Tess: Mom, did you know that I can speak "man?"
Me: Umm...no.
Bilingual Tess: [In a really deep voice.] "Hello."
New favorite Drew word: "shoe." He loves shoes of all kinds and gets particular enjoyment out of trying on shoes that are not his own.
Words that Drew now uses with regularity: Daddy, Mommy, ap (apple), moon, at (hat), ball, babah (basketball), bubah (bubble), hi, duce (juice), uck (duck), cack (quack), brrrrm (car), beebee (baby), ite (light), teet teet (bird), ant, choo choo (train)
So Tess is obsessed with her new friend Cindy, a 10-year-old girl who lives down the street and humors Tess by playing with her. (Cindy must be pretty bored to enjoy playing with a 4-year old.) Tess idolizes her. The other day we were out playing and Tess told me she needed to grab some things inside because Cindy was going to teach her a new game. Tess ran into the house and came out with a rock (from her rock collection), a piece of paper and a pair of scissors. I waited for Cindy to laugh at Tess' earnest game preparations, but instead she totally rolled with it: "But wait! We need a shoe!" Tess obediently ran inside and returned with a shoe in hand. When I asked why they needed a shoe for their game, Cindy explained, "That's what the game is called: rock, paper, scissors, shoe!"
We've made friends with two kids who live down the street. I still can't get used to hearing my doorbell ring and finding a 10-year-old girl who wants to play with Tess and a 5-year-old boy who wants to know if Drew can come out to play.
To alleviate my guilt over the amount of TV I let Tess watch, I've been making her watch with the subtitles on. So, she asks me: "Mom, how come every time there's clapping on TV, the words say 'applesauce?'"
I was in the thick of working with lenders on the phone for mortgage preapprovals and Tess had about enough of it. The lender asked for how many dependents we had and their ages. I told him we had 2 kids, ages 4 and 18 mos. Tess yelled to me: "I am NOT 4 years old!!! I am 4 and a HALF years old!!!" The lender could hear her and started cracking up laughing. I corrected myself and gave him the more precise information about her age. He was dying laughing.
"Mommy, when I grow up I really want to be a scientist AND a mommy! I really, really want to do BOTH! Please, Mommy, can't I be both?"
Tess: "I have ears like a bear. They have good ear seeing. Owls have good eye seeing, but they don't have good ear seeing."
While at our friend Cade's house, Drew managed to swipe a piece of play food (a plastic croissant) from Cade's toy kitchen yesterday. When Tess returned it to Cade today, I said: "Sorry, Cade. I guess Drew just really likes croissants." Cade replied: "No, I think he just really likes stealing things."
This song from one of Tess' cd's came on in the car:
"How did you get so big overnight?
How did you get so smart and bright?
Yesterday you were asleep in my arms,
Today you're growing off the charts.
I'm so proud of you!"
Tess: "Oh no! Not this song, Mom. It makes me cry." At least I'm not the only one.
Tess decided she wanted to make each of us a salad for dinner tonight. When she finished, she said: "M-m-m-, m-m-m, m-m-m! Those salads sure smell good!" Particularly fragrant romaine, I guess.
Tess came home from Summer Science camp singing a new version of head, shoulders, knees and toes: "head, thorax, abdomen...."
The best part about painting Tess' fingernails is that she has to sit still for a whole 30 minutes while they dry. Doesn't it take 30 minutes for your polish to dry? She doesn't know that.
Drew is getting pretty good at the walking thing, but he still occasionally needs to grab onto something to help steady his balance. Sometimes that thing is his sister. To which she responds, "No, baby! I'm not a wall!"
Tess was looking at the calendar and noticed my birthday this month. "What age you going to be, Mom?" When I told her I was turning 36, she asked: "What come after that? 37? 38? And then 100?" Sounds like we need a few more lessons on number sense. And tactfulness.
Drew has an obsession with basketball, which makes it difficult to attend church in a chapel that opens to a gym with a full basketball court. "Ba-bah! Ba-bah! Ba-bah!"
Tess: "At the North Pole, they have 100 snow pieces!"
Tess likes to use conditioner on her hair while taking a bath. I asked her why she uses it and she replied, "It makes my hair soft." She added, "If I put it on my body, it would make my fur really soft."
This morning Tess stood up on our bed after taking a short nap in our bed. She fell down on the bed, stood back up, and explained, "I fell 'cause my legs are still sleepy."
I was showing Tess how to use Google Earth today. We were having fun "flying" from our house to the Eiffel Tower, when she asked if we could go to the North Pole next. I thought that sounded fun until "mid-flight" Tess said: "I can't wait to see Santa and his workshop and all his elves!" I kind of panicked until I thought to click on a remote corner of Siberia. "Oh no, Tess! It looks like Santa's workshop is too covered in snow to see it from an airplane!"
