Say What?

One of my favorite parts of raising these two little people, is watching them grow and learn. Both girls have made me smile with peculiar turns of phrase, altered words, and misheard lyrics.

Miss B, like many kids, seemed to get sick all the time. Luckily when she had tubes put in her ear, this seemed to clear up. But when she was little, it would always tickle me to hear her ask if she had another ear "confection." Who knew that a lack of sleep and intense ear pain could be so sweet?

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Lately Sister Goldenhair has been digging the Backyardigans CD in the car. And so she has been singing songs around the house more too. Her current favorite: Row, Row, Row Your Boat.

Row, row, row ya boat
Walkin' down the street
Mary, Mary, Mary, Mary
Walkin' down the street.

I have asked her what that boat is doing in the street, but she just thinks I'm joking. And I also asked who Mary was. SG says, "Mary? Mary Walkindownthestreet." Poor Mary, I bet she runs out ink signing her Christmas cards!

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When Miss B was 6, we were leafing through an American Girl catalog. They were announcing a contest to find the Real Girl of the Year.

Miss B got very excited. "If only I hadn't gotten my hair cut! If I let it grow I bet I could win! I could be the real girl!"

Huh? I looked at the page wondering what in the world she was talking about. Then I saw it.

"Um Honey, that word is hero. Not hair." Unfortunately the contest was for girls older than Miss B who were heroes of a sort... not girls with spectacular hair. She was crushed.

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Let me encourage you parents out there to write down all those funny and adorable things your kids do. You always think you'll remember... but you won't. You'll be able to recall some of them, but a lot of them will end up forgotten. Worse, they will be things that you know you have forgotten. There was that funny word she had for, um, something. She used to sing this adorable song... gosh, what was it? You don't want to forget the sweet way she used to replace her L's with Y's (I don't yike it! Poppy, will you take me to see the yights?). And what about how she used to call High School Musical: Hi-no-mee-go-ho?

Some will stay with you, others will be lost (hopefully to at least be regained when grandchildren repeat those same traits). But who wants to take the chance? You take pictures of your progeny, take the time to record those fleeting elements that can't be photographed (and often won't be performed for video). Revel in the mundane moments that make life with a little one so magical. You just might need those memories to make the teen years more tolerable!