What did you say?!

This morning, Roo kept asking about her sh*t.
Her shirt. But, that's not what it sounded like.

And the other day, she started spelling out loud.
J and I both listened attentively.
"F. U."
pause pause pause
"N."
I thought J was going to lose his, er, shirt waiting for the final letter to drop.

At least the girls don't replace t's with f's like my friend's child. Every time that kid asks to ride in her daddy's truck, you have to pick the grown ups off the floor.

Silly Songs with Emme

Lately, Em has been cracking me up! She's mad for singing and dancing. Her favorite evening activity is to have a dance party while J plays Guitar Hero on the Wii. Em will go get the game case, present it to J and ask him, "Guitar? I dancing?" And then she boogies down like it's her job.

Tonight while J was setting up the game, Em decided to grab some fortification. A banana. On her way up to the bowl holding the bananas she sang herself a little song. To the tune of Twinkle, it went something like this...
"Banana, manana, nana nana. Baaaaanana-mananana..."

After the dance party it was pajama time. While Roo was getting outfitted, Em played with her doll baby. She put her baby into her little shopping cart and then leaned over to place a soft kiss on its head.
"Aw, baby", she said while sweetly rubbing the doll's face.
She did this once more and then seemed to be going in for a third kiss.
Except this time, she stuck out her tongue and licked the doll's face from ear to forehead.
And then, she cackled and laughed and did a little running dance.

What a goof.

Leetle Aeroplanes

The girls are a little obsessed with this Jonathan Richman song and the Sesame Street montage video

When we're outside, they want to run and pretend to fly like the kids in the video. They sing the song. They are the song.

Although, I confess, it took me a good month to figure out Roo's version. I would hear her over the monitor singing, "Yo-Yo!" along with some other garbled words. I thought, what in the world could that be? Some new song that they learned at school, perhaps?
Nope. "...little airplane, nyow nyow."

At any rate, the song has wormed its way into the bedtime routine.

And J's workout routine, I dare say.

Coming Up Next

This morning Roo sneezed and Em said, "Bless You, Roo."

I mentally congratulated myself on my fantastic parenting and well-mannered children.

Later, Roo walked up to me and said, "Coming up next..."

Then, she burped.

And the reality check has been received.

the long road home

Traveling home from our Christmas celebrations was the least exciting part of the holiday. We were loaded for bear and grouchy. The girls snoozed off and on. Mostly off. And highly protested being in their car seats for 6+ hours.

The lone piece of entertainment was driving down the main drag of this little town and snapping pictures of the businesses names.

click on the pictures to embiggen


Be very careful which establishment gets your child during the morning drop-off.

The girls were pretty excited to be back in their own beds, but bored to tears to leave all the extended family behind. The following 2-3 days were not a lot of fun. There were a lot of tears, screams and whines. And wailing for Mammaw! Marmee! Grandpa!...
A dear friend says they call this the grandma hangover. Exactly right.

grandNana's

Em's and Roo's final gift exchange took place the day after Christmas at their great-grandNana's house. It's been far too long since the RGs were able to see their Nana. And they made up for it double time.

Roo was right in Nana's lap, having stories read.

And Em sang and danced and kissed and basically performed herself silly.
The day after the day after, we went back for a much needed follow up visit.
And the girls played with Nana's little recorder. Endlessly.

Roo was really really happy. Because, if you'll remember, Grover (her newest addition) plays the flute. So, that, of course, made the "flute" hers.
Em disagreed. Battles were fought. Hugs and kisses to make up were enforced.
And a little Sesame Street friends book, read by Nana, made it a whole lot better.

Since returing home, Em and Roo keep talking about Nana. And flutes.
And saying, "toot toot toot".

Krismas Njema

According to the interweb, the Tanzanian phrase for merry Christmas is,

"Krismas Njema Na Heri Za Mwaka Mpya" or "Happy Christmas".
(Mammaw and Pappaw?)

Regardless of the correct translation, it was a very happy Christmas for our family with our newly-returned-from-Tanzania grandparents. Mammaw, Pappaw, Aunt Gail and the boy cousins were unbelievably generous in their giving. Em and Roo now have a complete arts and crafts set up... easel, paints, markers, clay, brushes, cups, paper rolls, smocks, etc. And that wasn't the half of it.


Now, we're just hoping that Mammaw and Pappaw can come for another stay and do some art projects with us.

Roo and Em napped in the car on Christmas afternoon while we drove to second Christmas. As soon as we arrived, they hit the ground running and playing with their cousins, barely slowing down for round two of gift giving.

I think they properly annoyed cousins Charlie and Clint with their constant attempts to mess with their game systems. Like any self respecting little girl cousins should do.

And they gave Mammaw a workout playing tag and chase and "surprise! I'm hiding behind this door/wall/pillar".


Roo roped Pappaw into reading Curious George: The Dog Show. A few hundred times. Her plan of attack was simple. She shoved the book into his hands. Backed into his lap. Looked back and up at him and said, "Ready. Here we go."

She also warmed up to giving kisses this Christmas. Finally! Daddy grabbed them whenever he could.

Em was all lovey with Pappaw, too. As long as they had about 20 feet between them. Then, it was all flirty eyes and blown kisses.


The Mammaw/Aunt Gail/cousin love was all up close and personal. Em's main attention getting ploy was to fake-sneeze on them and then say, "excuse me". Cute, huh? Or she just climbed in their laps.

On our final night before returning home, lots and lots of cousins came to the house for a party.
Pappaw, Aunt Terri, cousin Chad

cousin Paige and the RGs

Daddy and Maggie Dog

And Guitar Hero World Tour was broken out. Em loves to dance while the guitar heroes rock out. Both RGs made themselves at home in the basement during the tour. They danced and sang.
Paige, the RGs, Charlie and cousin Trey

They played hide and seek.
They cuddled. They just loved it all.
And so did we.