Kids Say the Darndest Things!

Oh yes, kids do say the darndest things.


Us: Oh look, there's Dora! and Boots!
Baby: Ga-ga!
Us: Can you say "Do... Ra..., Do-Ra"!
Baby: Ga-ga! (Claps her hand gleefully)
Us: Where's Dora?
Baby: Ga-ga!
Us: How about Do... Ra?
Baby: Boot.


Yes, without the "s". 


This stemmed from the time when she could only gurgle and coo and say just a couple of syllables, one of them being "Ga".  When we introduced her to Dora cartoons, she was so happy she kept on saying "Ga-ga!".  The preceding conversation pattern then became commonplace.


Well, at least she can say "Boot".
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Us: Do you want to go out to walk?
Baby: Go-go! Go-go!
Us: Let's go and walk outside!
Baby: Wo. Wo.
Us: Do you want to chase the butterflies?
Baby: Chesh, chesh.  Bat-ta. (Then goes running after them)
Us: You look tired now.  Let's go sit down.
Baby: Syit, syit.


She does not have a pure "s" sound yet.  When she tries it out, it comes out as "sh".  Like "chipsh", "gipsh" (grapes).


Go on, try saying "syit" out loud. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  
Us: Wow, look at the birds flying.
Baby: (While craning her head upwards) Ba-dee, ba-dee.
Us: And there's a dog.
Baby: Hi de, do. (Hi there, dog.)
Us: And there's a cat.
Baby: Cat, cat.
Us: And look, there's a frog.
Baby: Fwok.
Us: Can you say "frog"?
Baby: Fwok.
Us: How about "froggie"?
Baby: Fwok.


She can utter the hard "g" sound for Dora/Ga-ga, but not for frog.


We can't win.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Baby: Mi-mi! Mi-mi!
Us: Oh, so you want milk?
Baby: Mi-mi! Mi-mi! (Happily chugs her milk)
 
Baby: (Upon seeing a glass of water) Cok, cok.
Us: That's water, not Coke. Water.
Baby: Cok. (Then cheerfully drinks the water)
 
Baby: (Upon seeing a pitcher of juice) Cok, cok.
Us: That's juice, not Coke.  Juice.
Baby: Cok. (Then eagerly drinks the juice)
 
When the little one saw a bottle of Coca-cola, she pointed to it, and kept her finger up until we told her what it was.
 
We told her it was "Coke".  Then she saw us pour it into glasses and drink it.
 
Thereafter, everytime she wanted a drink (except for milk), she would say just one word.
 
"Cok" is it.

Do Not Disturb

No, we did not put that pillow over her eyes. She did it herself.

Yes, she really does sleep like this. This was not staged.

No, she normally does not sleep holding a bottle of milk. She must have been very tired that night though, so she fell asleep like a sentinel holding her weapon.  A vicious, scary.. bottle of milk.

Yes, she does want her stuffed toys around her, esp. the Barney dolls and the colorful Care Bear, as well as the violet elephant.

Note the judicious sprinkling of purple toys around her.  I think she gets it from me!

For some reason that we cannot fathom, she wants to cover her head with her pink pillow before she can sleep.  For nap-times this ritual can be skipped.  Night-time beddie-byes are another matter.

Apparently she wants complete darkness when she is about to fall asleep at night.  Even though all the lights are turned off already, she still persists in this habit.

The pillow is light enough so it cannot smother her.  She also does not cover her nose, just the eye portion. 

Sleep masks, here she comes!

Serenity and Contentment

It's a beautiful Saturday! The sky may be overcast and the day may be a bit damp with drizzles here and there, but for me, it might just as well be drenched in sunshine, with cheerful bird-song and warm soothing breezes all around.

I am in quite a buoyant mood -- and it's not even lunch time yet!

No, the daily cares did not suddenly vanish magically, nor did a fairy godmother unexpectedly appear to wave all our worries away.  It was the realization that these things would not be solved by the extent to which I frowned and ranted and moped all day. 

Solutions will be found, and new joys and sorrows will surely come, but I could in fact choose to live in the moment and be happy. 

Happiness is a choice.  It is a state of mind.

Early this morning I had a walk with my two daughters, just meandering around the residential area we live in, peering at a neighbor's pet dog (my younger one likes to 'visit' the dog and say Hi), marveling at the butterflies that darted amidst the flowers, watching a caterpillar make its way slowly across the ground.

We then swept the fallen leaves from the driveway and gathered them into a pile, after which the two little girls jumped around and over and on it to their hearts' delight. 

Then came a round of deciphering secret codes -- our older daughter is currently in an "I-want-to-be-a-secret-agent-someday" mode.  She went and got a book about secet codes from their school book fair, and she lassoed me into hunkering down and solving the codes with her.  It was surprisingly interesting -- it's my inner geek peering out again!

Simple pleasures, simple joys.

When I accidentally erased the draft of this post and had to do it over, I had a brief flash of irritation.  But only for a moment.  Then I went ahead and rewrote it -- I have to say that I find this version better.

I find that the Serenity Prayer sums up my feelings quite well.  This oft-quoted prayer, commonly believed to have been written by the American theologian Karl Paul Reinhold Niebuhr, has been widely adopted by twelve-step programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous.  Its appeal stems perhaps because of its plea for help while acknowledging one's all-too-human limitations.

There are a number of versions of this prayer, and it os commonly only the first part that is widely cited, but I like this one best:

God, grant us the

Serenity to accept the things we cannot change,

Courage to change the things we can, and the

Wisdom to know the difference.

Patience for the things that take time,

Appreciation for all that we have, and

Tolerance for those with different struggles.

Freedom to live beyond the limitations of our past ways, the

Ability to feel your love for us and our love for each other and the

Strength to get up and try again even when we feel it is hopeless.

Happiness is a choice.  It may not be easy to come by, but with some Wisdom from Above, it's well within our grasp.