Today is the day of my surgery! And I think a blog post is just the thing to distract myself from my growling stomach and throbbing head due to not being able to eat from midnight last night until my surgery at 3:00 plus the post-op time (about 3 hours left to surgery and I'M STARVING!) I don't do well without food. But it'll be worth it when my knee is better.
Over the last 4 weeks, I've spent a lot of time reminding my 4 year old and now 2 year old to be careful of my hurt/ouchie knee. The Pumpkin has been doing pretty well, remembering to walk around my leg when I have to stick it out from a chair, being patient when it takes me time to hobble over to get her something, and listening/following directions when I ask her to stop swinging her legs because they bang my chair and hurt my bad knee. There was only one time that she threw a package of socks to me which hit me EXACTLY in the worst spot of my knee, and when she realized what she'd done, she said sorry immediagely. (I never realized a soft package of socks could hurt so bad!)
The Pookie has less understanding and memory for these things, but he has also really be good about it and gets better and better with regular reminding. I regularly tell him when he gets near my left leg, "Mommy's hurt knee. Ouchie. No touch." Now he pats my left thigh or shin, looks up at me and says, "Ur knee? ur knee?" for hurt knee. And I respond, "That's right. Hurt knee. No touch." Then he pats my right leg somewhere and says, "Goo knee?" And I respond, "Yes, that's Mommy's good knee." When I put him to bed, he has gotten used to not rocking and he's been more and more careful about where he puts his feet and legs when he's sitting on my lap.
I'm constantly amazed at what kids can adjust to in a short amount of time.
Yesterday, I explained to the kids (well, mostly the Pumpkin) again that I'm going to have surgery and what it is. I told them that something is torn inside Mommy's knee (showing my daughter what a tear is using a piece of paper) and that the doctor needs to go inside my knee and fix it up. The Pumpkin seemed to understand that pretty well, especially since I know it takes a few times of explaining for kids to get things, so I have explained it a few times. Most of it is still over the Pookie's head, but hey, he can tell me that the car is blue!
Yesterday I mentioned to the Pumpkin that I would have to spend a few days after the surgery "recovering." I don't think I had gotten into this with her before, and she asked what "recovering" meant. I explained that recovering was spending time in bed, not moving much and not doing much of anything except things like watching shows on TV or reading and maybe some snuggling so that the knee would get all better after the surgery. I told her that I wouldn't be able to get up and play or do much of anything. But that once I was recovered and I did some exercises, my knee would be all better and that I would be able to do everything I did before!
She seemed to take all this in fine. In fact, she told me that when I was recovering, she was going to go into her room and get some books from her bookshelf for me to read. How sweet is that?!?!
Thankfully, my mother-in-law and father-in-law are staying with us to help Londo with the kids so he can take me to the surgery and take care of me while I recovery. Recovery for this surgery should be only a day or two, but as Londo pointed out to me a couple weeks ago, I generally take almost twice as long to recover from things as the doctors say. So I'm planning on 2-4 days, but I know that I will keep getting better and better until I'm back to normal and can run around with my kids again!
Friday, June 17, 2011
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Happy 2nd Birthday to the Pookie!
Today, my baby boy turned 2! TWO! I can't even believe it!
He's not a baby anymore. He's even starting to move beyond being a toddler. And he is completely amazing.
He loves cars (go-goes) and trains and his sister. He playing pretend, racing and, well, whatever his sister comes up with. He gets so excited when Daddy or Mommy come into the room that it warms our hearts. He's great at so many things and learning so quickly. Just today, he was able to tell me the color of the car he was holding was "boo" (although he also said the red one was blue, so colors are a work in progress).
He's able to do so much physically, running and jumping and climbing up and down everything. He is putting together whole sentences! His pronounciation is getting more clear, and he generally is able to get across what he means. And he tells us "ah woh oo" all the time, even when we don't say I love you first!
It seems like just yesterday he was a babe in my arms. And now, he's a little boy.
Happy Birthday, Pookie! Thanks for being such a wonderful part of our family of four.
An aside: My babies are growing up so quickly! In fact, I don't have babies anymore! Two years since my youngest was born? Do you know what this is doing to my ovaries?!? My mom heard a term that describes it perfectly: womb wistfulness. I never thought I would actually miss the newborn/infant/baby stage, but there you have it.
He's not a baby anymore. He's even starting to move beyond being a toddler. And he is completely amazing.
He loves cars (go-goes) and trains and his sister. He playing pretend, racing and, well, whatever his sister comes up with. He gets so excited when Daddy or Mommy come into the room that it warms our hearts. He's great at so many things and learning so quickly. Just today, he was able to tell me the color of the car he was holding was "boo" (although he also said the red one was blue, so colors are a work in progress).
He's able to do so much physically, running and jumping and climbing up and down everything. He is putting together whole sentences! His pronounciation is getting more clear, and he generally is able to get across what he means. And he tells us "ah woh oo" all the time, even when we don't say I love you first!
It seems like just yesterday he was a babe in my arms. And now, he's a little boy.
Happy Birthday, Pookie! Thanks for being such a wonderful part of our family of four.
An aside: My babies are growing up so quickly! In fact, I don't have babies anymore! Two years since my youngest was born? Do you know what this is doing to my ovaries?!? My mom heard a term that describes it perfectly: womb wistfulness. I never thought I would actually miss the newborn/infant/baby stage, but there you have it.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Two Working Knees Are Overrated
Sooooo... I tore the meniscus in my knee. It's my left knee, and it's a pretty bad tear. I've been hobbling around with a cane and a knee brace on, trying to stay off my leg as much as possible. It ranges from sore to painful, it's especially hard to "watch" (all parents know that translates into "chase after") the kids, and I feel old--especially with my "old woman cane."
I'm having surgery on Friday, then I will be laid up in bed for a couple days, on crutches for a week or two and going through physical therapy for about 4 weeks. As frustrating as all that sounds, it's going to be WAY better than how it feels now and how limited I am now.
And doesn't it sound serious? Surely, you are thinking that I had some major accident, like a sports incident like Keri Strug. Or that I was fighting off criminals using some choice Krav Maga moves. Or simply that I was doing my own stunts, when I know there are people who are paid to do them!
Nope. In fact, I didn't even realize what I had done at first.
In the beginning of May, my knee started feeling like it was popping in and out of alignment when I'd try to stand up without first straitening my leg. So imagine you are sitting criss-cross-applesauce on the floor with your kids. Then you go to stand up. Your legs kind of unfold as you are standing, right? Not so much with mine. My left leg wouldn't unfold completely, and I couldn't put any weight on it at all. I had to sit back down, straighten in out, and then stand up keeping my left leg aligned straight.
Yeah, I know that doesn't sound right. But this is the knee I've had problems with since I as a young teenager. The cartiledge around my kneecap started wearing away back then, and I just assumed it was related to that issue. Once I had straightened my leg, it was as if there was never a problem. So no, I didn't go to the doctor then or really think much about it.
A couple weeks later, we went down to my inlaws. They live out in the mountains, with lots of beautiful woods, and it's very much the country. There is a long involved story (which ends with the fact that I am not to go walking around on my own down there), but the pertinent part is that I decided to hike up the steep hill from the bottom where I was to the top where my inlaws house is.
It was a lovely, though very hot, Saturday afternoon. It was so hot, that I realized I needed to walk in the shade. I turned as I was taking a step on the uneven ground to head to the shade over the path. My foot kind of slid or something, I'm not even sure. All I know is that my knee popped out while I was taking a step, and I couldn't take another step.
I don't think I've adequately gotten across what happened. YEOWZA!!! My knee just popped out of alignment! The STABBING PAIN!!! The inability to stand on my leg! I had to sit down, at the edge of the shade, still at the bottom of the hill, in a lot of pain, with NO ONE AROUND!
Fortunately, I was able to kind of massage it a bit and get it aligned right. Once aligned, I stood up no problem and hiked the whole way up the hill without any issues. Weird, yes. But then it was fine.
Until the next morning, when I tried to get up from the floor. It popped out, and did not go back in. I could not realign it again. I could not massage it away. I could not walk on it, and it was painful constantly. There was no more shrugging this knee issue away. Thankfully, my inlaws had a cane that they were able to lend me, which has been invaluable ever since.
Two doctor's appointments, one x-ray and one MRI later, we knew for sure it was a torn meniscus. An appointment with the orthopedic surgeon, another doctor's appointment, a blood draw and lots of paperwork later, I'm set to go for surgery on Friday. After lots of googling, talking with others who had torn meniscuses (menisci?), and conferring with the doctors, and I'm pretty sure I've figured out what happened.
In the early days of May, I was getting the kids set in the car to go to school. I was stretched across the Pumpkin's carseat in order to hand something to the Pookie in his carseat. I was stretched and turned and precarious, and then... the car door shut on my leg.
HOLY SMOKES! It hurt a lot!!! It was a big, heavy door, and my driveway is an uphill one, so there was lots of gravity added to the weight of the door. I had big bruises on both sides of my leg: shin and calf. In fact, I still have the bruise on my shin over 6 weeks later. I thought that was all it was, though, just bad bruises. I did not connect this incident with the issue about my knee popping in and out when I stood up until much later when I realized that the knee issue started about the same time as that.
The popping in and out was because part of the torn meniscus was getting into the knee joint, causing the "popping" feeling and preventing the knee from aligning correctly unless I realigned it first.
When I was hiking and did that funny thing to my knee, it actually made the tear in the meniscus worse and caused swelling and inflamation. I got it aligned and okay before the swelling and inflamation got too bad, so I was fine the rest of that day. But the next morning, when I didn't align my leg before getting up, the torn meniscus slipped into the knee joint and all that swelling and inflamation kept it from being fixed easily.
I've done my best to stay off my leg as much as possible since, but that is hard to do with two young children. Londo has taken on so much, and my family has really been amazing help. In addition, the Pumpkin has been pretty great help too. We call her "Helpie Girl" and she just lights up when she gets to help!
But I've had to cut back on all my plans for weekends, the family beach vacation, household projects, and the birthday party plans for the Pookie (whose birthday is tomorrow!). Luckily, I've been able to work from home. But I'm sick of sitting around the house and staring at all the things that I have to do but can't.
Not much longer until the surgery and hopefully a relatively quick recovery. Then I can jump back into enjoying summer with two working knees and two kiddos full of energy!
I'm having surgery on Friday, then I will be laid up in bed for a couple days, on crutches for a week or two and going through physical therapy for about 4 weeks. As frustrating as all that sounds, it's going to be WAY better than how it feels now and how limited I am now.
And doesn't it sound serious? Surely, you are thinking that I had some major accident, like a sports incident like Keri Strug. Or that I was fighting off criminals using some choice Krav Maga moves. Or simply that I was doing my own stunts, when I know there are people who are paid to do them!
Nope. In fact, I didn't even realize what I had done at first.
In the beginning of May, my knee started feeling like it was popping in and out of alignment when I'd try to stand up without first straitening my leg. So imagine you are sitting criss-cross-applesauce on the floor with your kids. Then you go to stand up. Your legs kind of unfold as you are standing, right? Not so much with mine. My left leg wouldn't unfold completely, and I couldn't put any weight on it at all. I had to sit back down, straighten in out, and then stand up keeping my left leg aligned straight.
Yeah, I know that doesn't sound right. But this is the knee I've had problems with since I as a young teenager. The cartiledge around my kneecap started wearing away back then, and I just assumed it was related to that issue. Once I had straightened my leg, it was as if there was never a problem. So no, I didn't go to the doctor then or really think much about it.
A couple weeks later, we went down to my inlaws. They live out in the mountains, with lots of beautiful woods, and it's very much the country. There is a long involved story (which ends with the fact that I am not to go walking around on my own down there), but the pertinent part is that I decided to hike up the steep hill from the bottom where I was to the top where my inlaws house is.
It was a lovely, though very hot, Saturday afternoon. It was so hot, that I realized I needed to walk in the shade. I turned as I was taking a step on the uneven ground to head to the shade over the path. My foot kind of slid or something, I'm not even sure. All I know is that my knee popped out while I was taking a step, and I couldn't take another step.
I don't think I've adequately gotten across what happened. YEOWZA!!! My knee just popped out of alignment! The STABBING PAIN!!! The inability to stand on my leg! I had to sit down, at the edge of the shade, still at the bottom of the hill, in a lot of pain, with NO ONE AROUND!
Fortunately, I was able to kind of massage it a bit and get it aligned right. Once aligned, I stood up no problem and hiked the whole way up the hill without any issues. Weird, yes. But then it was fine.
Until the next morning, when I tried to get up from the floor. It popped out, and did not go back in. I could not realign it again. I could not massage it away. I could not walk on it, and it was painful constantly. There was no more shrugging this knee issue away. Thankfully, my inlaws had a cane that they were able to lend me, which has been invaluable ever since.
Two doctor's appointments, one x-ray and one MRI later, we knew for sure it was a torn meniscus. An appointment with the orthopedic surgeon, another doctor's appointment, a blood draw and lots of paperwork later, I'm set to go for surgery on Friday. After lots of googling, talking with others who had torn meniscuses (menisci?), and conferring with the doctors, and I'm pretty sure I've figured out what happened.
In the early days of May, I was getting the kids set in the car to go to school. I was stretched across the Pumpkin's carseat in order to hand something to the Pookie in his carseat. I was stretched and turned and precarious, and then... the car door shut on my leg.
HOLY SMOKES! It hurt a lot!!! It was a big, heavy door, and my driveway is an uphill one, so there was lots of gravity added to the weight of the door. I had big bruises on both sides of my leg: shin and calf. In fact, I still have the bruise on my shin over 6 weeks later. I thought that was all it was, though, just bad bruises. I did not connect this incident with the issue about my knee popping in and out when I stood up until much later when I realized that the knee issue started about the same time as that.
The popping in and out was because part of the torn meniscus was getting into the knee joint, causing the "popping" feeling and preventing the knee from aligning correctly unless I realigned it first.
When I was hiking and did that funny thing to my knee, it actually made the tear in the meniscus worse and caused swelling and inflamation. I got it aligned and okay before the swelling and inflamation got too bad, so I was fine the rest of that day. But the next morning, when I didn't align my leg before getting up, the torn meniscus slipped into the knee joint and all that swelling and inflamation kept it from being fixed easily.
I've done my best to stay off my leg as much as possible since, but that is hard to do with two young children. Londo has taken on so much, and my family has really been amazing help. In addition, the Pumpkin has been pretty great help too. We call her "Helpie Girl" and she just lights up when she gets to help!
But I've had to cut back on all my plans for weekends, the family beach vacation, household projects, and the birthday party plans for the Pookie (whose birthday is tomorrow!). Luckily, I've been able to work from home. But I'm sick of sitting around the house and staring at all the things that I have to do but can't.
Not much longer until the surgery and hopefully a relatively quick recovery. Then I can jump back into enjoying summer with two working knees and two kiddos full of energy!
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Four Year Old World of Extremes
I don't know if it's a phase or the age or her personality or something she is picking up from those around her (like her parents), but lately the Pumpkin has living in extremes. It's not just the "ever"s or "never"s she is constantly saying, but it is also often about who is the "best" or "most" or "better" or "faster" or... well, you get the point.
I mostly just let it go. I know she doesn't mean it when I give her a hug or kiss I didn't know she didn't want and she says she is never going to hug or kiss me ever again. Or when we insist she cleans up her toys or brushes her teeth and she says she is never going to do it again. Or even when her brother does something she didn't want him to do and she says she's never going to play with him again.
It's the heat of the moment. It's her feeling her emotions to the fullest. It's her lashing out. At least it's not her hitting or pushing. She is using her words... but words can hurt and I know we will need to address it when she can understand a little better how those words hurt and when she has the control to not just lash out. In other words, when she's a little older... like 30... or maybe 40. I'll let you know when I've figured it out myself. Heh.
I do get a wee bit frustrated when she is so competitive about things. She has to "win" at everything, from finishing her food before her brother to going up the stairs to building a tower with blocks, she wants to beat him. While I think this is probably a normal phase for her age, I want her to know NOW that it's okay not to win, and that not everything needs to be a competition.
Just this morning, she finished her toast first and said she won. I said (as I have many times before) that it's not a race. You eat what you are hungry for until you are full. You don't need to eat it fast, and that it's better to take your time so you digest better. I have a feeling that I will have to continue making these statements for a while.
A little healthy competition is good. My husband has good results getting the kids to do some things by making it a race or seeing who can do it fastest. But when it's about everything and it's all about winning, I worry about it. I want her to have fun playing and doing things. I want her to encourage her brother and others with supportive comments. I want her to want to win in competions, but not be crushed if she loses. Most importantly, I want her to learn to be a good sport no matter if she wins or loses.
It doesn't have to be the tallest tower. She doesn't have to be the fastest up the stairs, especially when we are trying to be calm on our way to bed. She doesn't have to finish her food first. She doesn't have to say she'll never hug me again. It doesn't have to be all about the extremes.
We've been watching the Cars movie (SPOILER WARNING: I'm going to talk about the end of the movie and who won the final race!!!), and yesterday when it was near the end and they were doing the final race, she said that Lightning McQueen and the King won. And Londo and I explained to her that they didn't win. Chick won. Lightning went back to help his friend, The King. We explained that it was more important to him to help his friend than it was to win the race. That was the lesson that Lightning learned. This was just after we had talked about the things he learned from his friends that he used in the race.
She was quiet for a minute, watching the movie. Then she said, "Lightning learned two things from his friends. He learned to go backwards from Tow Mater. And he learned to turn from Doc." Londo said, "Yes, he learned those two things about driving for the race. But he also learned a third thing." I said, "He also learned that it's more important to help his friend than to win the race." Even though we had just said this, it felt important to repeat it.
These are the lessons we will work on. Right now, she is living in extremes. I've always said that the Pumpkin feels her emotions to the fullest. If she is happy, she is giddy with happiness. If she is sad, she is devestated. If she is angry, she is furious. She is my girl with the curl right in the middle of her forhead. I feel emotions like that at times as well. I understand getting overwhelmed and needing to express what I'm feeling. But I also understand how it can feel to be on the receiving end of those emotions, and how important it can be to temper them or find an appropriate outlet.
So we will keep talking about it. We will keep expressing the importance of being a good sport. We will work on teaching how words can hurt and how to express ourselves in ways that are not hurtful to others. And I think we'll be watching the Cars movie a few more times and discussing the lessons we can learn from that.
And maybe the world of extremes will continue. There are worse things that can happen. Hopefully she learns ways to express those extremes that aren't quite so, well, extreme. Time will tell.
I mostly just let it go. I know she doesn't mean it when I give her a hug or kiss I didn't know she didn't want and she says she is never going to hug or kiss me ever again. Or when we insist she cleans up her toys or brushes her teeth and she says she is never going to do it again. Or even when her brother does something she didn't want him to do and she says she's never going to play with him again.
It's the heat of the moment. It's her feeling her emotions to the fullest. It's her lashing out. At least it's not her hitting or pushing. She is using her words... but words can hurt and I know we will need to address it when she can understand a little better how those words hurt and when she has the control to not just lash out. In other words, when she's a little older... like 30... or maybe 40. I'll let you know when I've figured it out myself. Heh.
I do get a wee bit frustrated when she is so competitive about things. She has to "win" at everything, from finishing her food before her brother to going up the stairs to building a tower with blocks, she wants to beat him. While I think this is probably a normal phase for her age, I want her to know NOW that it's okay not to win, and that not everything needs to be a competition.
Just this morning, she finished her toast first and said she won. I said (as I have many times before) that it's not a race. You eat what you are hungry for until you are full. You don't need to eat it fast, and that it's better to take your time so you digest better. I have a feeling that I will have to continue making these statements for a while.
A little healthy competition is good. My husband has good results getting the kids to do some things by making it a race or seeing who can do it fastest. But when it's about everything and it's all about winning, I worry about it. I want her to have fun playing and doing things. I want her to encourage her brother and others with supportive comments. I want her to want to win in competions, but not be crushed if she loses. Most importantly, I want her to learn to be a good sport no matter if she wins or loses.
It doesn't have to be the tallest tower. She doesn't have to be the fastest up the stairs, especially when we are trying to be calm on our way to bed. She doesn't have to finish her food first. She doesn't have to say she'll never hug me again. It doesn't have to be all about the extremes.
We've been watching the Cars movie (SPOILER WARNING: I'm going to talk about the end of the movie and who won the final race!!!), and yesterday when it was near the end and they were doing the final race, she said that Lightning McQueen and the King won. And Londo and I explained to her that they didn't win. Chick won. Lightning went back to help his friend, The King. We explained that it was more important to him to help his friend than it was to win the race. That was the lesson that Lightning learned. This was just after we had talked about the things he learned from his friends that he used in the race.
She was quiet for a minute, watching the movie. Then she said, "Lightning learned two things from his friends. He learned to go backwards from Tow Mater. And he learned to turn from Doc." Londo said, "Yes, he learned those two things about driving for the race. But he also learned a third thing." I said, "He also learned that it's more important to help his friend than to win the race." Even though we had just said this, it felt important to repeat it.
These are the lessons we will work on. Right now, she is living in extremes. I've always said that the Pumpkin feels her emotions to the fullest. If she is happy, she is giddy with happiness. If she is sad, she is devestated. If she is angry, she is furious. She is my girl with the curl right in the middle of her forhead. I feel emotions like that at times as well. I understand getting overwhelmed and needing to express what I'm feeling. But I also understand how it can feel to be on the receiving end of those emotions, and how important it can be to temper them or find an appropriate outlet.
So we will keep talking about it. We will keep expressing the importance of being a good sport. We will work on teaching how words can hurt and how to express ourselves in ways that are not hurtful to others. And I think we'll be watching the Cars movie a few more times and discussing the lessons we can learn from that.
And maybe the world of extremes will continue. There are worse things that can happen. Hopefully she learns ways to express those extremes that aren't quite so, well, extreme. Time will tell.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Question of the Week - Toddlerese Infiltrates Our Language
I love the way toddlers say words. The Pumpkin had some adorable words, some that lasted for quite a while like "wobberwhy" for butterfly and "ballerlay" for ballet and "laliloli" for raviloli. But the Pumpkin's verbal skills advanced rather quickly, so there wasn't a whole lot of nicknames for things that she couldn't pronounce, other than those I listed.
But the Pookie, well his verbal skills are developing in their own time frame. He's totally in the range of normal for his age, so we're not worried or anything. He just isn't able to pronounce his words clearly and he has come up with toddlerese words and terms for things he either can't or won't say the right way.
For example, he doesn't pronounce the hard "c" sound very well (or the soft "c"/"s" sound either). In fact, he only pronounces the "cah" sound and "sss" sound when he is repeating just that sound back to us. But when it comes to the word "cat"? He either doesn't say it or can't say it. Instead, he calls cats "meows." It may be in part because our cat's name is kind of similar to the word meow, but he does differentiate the word dog, our dog's name and the sounds a dog makes. But for cats? He refers to them all as meows.
So now the rest of the family? We often call cats meows as well! "Look, Pookie! It's a meow!"
So this week's question of the week is:
What nickname or silly word have you adopted into everyday speech that originated from your kid(s)'s dialect of toddlerese?
The other really big one we've totally started using all the time is the Pookie's word for car: go-go. Actually, it started as a referral to cars, but then morphed to include trucks and motorcycles and trains and, well, anything that has wheels really. "Hey look, Pookie! It's a go-go!" and "Here's your (toy) go-go, Pook" have become regular phrases in our house used by me, Londo and the Pumpkin.
We have started to differentiate the types of go-gos and refer to go-go cars, go-go trucks, go-go trains, etc. I am at the point where I forget when I'm talking with other adults and I'll start to refer to a car as a go-go. And the term go-go is now used by my parents and others when talking to the Pookie!
Sometimes, I think the Pookie is just being stubborn about what he wants to call things though. For a while, the Pookie seemed to be confusing cows with elephants. We'd have arguments where I would say, "elephant" and he'd say "cow" and I'd say "elephant" and he'd say "cow" and this would go on for a little while, and I started to suspect that he was either pulling my leg or just being stubborn. Then we started reading some Italian board books starring an elephant named Elmer. So he started calling all elephants "el-moh." And we'd have disagreements about that as well. "Elephant." "Elmoh." "No, elephant." "No, elmoh!" Until I'd give up and say, "Fine it's an elmer elephant." And now? I often just refer to it as an elmer. Sigh...
What about your household? Any special nicknames or words that have infiltrated your language? Any cute toddlerese that you continue to use? Any that you miss? Any from your childhood? Share with me!
But the Pookie, well his verbal skills are developing in their own time frame. He's totally in the range of normal for his age, so we're not worried or anything. He just isn't able to pronounce his words clearly and he has come up with toddlerese words and terms for things he either can't or won't say the right way.
For example, he doesn't pronounce the hard "c" sound very well (or the soft "c"/"s" sound either). In fact, he only pronounces the "cah" sound and "sss" sound when he is repeating just that sound back to us. But when it comes to the word "cat"? He either doesn't say it or can't say it. Instead, he calls cats "meows." It may be in part because our cat's name is kind of similar to the word meow, but he does differentiate the word dog, our dog's name and the sounds a dog makes. But for cats? He refers to them all as meows.
So now the rest of the family? We often call cats meows as well! "Look, Pookie! It's a meow!"
So this week's question of the week is:
What nickname or silly word have you adopted into everyday speech that originated from your kid(s)'s dialect of toddlerese?
The other really big one we've totally started using all the time is the Pookie's word for car: go-go. Actually, it started as a referral to cars, but then morphed to include trucks and motorcycles and trains and, well, anything that has wheels really. "Hey look, Pookie! It's a go-go!" and "Here's your (toy) go-go, Pook" have become regular phrases in our house used by me, Londo and the Pumpkin.
We have started to differentiate the types of go-gos and refer to go-go cars, go-go trucks, go-go trains, etc. I am at the point where I forget when I'm talking with other adults and I'll start to refer to a car as a go-go. And the term go-go is now used by my parents and others when talking to the Pookie!
Sometimes, I think the Pookie is just being stubborn about what he wants to call things though. For a while, the Pookie seemed to be confusing cows with elephants. We'd have arguments where I would say, "elephant" and he'd say "cow" and I'd say "elephant" and he'd say "cow" and this would go on for a little while, and I started to suspect that he was either pulling my leg or just being stubborn. Then we started reading some Italian board books starring an elephant named Elmer. So he started calling all elephants "el-moh." And we'd have disagreements about that as well. "Elephant." "Elmoh." "No, elephant." "No, elmoh!" Until I'd give up and say, "Fine it's an elmer elephant." And now? I often just refer to it as an elmer. Sigh...
What about your household? Any special nicknames or words that have infiltrated your language? Any cute toddlerese that you continue to use? Any that you miss? Any from your childhood? Share with me!
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