaking for a while now. And yet, it seems I still can't understand him. For example, over the phone, I have absolutely no idea what he is saying. In person it's different. But lately, I've had difficulty understanding his words.

The other day we were playing Stargate. That's where he pretends to be Dr Daniel Jackson and I am Major Sam Carter. We ended up having a pillow fight, which was absolutely fun to do, mind you it was after midnight. However, I grabbed Dr Jackson and he said, "You tay me." So as annoyed as he was that I was questioning the word tay (play, take, etc,) he giggled with glee when I figured out he meant saved. It was funny.

Tonight he did it again. I am lying on the couch with my knees bent and the laptop is resting on my legs and the monitor is parallel to my raised head. He pops his head between my knees and yells, "peek-a-boo."

Playing along I say peek-a-boo back and move the computer to the side. He crawls up next to me and say he is playing in the the tro-ya. The tro-ya?? Hmm, is that troll? Could it be store? I ask Joe if he understands and he recommends turtle. Sam laughs and says, "no tro-ya." I am lost.

But somehow Joe asks, "stroller?"

Then Sam laughs and says, "Yes, tro-ya."

When will I understand this foreign language toddler's speak? Just as he improves his English vocabulary (or pronunciation,) it seems I lose my gift of interpretation of tongues. Sam is almost 3 so maybe turning three will make a difference in his pronunciation. I've learned apparently he can't yet pronounce 's' or any variation ('sh,' 'st,' 'sc'.) I am not concerned yet, it is just frustrating for me. Weird, one would think he'd be frustrated by it, but to him it's comical.

~Victoria~