weinraub’s words

Since I quick smoking, I have practically no use for lighters any more.

So, today as evening settles in and the mosquitoes begin to congregate, I start to set up some mosquito coils. But I’m stopped dead because I can’t find a single lighter in the whole house. I ask Annie if we have any, but she comes up empty.

So, Benjamin (2y9m) runs inside, opens a desk drawer, and brings me back what is likely to be the only lighter in the whole house.

Amazing!

Of course, it’s a pretty weak display of parenting that my pre-school son knew exactly where to get a lighter and was able to access it himself.

But still, way to go!

Thanks to countless hours of private tutoring by Dora the Explorer, Becca can now count to ten in Spanish. She also knows “gracias”, “de nada”, “estrella”, and a few others.

On a similar topic, Benjamin (2y9m) astounded me yesterday by counting to ten in English.

Way to go, children!

This is the first of what I will label “Guess-You-Had-To-Be-There” (GYHTBT) posts. These are just cute little episodes or observations, usually about the kids, that will almost certainly mean nothing to anyone else, but that I want to remember and preserve. Hopefully my record here will be enough for me to look back and fondly recall it.

So, feel free to bail out here. No hard feeling, I promise. Move along. Nothing to see here. Head on back to your homes, citizens.

First up: When Benjamin (2y8m) is agreeing with something, he says “Uh huh”, just like anyone. But he does it with the cutest melodic flavor, almost a southern lilt. GYHTBT.

Second: Although Benjamin does not yet have a Twitter account, he does have his own preschooler usage of #FTW. Whenever he does something of which he is proud or wins a game, he uses the Thai term ชนะ (”to win”) which is pronounced as cha^H na^H. In keeping with a tradition established by Becca, Benjamin restricts many words to the final syllable only. So, when he wins at something, he will triumphantly announce “Na^H!”. Very cute, but GYHTBT.

Becca still seems to trip over usage of the words “many” and “much”.

Of course, we can see that the issue is enumerability and countability.

So we could say “I ate so much pizza that I gained 10 pounds” or “I ate so many slices of pizza that I gained 10 pounds”. The difference is that I can enumerate and count the slices. [Well, at least in theory. I don't think it's possible to really count the number of slices I ate on my last trip home, hence, the 10 pounds. Groan...]

So, as I dole out crackers to the kids, Becca will say something like “Daddy, Daddy, I want much, please.” Comprehensible, of course, but not quite right.

Still, I have no complaints at all about the one I heard last night as she was falling asleep beside me:

“I love you so many, Daddy.”

Sweet dreams, indeed.

How can that boy be so dense and so smart all at the same time?

Benjamin (2y7m) comes to me and asks me to get him something on the table that he can’t reach. I look to see that he is asking me for toilet paper. After handing over a few sheets, my curiosity piqued, I follow him into the other room to see what’s up.

Turns out he has taken a dump right in the middle of the floor. We’ve discussed it a million times. We ask him “Where are you supposed to make poopie?” and every time he correctly responds “Bathroom”, even pointing his finger there for good measure. Just being lazy about it, I imagine.

Tissue in hand, he uses it to cleanly pick up his creation and dumps it in the toilet. He then brings me the bottled soap we use for washing his bottom, removes the water sprayer from its wall holder next to the toilet and lays it on floor, pulls up his shirt, and squats in the shower area, exactly as expected, waiting for me to get on with the business of cleaning.

What a great kid!

Benjamin recently rebuffed Annie’s attempt to wake him by replying “Leep. Lone.”

Translation: “Sleeping. Leave me alone.”

Just love that kid.