SOLSC 2022 #16 - Playground Adventure

 

It is March 2022 and time for the

 15th Annual Slice of Life Story Challenge  

Every single day, for all thirty-one days of March,

writers will share stories.

Thank you, Two Writing Teachers, for creating this supportive community 

of teacher-writers!

The sedate part is the packing:

• Peanut butter and banana sandwiches
• Yogurt and fruit 
• Clementines
• Goldfish
• Water bottles

• Wipes
• Paper towels
• Sunblock
• Sun hats
• Toys for the sand box
• Changing pad, diapers - just in case!
• Stroller

The lively part is everything else - 

• getting the three year old dressed for the day, her teeth brushed, her hair tangles out (I punted on this last one - hahaha)
• getting a clean diaper onto one very wriggly sixteen-month old before leaving the house - what is it with snapping a onesie that seems to signal to the toddler, "time to make a quick escape!!!"?
• finding everyone's shoes, socks, jackets (it got so warm, we didn't even need the jackets - hooray!!)
• three year old to the bathroom, one last time, before leaving 
• at the playground, so much wonderful running around...and running quickly, keeping alert - to the big slide, to the yellow slide, to the 'mountain,' to the sand box, to the balance beam, to the water fountain, to the blue twisty thing, to to to 
• trying to curb their interest in the dog poop near the water fountain 
• keeping food from blowing away, water from spilling over, hands relatively clean, bodies seated on the bench, during lunch
• keeping them awake on the car ride home, so that they both take great naps - woohoo! WIN for the grandparents!

It was an awesome day!

SOLSC 2022 #8 - On language

 

It is March 2022 and time for the

 15th Annual Slice of Life Story Challenge  

Every single day, for all thirty-one days of March,

writers will share stories.

Thank you, Two Writing Teachers, for creating this supportive community 

of teacher-writers!

I am musing about language development today...

Poppa asked Bird - "Do you want to go outside?" and Bird quickly toddled to the door. "First, let's get your socks and shoes...and your jacket," Poppa added. One by one, with coaching, Bird collected her clothes for going outdoors. Pretty impressive for a 15-month old! When she was dressed for the outside, she stood at the door and insisted 'baba!' (bubbles). Wow! We had been outside earlier in the morning, using wands and blowing bubbles; she had remembered and hoped to do so again. 

Listen to this - she is now directing us, rather than simply echoing or following our lead!

For much of her infancy, Bird was very quiet. I made the (quite false) assumption that this quieter manner was her personality. I think for months all I could really hear was her talkative big sister Frog (now 3 1/2 years old). As it turned out, as soon as Bird began toddling/walking, she erupted with sounds. She has become one noisy little friend - busy, curious, and
squawking 
grunting 
chortling
squealing 
chattering 
a steady stream of gobbledygook. 
She has become loud and chatty, and it is really funny. 

There are lots of nonsense words. She has far fewer 'real' words than Frog did at this age (and, yes, I know, I shouldn't be comparing). The pediatrician told her parents that this is typical of a second child, especially if the older sibling is chattering, explaining, and basically doing all the talking for them. It is clear that Bird has good comprehension of our words, as evidenced by the running around she did for Poppa before going outside. 

Here are some of the words I hear from her frequently - her favorite 'wants':

craka (cracker)

rabi (raspberry)

baNA (banana)

Fsh (fish) 

Sh (shoe)

Da (duck or dog)

haw (hot) 

ha (hat)

air (Chair)

Poppa (I honestly haven't heard her say my name - she loves her Poppa!)

Another tangent on language - isn't it funny how children mix up words sometimes? Frog has this hysterical confusion over the word "pinecone" - she invariably refers to it as "cannoli." Hahaha I have no idea when she ever even had a cannoli, but the substitute came and it is very endearing. I love this so much!!

I can remember each of my children making some pretty sweet slips of the tongue when they were young, too:

• Frog and Bird's Dad, my oldest son, called a lawnmower a "Molly-or" for years.
• Uncle W, my second son, used to talk about going up and down the stairs, and instead of saying "up and down," he said - I kid you not - he said "Habitrol" hahaha (His aunt was trying to quit chain smoking when he was a toddler/preschooler - this med was a frequent conversation topic...somehow the idea merged, and he simply couldn't shake it...so funny.)
• my youngest son, Uncle B, received lots of ribbing from his brothers for calling the basement "the bagel," when he was little.

I can go back into my own childhood and think of more slips -

• I remember my whole family teasing me/echoing me, when toddler me said "oble-lay" instead of "over there"...for years and years, if "over there" was the answer to your question about where something was, this was the loud retort - OBLE LAY!
• My younger brother had a "bee-ka-ma" rather than a blanket.

This is just the fun cycle of learning language, I suppose! What about you/your loved ones - any funny language slips?

Storm before calm

I had no sooner locked the door as their parents went out for the evening when I heard this wild clack-clack-clack and raucous laughter. There was Frog (age 3) pulling some sort of crazy wood toy - wait, is that a toy centipede? - running full speed from the living room down the hall towards the bedrooms. Every unexpected, big, surprise motion makes little sister Bird (age 1) laugh merrily, and with abandon. Which, of course, means the antecedent action must be repeated by big sister. This time, the action was wild, reckless running. Over and over. Yes, we were off! This would not be a lazy evening of reading books on the couch before bed, but something else indeed...

Frog raced the clacking centipede down the hall, with newly-walking Bird - who, seemingly overnight, has gone from crawling to running - chasing after her. Quickly, quickly, quickly raced big sister. After, after, after came little sister. Both children running, scooting, laughing, all the way from the living room past the dining room table down the hallway to the bedrooms, where all the doors were closed. A full immediate crashing stop ensued, followed by a bustling wrestling nestling heap and more raucous laughter. This might not end well, I thought, and immediately shifted into one of those strange experiences of time where I am in many places at once - totally present and right there in the room yet simultaneously lost in thought, past present future, future present past -

oh my, future - 

These two girls are actually playing together. This is the first time I have seen this, I think. I just know they are going to be great friends, yes, always and forever.

oh my, present - 

I am going to be right here next to them, keeping a close eye, even if I have to run alongside the two of them for every single step. I must help these bodies to stay safe, ensure that they give each other space. These are exactly the kind of silly antics that end with surprise hurt and I don't want that on my watch.

oh my, past - 

Remember my own boys? Those evening frolics? Why is it that roughhousing dovetails with bedtime? All the more so during the winter, I think, when we don't get as much time outdoors, using our full body. We always called this the last storm before the calm...remember how quickly the emotions can switch from laughter to tears?

oh my, past past - 

Remember when my younger brother cut his head on the cabinet at the end of the hall? He and I were running just like this! We were both so young...

This game of chase was not an activity I would have chosen for these two youngsters to play, but to 'squash' the idea would still leave me with lots of unused, unreleased, uncertain, whirling, swirling energy. How to get their minds on something else, quickly? I made the game-time decision to go along with the fun while doing my utmost to set safe parameters. In the end, no one got hurt - which felt amazing! How many times did my granddaughters and I run down the hallway, back and forth, with that silly wood centipede and Frog leading the charge? I don't know! There were so many funny squeals. Both girls showed good balance and control, recovering from stumbles without falling onto the floor. No one got squeezed in an unexpected 'pile on' of bodies, arms, legs. I got silly with them, running alongside with loud percussive 'bum bum bum' footsteps, making them both laugh. 

I knew the game was winding down when Bird switched into a crawling position and hustled down the hallway in her old preferred way. Everyone was tired. All this exuberant exercise led to an easy bedtime routine...and, hopefully, sweet dreams by all.

I sure hope this chase game isn't something that becomes a regular thing, especially when I am the babysitter. I will admit though - we all had good fun together.

___________________

It's Tuesday and I am participating in the

 Slice of Life.  

Thank you, Two Writing Teachers, for creating this supportive community 

of teacher-writers!