Saturday, January 23, 2010

Sweet Melliflous Voices


One of my favorite sounds is overhearing Xander and Elodie playing when they don't realize I'm listening. This is a frequent occurence and I just love it. One conversation sounded like it was getting a bit heated, but when I came in to see what was wrong, they already had it worked out. Elodie informed me, "I'm not going to say 'beautiful.'" I reassured her that there was nothing wrong with that word, but she told me, "I'm going to say, 'cool.' That's a cool truck." Apparently Xander took issue with her when she described the passing truck as a "beautiful truck." This led to their heated debate about what words can be used to describe boy stuff. I guess it sunk in--I noticed that today, when Elodie got Xander to play "The Bag Game" as she dubbed it, although she called her pink flower bag "beautiful," she was careful to call Xander's bucket "handsome, handsome, handsome" as she handed it to him.
As Uncle Milan (AKA Brat Child) will attest, it's pretty fun to hear Elodie play the mom, too. She really seemed to relish the chance to discipline her doll Erika the other day. "Erika, I have to put hot pepper on your tongue!" Then Elodie turned to me, nodding her head, "she said S-T-U-..." Hmm, guess what had happened just that morning when Elodie shouted at Xander, "You're stupid and I don't like you!" Yowza, that girl knows how to use her words! Now we're working on word choice and tone of voice! She toned it down a bit later that day when she was mad at Xander again, "You are mean and selfish!" On the bright side, at least she didn't say S-T-U again. And at least she had said "don't like" rather than "hate." And at least she's getting plenty of chances to learn the words to great songs like the Builder song "to speak with kindness in my home," and "Jesus said love everyone, treat them kindly, too," and "I'm trying to be like Jesus, I'm following in His ways."
Speaking of Elodie singing, she just loves to sing her own made up songs. They go on and on, occasionally incorporating phrases from "real" songs, but mostly, they're just her ramblings. Tonight, she whipped out a new one at family prayer. She was saying the prayer, and in the middle, she just started to sing it like one of her Elodie originals. "I'm so, so, so graaaatefullll that I have a mooom and a daaaad!" Oh, my little Elodie! What's not to love?

Friday, January 15, 2010

Qu Eenglix Laangwij

Ever sins Zander storted skwixeeng leterz tuugeqer intuu werds a fyuu munqs ugoo, II'v bin qeenkeeng qat Eenglix speleeng needz a cumpleet ooverhol. Az Zander haz triid tuu riit werdz funetiklee, I'v nootist qat hee'z on tuu sumqeeng.

Ferst uv ol, wee ol noo qat qu speleeng ov vauwul saundz iz unprudiktubel. I hav u suluuxun! Wen qaar iz just wun vauwul, it maaks qu xoort vauwul saund qat wee ol noo and luv. Dubel vauwels wil nau maak qu long vauwul saund.

Sins "c" iz tootulee reedundunt with its sumtiimz [s] sumtiimz [k] nonsens, "c" wil nau maak qu saund foormerlee maad bii "ch." Cildren evereewaar wil fiind it for simpler. "G" wil noo longer maak the saund olredee taaken kaar uv bii "j." Similerlee, "s" wil not be ulaud to saa [z]. And "q" iz raqer yuusless sins it kan kwiklee bee reeplaast. "Q" will nau maak qu saund preeveeuslee maad bii "th." "X" kan eezilee bee kuverd bii "ks," "gz," and "z," soo "x" wil reeplaas "sh." Wee wil need to canj qu alfubet song, tuu. Konsununts wil bee called bii qaar saund folood bii [ee]. Foor egzampul, wen yuu see "q," yuu xud kol it "thee" (riten in oold Eenglix). Qees caanjus maa taak sum geteeng yuust tuu, but kidz and fooreners uliik xud upreexeeaat it in qu long run!

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

To the rescue!

A young damsel in distress fluttered downstairs, frantically announcing the presence of a spider in the bathroom. Super Xander courageously followed her upstairs, promising to take care of it straightaway. After squishing it with a square of TP, Super Xander boasted dramatically, "I am glad that I saved the world!"

Monday, January 4, 2010

Little Dexter's Birthday

We celebrated Dexter's birthday tonight. There were certainly a few tears, especially while we watched the movie I made of Dexter's little life, but mostly I just enjoyed remembering. What a precious gift he is. I am so glad that he got to come to our family and that I had the privilege of providing him with the physical body that he needed for his eternal progression. How deeply and inexpressibly grateful we are for our knowledge of God's eternal plan. And how determined we feel to keep our covenants that we might be worthy of the great promises! Families can be together forever!