Have you seen your blog in Arabic?

Someone in Qatar translated mine. I guess it really is the world wide web. :-)

Word

Hey, I beclown myself at least once a day. I just didn't know it had a name.

Is my daughter a spy?

She has been persistent in repeating this message to me today, whispering it in my ear:

"The secret to 'uh-veye' [as in eye] is FRIENDS."

I've asked for clarification but there seems to be no more information. She repeats the statement. Where does it comes from? What I am supposed to do with this semi-urgent message?

UPDATE: She's finally confessed it is something from "Sunshine Bear."

Time travel

I need help. If Hope asks me one more time, "After today is it gonna be tomorrow?" and then, "Is it tomorrow now?" I might start pulling hair out, too. We've looked at calendars and crossed of the days but nothing sticks. If you have ideas, send them my way.

What was I thinking / H is for Helper / TH is for ?

Choir practice last night. If I do say so myself, we sound kind of awesome after only three reheasals. But last night when I walked into rehearsal I wondered were we really going to be able to sing well the first concert on Sunday? Then I looked more closely at the schedule. A-ha. I missed a couple of things. Before each concert it appears there are two extra 2.5 hour practices. I totally missed that. So I had to cross off my list not one but two ladies' nights out this week. Next time...

And then Hope. She's only four and we admire her work ethic. Give that girl some corn to shuck, windows to wipe, carpet to vacuum, dogs to feed, YMCA towels to fold and watch her go to town! She was my tag-along this afternoon and in each and every errand she made herself useful:

1. Dress-fitting (choir dress). The sewing lady seemed to be impressed with wee Hope's quiet help. She stood beside the woman while she stuck pins in my dress, stepped a little closer, and before I knew it, Hope was putting the pins in the hem and marking it with chalk, then pulling out the pins and putting them back on the pin cushion. Just doing what the lady told her to do.

2. Hair cuts. Things were slow at Fantastic Sam's so when Hope asked if she could sweep up the hair after her hair cut and mine the owner said, "By all means!" She swept it into the dust pan and carried it all to the garbage. All by her little self.

3. Grocery shopping. We try not to shop at Byerly's because it's so freakin expensive. But it is soooo luxurious I can't help it sometimes. Plus they bag your groceries and I'm from Iowa where bagging your own groceries is unheard of. (That's one of the bigger adjustments an Iowan has to make when she moves to Minnesota, by the way.) So we shopped for a few items (kettle corn) and then Hope asked the clerk if she could help unload the car cart. And she did. About 15 items including two 12 packs of La Croix that she lifted herself.

She was a hard worker today. Hope, we salute you and your work ethic.

And then there's Hank. He's turning into a great reader and a good student who gets his homework done right away. Every afternoon when he gets off the bus, the first thing he does is open up his library book or magazine and sits on the couch to read.

But we have some learning to do:

MOM. Danny said the TH word to the teacher today!

(The TH word?)

He told her to SHUT UP!

2004 Highlights

The ultimate highlight of 2004 was Mrs. Bickerson's brush with brain damage. Hands down! Not only was she able to avoid five solid days of wiping dirty bottoms and doing dishes, she enjoyed three nights of peaceful morphine sleep at North Memorial and an easy, 10-pound weight loss. The two-week prescription of pain medicine allowed her to forgive Mr. Bickerson more quickly for accusing her of having a nervous breakdown instead of viral encephalitis.

Christmas exclamations by Spidey: "I'm RICH!! I'm RICH for Power Rangers!!"

The living room makeover. "A dull living room is transformed." Yeah. Our house is a celebrity. Email me if you would like an 8x10 glossy.

Pot and kettle

Tikka just said, "Goggy, YOU need to CALM DOWN!"

Riiight.

Kid talk

Miscellaneous things said in 2004:

Spidey: If Tikka doesn't give me back my Batman I'm gonna boost her and then I'm gonna put some stink on her!
Tikka: Boops (for oops).
Tikka: 'Cuse me shoe, I dizzy.
Spidey: Yesternight.
Tikka: I want to do it mysels.
Tikka: I need to ask Spidey a question. Spidey, you help me go potty?
Tikka was pretending to talk on the phone:

Julia? I not ready talk on the phone. Spidey? All day long, Spidey. Well, I don't know (giggle). Well, Spidey, I don't know, Spidey. I have my hair back so you can get it. Well goodbye Spidey. See ya next time. Spidey? Mama? Spidey, yeah. I dunno Spidey. Now you have you jacket. William? Well, I don't know. Spidey have a sword. BE QUIET BECAUSE I'M ON THE PHONE!!!

We're dogsitting

Having been up close and personal with my brother's large and rowdy labs, Spidey has developed an intense fear of dogs. However the dog we are watching doesn't qualify as an official dog. He's more of a nervous dustmop. But Spidey is warming up to him, especially since Tikka is exhibiting no fear at all of our canine visitor. It would be embarrassing for a superhero to be so afraid of a fuzzball.

But I've heard this twice this morning:

"Mom, can't we put him in his kennel now because I'm getting really dizzy thinking about dogs so much!"

Euphemism

Gdogg taught Tikka to ask, "Hey, who stepped on a duck?" Nice going, G.

Nee nees

That's Tikka's name for nursing. Before I became Mom to Spidey, I had certain notions about when a child should no longer be needing that. I joked with Gdogg that if a child can say it and ask for it, you need to be wrapping things up.

Well, Tikka is over two and Spidey taught her how to do The Name Game. So there she was in her crib yesterday morning singing:

Nee nees, nee nees, bo bee nees
Banana fana fo fee nees
Fee fi mo mee nees --
Nee nees!

I'm thinking it's quitting time.

The basics

Tikka is working on the power of persuasive speech. This morning she greeted me at 5:45 a.m. with, "You gonna make pancakes for bekfast, okay? Okay? Okay? Okay? (Nodding her head the whole time.) Yesterday she wanted to know if her favorite friend was going to be at the gym. "Kelly will be there? Yeah? Yeah? Yeah? Yeah?" Nodding, nodding, nodding. If I don't give her the answer that she wants to hear there is a 90% chance that there will be gnashing of teeth, wailing, drooling, flinging self to floor, etc.

Spidey helped me fold laundry today. He made several neat piles of dishtowels, rags, and underwear and put them all away. Most of the time he's wearing a superhero costume and so I like to pay Batman or Spiderman (occasionally Superman) a quarter for doing such mundane work around the house. I'm sure he has more important things to do. :-)