Emry-isms and Ethan-isms

Sometimes I have to remember to stop and write a blog post about the most recent things my growing kids are doing. I’m not sure my readers are always interested, but my blog allows the perfect spot to record these things so I can go back years from now, laugh and remember the little things that are so quickly forgotten.

These days, Ethan is learning to talk. He seems a little ahead of most kids his age, but I think that’s because Emry is constantly talking to him and so he has learned to respond. Naturally, a lot of the “stories” he tells have little meaning to anyone outside of himself (and Emry who seems to understand most of what he says). But quite often I pick up on what he’s trying to convey.

His slippers are his “beepers”. He is quite proud of them for two reasons: 1) Emry also has “beepers” and 2) he loves shoes.

Pumpkins are “boppies”. I’m not sure how that came about. He can very proudly count to 3. He’s pretty good with the ABC song (which is Emry’s favorite so he hears it a lot). He can start, “A, B, C, D, E….M, N, O, P…X, Y, Z.” Skipping letters, I know, is what all kids do. I just find it a bit ironic that he knows “M, N, O, P” which most kids mumble together because the song picks up speed on those letters. He likes to “make” which means “cooking” something in the play kitchen. And when reading one of his favorite books about the Little Blue Truck he assumes the city in book is “Pizbur”. His favorite thing to do since moving in with my parents is moving the magnets from one refrigerator to the other.

Emry is doing very good with her phonics lessons and learning to read. Somedays I wonder, but just last week she got out her reading book and was teaching her doll to read. She wasn’t pretending, either. She went through the sounds of each letter and put them together in words. (I hope her doll was a good student.) This week she put her jacket on by herself and her tennis shoes. She can swing by herself as well. With all this maturing, though, comes being a big particular about the outfits she is wearing. We’ve had a breakdown two days in a row now trying to get dressed. One day she wanted to wear something in the wash and the next she wanted to put on an outfit that wasn’t mean to go together, although we made it work. I was simply too tired to argue about it.

But even with all this growing up, sometimes she is awfully funny.

A few weeks ago, she was sitting in my lap as I looked through pictures of a house the real estate agent in Indiana sent over as a possibility. It was an older house and had not been updated since the 70s, when the present owners must have bought it and never, ever updated anything – from wood paneling to green sinks to floral couches and toilet covers. I commented, “There’s carpet in the bathroom! Who puts carpet in the bathroom?”

“And look, Mama,” Emry said, “the potty is carpeted, too!”

Or the other day when I was putting her down for a nap in Aunt Grace’s room where she is staying. Grace’s favorite animal is the zebra and she has a whole shelf of stuffed zebras. Emry asked if she could have one to nap with.

“Which one do you want, Emry?” I asked.

Her answer? “The one with the stripes.”