First Words

Rhona says Mamamamamamama, but it doesn't mean Mama, it means I want something. Or I'm having fun blowing big old bubbles and making a noise while I do it. Maybe more like Muhmuhmuhmuhmuh.

A couple of days ago, Dad said "aaaooooga" and Rhona said it right back, very carefully, with an extremely long oooooo and a prim and hesitant -ga after a tiny pause at the end. Then they each said it again. The day before that, I was turning the pages of a book and said "whee!"and she echoed "whee!" with precisely the same intonation.

She might have said "up" once or twice. And she echoed Mab a few times, after she called "Faelan!" loudly up the stairs. Only Rhona left out the consonants, so it was a loud call of "Ae-an!"

Mab the show princess

Mab is singing songs. Lyrcs include:

Seven morning glories rise
Before the baby is born
To the loving of the able best

She also sings about lovely queebs, cigabets, and falvation. Yes. Queebs, from context, are queens.

She informed me that she was going to do a show. She was a princess. The other princess had died. How? An earwing went in her ear, very far. It hurt. So then it killed her? No, she just died from it. Ah. (Earwing = earwig. Ew.)
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Joel and I were kissing this morning and she interrupted us to say "you guys, that looks very ...pleasant." Where have we gone wrong?

Perspectives

Faelan has been building guns out of trio blocks and describing them in detail over the last week or so: "This is a full-back laser, and this is a cartridge sealed with lava sealants, and this is made from heavy metal from the center of the earth. It has auto-pilot and a trigger and you sight through this, unless you don't need it, and then you take it off and PEW! you look through this hole and that one shoots lava bullets."

Mab picked up his latest gun just now and described it: "What dis? It's upside-down. Downward dog. Oh, a daddy, a daddy! And dis is a mommy, and dis is a little one. This is a baby. It doesn't go to the ground. Are you a mommy? Are you a person? The mommy is a person!"

Music and Poetry

Last night, the family was making loud noises with tin whistles while I was cleaning up after dinner. Faelan came over and whispered that he had just tried to play "millet for the mumble, mumble, rags and bones mumble, mumble." Later, further inquiry revealed that he had been making up a tune for a scrap of poem that  he remembered thus: "Millet for the poor, rags and bones for the wicked wolves without the walls at night," which he said came from the song of Shiv and the Grasshopper, from the Jungle Book.

I looked it up this morning, and here are the 9th through 12th lines:


Wheat he gave to rich folk, millet to the poor,
Broken scraps for holy men that beg from door to door;
Cattle to the tiger, carrion to the kite,
And rags and bones to wicked wolves without the wall at night.

What a lovely scrap to have inside his head!

Vocab update

Mab is saying "really?" and "fine" with sarcasm. Argh.
She shouts Faelan's name with gleeful anticipation.
Verbs: Wash! Going. Coming.
Adjectives: Funny. Fun. Wet. Dry. Empty. Full.
Misc.: Bless you! Thank you. Please.
She says lots of three-word sentences, but I can't remember a one right now. "Open, pease."

Words

Most frequently heard request from Mab: "Muh, pee, shai?"
This means, "[May I have some] milk, please, [from the other] side?"

Vocab

"Mommy, my jacket."
"My water!"

Ant, spider, airplane.

Vocab Update

Updated 11/12

Nouns:
Daddy, Joel, Mama, G-ma, Jer, Hattie.
Dog, baby, squirrel, kitty.
Belly, belly button, back, bottom, nose, eye, mouth, ear, cheek, chin, head, hair, foot, teeth, lap.
Potty, pee, diaper.
Shirt, jacket, hat, shoe, necklace, glasses.
Berry, apple, water, milk, ice, tea, juice.
Lego, guy, door, room, bath, bath-time, oil, light.

Pronouns:
You, me.

Verbs:
Eat, sit, read, help, wait, obey, ride.

Adjectives:
Loud, hot, off, mine, wet, gentle, up, down, out, more, spicy.

Other:
No, yeah, thank you, please, ow, bleah.
Night-night, hello, bye-bye.

Her first two-word sentence was "shoe off!"

"Wait," "obey," and "room" (as in, "go to your room") are all said forcefully with a wagging forefinger to her big brother. Every time, we remind her that it is not her job to tell her brother what to do, and silently crack up laughing as soon as we can get out of sight.

I'm sure there are more words she can say, but I'm not remembering them now. She's learning new ones every day.

Vocabulary update

New words:

"Loud," mostly used whenever a helicopter or airplane or blimp goes by. Mab started saying it when we were in Cocoa Beach during an air show. Those airplanes really were loud.

"Hue," which means both shoe and sock.

"Apple."

The All-Purpose Word for Food

Faelan's was Apple. Mab's is Ice.

She also likes to say no, uh-uh, ow, and caw (bird).

Twirling Song by Faelan

Twirling, twirling
Twirling is very fun
Twirling is good
Twirling is best

Twirling, twirling
Twirling is joy
Twirling is everything
Twirling is a mommy hug

Twirling, twirling
Twirling is sleepy songs
Twirling is lying down on the bed
And going to sleep
Next to Mommy

July miscellany

Mab says "hi," "night-night (nye-nye)," "meow (mow)," and "ow." A lot.

The other day, we were talking about how much I have to eat in order to make milk, and Faelan said, "I wonder when I will stop nursing?"
     "I wonder that too," I said. He looked thoughtful for a moment.
     "Well, I definitely won't still be nursing when I'm sixty."
Good to know.

Mab's First Words

Back in the middle of May, Mab started saying "Hot!" This is usually accompanied by lots of hand-waving at the hot object.

This was followed a week or so later by "uh-oh."

At the beginning of June, she added "woof, woof," "kitty," "uh-uh," "die-die," which means goodbye, "ah-oo" for "thank you" and "there you go," and "gada," which means Grandad, Daddy, Faelan, etc..

I should note that since at least April, she has been saying "dat" while pointing at something which she wants to be identified or handed to her.

Life is now a series of uh-ohs and uh-uhs: Uh-oh, she's in bed without a toy, she dropped some toast, she stepped on a pebble. Uh-uh, she would not like to go to the toilet, sit in her car seat, come back, or wear that dress.

Song, more or less to the tune of "I Am a Pirate King"

"A pirate bunny is fun to be,
'Cause it is a glorious thing!
I'm in my trouser.
It is a glorious thing
To be a pirate bunny!
I'd rather have an eyepatch
Than a nose.
Oh, he has a thing to keep his eye in.
It's on his forehead
Where his eye should be,
So it can see.
And it's even more a glorious thing
To be a pirate bunny!"

There was a lot more, about swords and things, but I couldn't catch it.

Common Proverbs, according to a Four-year-old

Someone posted on Facebook a list of common proverbs, finished by first-graders as a school assignment. They were funny. I can't find the list any more, or I'd post it. I wondered how Faelan would finish these proverbs, so over a period of a week or two, I asked him to finish all of them, and here they are. (I took the toy monkey off the table after he answered the first two.)

Don't change horses... because a monkey will grab your own horse.
Strike while the... monkey is on the tree.
Never underestimate the power of... a laser.
You can lead a horse to water but... don't lead it to a bear.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice,... shame on you eight times.
Don't bite the hand that... hits you.
No news is... bad.
A miss is as good as a... fissle.
You can't teach an old dog new... tricks.
If you lie down with dogs, you'll... get scratched.
Love all, trust... the good guys. Don't trust bad guys.
The pen is mightier than the... eye.
An idle mind is... a bad thing.
Where there's smoke there's... sickness.
Happy the bride who... marries Shaun the Sheep.
A penny saved is... good news.
Two's company, three's... fighting.
Don't put off until tomorrow what... ever you do.
Laugh and the whole world laughs with you, cry and... the whole world cries with you.
There are none so blind as... people who are blind.
Children should be seen and not... unseen.
If at first you don't succeed... you will succeed another day. (That's a superhero one.)
You get out of something only what you... deserve.
When the blind lead the blind... they both fall down.
A bird in the hand... will not bite.
Better late than... hurt.

More Playmobil under the Christmas Tree

One knight appears to be rappelling down from a star in a harness of tissue and orange fluff. Another knight, wearing a tissue cape, was having a conversation, a snatch of which went like this:

"If you don't take this kleenex, you will die. This is not your kleenex, I brought it from home. I took this kleenex from a long-past king - a good king."

Playing with Playmobil knights

"Quick, prince, drag your battleaxe down! Stop that, you dastard villains!"
"Talking beasts are better than un-talking, you savages!"

Great birthday presents. Thanks, y'all!

Bathtime Poetry

"I'm gruff and I'm grumble, with an elephant's trumble."

"The elephants are raising their trunks at me, like ropes in knots, tied around a bad guy."

Knowledge

Faelan: I know all, all, all things that are true.

Joel: Oh yeah? What's the boiling point of water?

Faelan: To make tea!

Smithereens

Faelan, pounding a rock on a pile of dirt he has placed on the patio: This is what the enemies of dirt do.

Amity: What, smash the dirt to smithereens?

Faelan: Yes.

Amity, pointing to the pulverized dirt: Hey, that's what these are called - smithereens!

Faelan: No, these are dirtmareens.

Amity: I don't understand. What does that mean?

Faelan: They are mareens that haven't been smithered.

Faelan, five minutes later: Come see what has been smithered!