"your heart"

Olivia:
Dis house is aw of ours. Because some day yer goin tah get ode an be a gramma. And den you will be an ode gramma. And I will marry Jonas or Simon. And I will have a baby and anuddah baby, and I will name dem Seeping Booty and Prince Charming; no, Prince Phillip. And because my babies will get married. And den you will die. And someone will take your heart. And I will miss you.

Me:
Oh, I will miss you too. I love you! And, why will they take my heart? For someone else to use it? (What a wise, generous - with MY heart - child.)

Olivia:
Yes.

Me:
Is that what you meant? For someone else to use my heart?

Olivia:
Well, no. Someone will take your heart to make jewy.

Me:
(I tried to interpret her "jewy," forgot what my guesses were; seems easier to identify when transcribed here).

Olivia:
No. Jewy. (And picks up the ring Auntie Sandy gave her. She LOVES the ring. Thanks, Sandy!)

"Not Torture Her"

Zach, shouting up the street to the neighbor friends:
"I'm helping Livia! With her band aid! It's nice to help her! Not torture her!"

Olivvy Lou Retton

This was filmed at O's first "Mini Devos" gymnastics class. Her teacher, Miss Maria, said after two classes with the preschool group, "Oh, she does not belong in dis class. She must come to Mini Devos. She will come to Mini Devos, then in the fall she will be ready for Devos. Looook at dose legs. She is a sprinter. Sprinter! We will call her 'Sprinter.' Can we call you 'Sprinter?'"
Olivia, "No. I'm Ohyihvia. But you can call me 'Billie.'"

It's pretty cute to see these little ones.

Billy / Billie / Olivia Cate

Olivia: "Do 'Bih-yee' saht wih dis yetter?" (holding up a "B" in the bathtub)
Me: "Yes!! Good girl!"

So the one day of being "Billie" at school** did stick a little bit...smart girl!! :)

She was determined to finish spelling "Billie" despite the fact that we have only one 'L' and one 'I.' We substituted a '7' and a 'Y' respectively.

**For those of you who missed The Saga, here's what went down:

Olivia is darn cute and LOVES to talk a lot (Grandma Marty can account for 30 minutes+ of Olivia's jibber jabber on the swing recently, and Nana and Pop recall the car trip to Georgetown during which we could barely cut into her monologue). We don't, however, understand all that she says, as her articulation is not fantastic.

Last April we had her speech evaluated, and heard she was "on track." Kids develop at different rates, and many sounds are not mastered until age 7.

At her preschool this fall, however, the Speech & Hearing Screen determined she should have some further evaluation. We took her back to Child Find for a more in-depth eval, and they decided she was on the cusp of needing some assistance. If we were interested in switching her to a public preschool, she'd receive free preschool and some speech intervention.

I visited the new school without and with Olivia; it is almost exactly 4 miles from us (and very near a drive-through Starbucks and "the Red Park"). The director and her assistant are fabulous, and the philosophy and activities are too. On the day we visited together, Olivia jumped right in and began shaving "Steve" the mannequin head, with real shaving cream (glad the school thinks that mess is fun!) at the salon learning center and she LOVED playing cashier, selling candy and real popcorn at the movie theater learning center.

Hoping this is all for the best, but sad to leave friends and teachers at the old school, we decided to enroll O at the new school, excited that she'll be getting intervention early.

A couple of cons to the sitchiation: 1) Zach now attends school five mornings a week from 8:30-11:15a, and O attends 4 afternoons from 12-2:30p. That doesn't leave much time to try to make O eat something for lunch, and does add up to some quality car time. 2) Before her arrival, there were already two 'Olivia's in her class. The teachers wondered if our O had any nicknames, and I shared that I call her "Billy" (not having ever spelled it, and mentioning that she wasn't super-thrilled with that name when I asked what she wanted to be called at school) or we could go with "Olivia Cate."

On her first day, the teachers greeted us, with, "Why, hello, Billy! Are you excited to start school here, Billy? Here's your coat hook, Billy." (Said coat hook was labeled "Billy.")

Gulp.

Olivia said, "My name is not Bih-yee. My name is Oh-yih-via, but you can cah me "Bih-yee." Sweet girl!

Despite her ready attitude, my stomach began to drop. "Billy" flashed at me on her attendance plaque, and play plan sheet, etc. They asked how I was feeling about her nickname, and I asked that we be allowed to think about it, and in the mean time please change it to "Billie" with an 'ie.' No problem, they said. "Billie, we'll just show you around..."

Talking to Scott ("Hmm, I'm not sure we want her to be called 'Billie' just because two other Olivia's beat us to her class") and friends ("She'll be like Miley Cyrus in a few years, legally changing her name because she's always been "Billie"), and chewing it over, I decided we needed to go with "Olivia Cate." I mean, otherwise she'd have been learning to spell and pronounce her name as "Billie." I started picturing her years down the road, in 6th grade and at graduation, introducing herself as "Billie." Personally, I LOVE the nickname, but I didn't want that to be her name officially unless she chooses to be that later in life.

So, identity crisis *hopefully* averted, she remains Olivia Cate. And she appears to be thriving in the new class. :)

Kid-isms

January 6, 2011

Olivia: Mommy, when you go anuhduh baby in uhs sommack, can you put a Inkedibuhs [Incredibles] suit on it? Cuz I want uhs hoe famy to be Inkedibuhs foh Hahyoween.

Me: Hmmmm, we'll see, Olivia. But I don't think we're going to grow another baby.

* * *
Later, and *completely* unrelated:
Olivia: yay! Maybe means yes. ( glass is half full for her)

* * *
After dropping Olivia off at her afternoon preschool, Zach must have been comparing how he's in school in the AM and Olivia's in the PM with how college classes can be scheduled flexibly as well.

He asked me, "Mom, do you think I should go to college in the daytime or at night?"
Me: "I think during the day."
Zach: "I think at night, so I can spend all day with you."

SWEET, SWEET boy!!

* * *

It had been a long week of Scott traveling, and I decided to try a new tactic. ;/

When the kids (read: Olivia) were having a hard time cleaning up, after several warnings, I finally went into her room with *The Pillowcase.* Duh-duh-duuuuuhhhh.

I put a few toys in it, saying, "You are not cleaning up, so I will take some of these for you."

She Freaked.Out. Crying, screaming. Quite unusual for her. (Now, several days and lots of TLC and fluids later, I realize she was probably heading for the flu. Poor thing.)

Anyway, she continued to cry, saying she'd pick up her room. I left her to it. But, meanwhile, next door Zach was done cleaning his room, but began crying himself.

"But, Mom, she loooooooves Doggy! Can I help her earn him back?"

Why, sure, Zach. You can help her clean. (And I don't have Doggy, btw. But you guys clean a bit, and I'll let you know that later.)

Can you see the red horns on my head??? Ugh. Oh, well. There are many things I could do better in hindsight. This episode was probably one of them, but I'm okay with instilling a little accountability.

Olivvy and Zach talk 7/8/10

Talking about a "Old Grandma" who passed away last March:

Mama: She's up in heaven.
Olivia: "Wif Desus and Dod?"
Zach: "Yep."
Olivia: "I wuv Desus and Dod."
Zach: "They're the best."


* * * * * *

Later, driving along 9th Street in Great Falls:

Zach: "Isn't it awesome to just pass by Wallace Marine?" (Grandpa's boat store)

Olivvy-ism 7/8/10

"Dot my fihst yainbow tout!"

(translated: I got my first rainbow trout!)

Zachism 6/15/10

Kjirsten: "What a beautiful night!"
Zach: "Yeah, there [sic] no tornadoes and a pretty sky.You see all the way up to heaven."

Zachisms

7/15/2010

Zach: "I had so much fun with Livia when she was a kid. Ya know why?"

Me: Why?

Zach: "Because I made her laugh."

My favorite part is the old-man perspective. "...when she was a kid." Like how old is she now? How old are you, Zach?

He does often try to help his friends or Olivia when they're sad or scared or upset, making faces, or bringing them toys he thinks they might enjoy. Like the infant he practically smothered with huge stuffed animal. I kid, there, but he does have a great, big heart.

Love him.

* * * *

7/21/2010
Zach: "Mom, you know what?"
Me: What?
Zach: "I practiced writing my name and I assume I did a good job....Mom, what does 'assume' mean?"

Breakfast Talk

Zach: It stinks in here. Do you smell it?
Me: No. What does it smell like?
Zach: I don’t know.
Olivia: I taked a bath because my bottom sinks. (i.e. wadn’t me!)

(9/2/10)

Olivvy-ism 5/8/10

"Wow, us fying. Iss sooo cool!"

(On our flight to CA.)

Zachism

Zach: Daddy, let's go play marbles in the basement.
Daddy: I think you lost your marbles.
Zach: No, Livia just threw them up in the air.

I think he gets bonus points for being cute and innocent, then loses half for being a tattle-tale.

Telling

This morning, after I came downstairs having changed out of my PJs, adding some makeup and pulling back my hair, Olivia smiled at me and said,

"You yook yike a ho new puh-son."

Ha. Honesty of the babes.


* * *
Later:

Me: I like your feet, Olivia.
Olivia: Next time I want dem to be PINK.

***
Later still:

Zach: Olivia, let me tell you something. Your eyeballs have red cracks...Mommy, why do our eyeballs have red cracks?"

Olivvy-isms

"tih-daahhhhh" - said upon completion of depositing #2 into the porcelain receptacle, expecting heaps of praise and applause, and generally receiving such. (Unfortunately, not an expression that's been uttered enough of late.)

"oh-tay" - okay, too cute to correct.

There are too many of those, aren't there? The expressions that are so cute when they come out of little lips?

But I am thinking about taking O in to see the folks who came into Zach's school to do the speech, hearing and language screening. At days-away-from-three, Olivia can still be hard to understand. She struggles especially with r's, k-sounds, l's, ...and others. I try not to compare her with Zach, but it's hard not to. And I know he was much more clear at this age.

Poor Kid#2. We love her so much!

Olivvy-isms, another one

From 10-13-09

As we were driving by the Sheraton Denver West, Zach said, "The middle [building]'s where you got married, right?"

Me, thinking, close enough. It was where we had our reception. "Yes."

Olivia, "Me meh-y you, Mahm." Translation: I'm going to marry you, Mom.

Ah, I'll have to treasure that because it's not going to be long that she'll want to have me as her life partner. :)

Olivvy-isms

A couple from today:

After Zach said, "When I'm 21, I'm gonna drive a MONSTER TRUCK!"
Olivia said, in the teeny voice she uses to be cute, "When me wenty-wahn, me dive a (in an especially high voice) bee-bee monstah tuck."

At lunch, pulling a cloth napkin over her head and fastening it below her chin: "Me Leetle Bo Peenk!"

Obviously, we need to continue working on personal pronoun use. I need to work on recording her words, too. She is pretty darn cute!

Oh, I remember a couple of others:

Talking to Daddy on the phone one night after she should have been asleep, in response to Daddy's inquiry of, "Are you going to have sweet dreams?" Olivia answered, "No! Ine makin cookies."
*If only there were a way to share the inflections in their voices, too.

And this is almost every night he comes home from work, but maybe slightly more enthousiastically when he's been gone on a trip, "Dahddee!!!! I weely missed you soo much!!!!"
*I sometimes consider leaving the kids for a few hours, just so I can experience the 'welcome homes' he gets!

Zachism

Oh, goodness! This was cute.

Zach (watching The Big Green Rabbit on PBS): Mom, why don't we have dose white tings dat come out of our noses?
Me (not watching the show, and having no clue what he was talking about): Huh?
Zach: Dose white tings dat are long, on mammoths?
Me: Oh, tusks?
Zach: Yeah! Why don't we have dem?
Me: That's just the way they are made.
Zach: Dat's just how God made dem?
Me: Yep.
Zach (after a pause, and thoughtfully): I love God.

Playdate

Zach's buddy Drew came over for a playdate after school on Wednesday. They did so well together, *see report to Drew's cute Mama. I did have one wee-ooo moment, however, when I believe I glimpsed the future.

It all began innocently enough at lunch, after prayers were done, and food was being ignored by me two and devoured by normal-kid, Drew. To set the scene, I'll share that Olivia was sitting across from Drew, and Zach was at the head of the table, between them. Oh, you've seen the video, you know how it was. So, Zach was busy chattering away, as usual. Olivia, not to be outdone, was also trying to impress "her" friend Drew with a running monologue as well.

Maybe they're on the same wavelength - or he's figured out her speech, if so I'll need some lessons, please - or perhaps it was just that she was in his line of vision, but there was a stretch of a couple of minutes when Drew responded to Olivia, and had tuned out Zach.

Wee-ooo, wee-ooo...

I just thought: some day, down the road, Zach's going to have his buddies who will come over, eat our food, watch our TV, leave crumbs all over the place and the toilet seat up, and probably genuinely be his friend, but they might also one day discover that he has a cute little sister.
!!What?!!

And where will Daddy and his shotgun be? And Zach. He'd better be ready to embrace the roll of "big brother."

Right now he's just content to embrace her. And that's super sweet, and his friends probably think Olivia's more of a pain in the rear. We'll enjoy that for now.

*Report to Drew's Mom:
Overheard:
Drew: (I missed the statement, but it included the word “die.”)
Zach: Don’t say die. (Pause…) Did you know that after you die you become an angel?
Drew: (ponders for a few seconds, then) Cool.

Drew ate ALL his pb&j, and banana slices. Had hot chocolate at 2pm. And the boys sang the Superman prayer several times during lunch. They also recited the Tick Tock prayer.

The boys did awesome. Drew was so sweet. When Olivia pulled Zach’s hair hard enough to make cry (and consquently be sent to her room), Drew asked Zach if he was okay. I thought that was so kind of him.

They ran outside for a few seconds after lunch, presumably to earn themselves a cuppa hot chocolate. But I made them wait.

They read a book on dinosaurs together, and played two or three games of Cars dominoes. So cute.

They did an awesome job of entertaining themselves and were pretty good about letting Olivia hang out too, when she was awake. [But, hmmm, I will be keeping my eye on those boys around O...]

They had great time making a train and tunnels in the basement. Guns (jeez!!) were quite omnipresent.

They did crash on the couch to watch some PBS cartoons for the last 30 mins, which I thought was okay since they’d been hanging in the freezing basement and could use a little quieter time.

Bottom line, he was a dear. It was fun to have him!

PS - Thoroughly annoyed by the spacing/formatting issue here. Not pleased, and not at all sure about how to correct it. Apologies.

Zach Quote 7/9/07 or 08??

Finally taking the time to record some notes I've been saving:

Not sure exactly when these came out of his little gabber. I actually dated the note page (yay!), but didn't include the year (boo!).

Zach:
Thez cows moooooooo.
Ine goin dahn dah twisty slide. Thahs pree fun. Thahs pree fun, Mahm.
Hafta follow daht one.
Look, ders a tall crane up der. An a extavaytuh.
I go swimmin tonight.

And, who knows? Maybe this second soliloquy was spouted on the same day? Or maybe this former Mothers-Day-card-envelope-(thanks Laura!)-turned-note-page-and-grocery-list-and-errand-agenda-and-phone-message-recorder (gosh, it's postmared 15 June 2007, I'd say it has earned its place in the recycling bin, no?) was the keeper of info over the course of several months. Don't ask Scott, he'll tell you there are plenty more pieces like this around our pad...

So, yeah. Not sure if this second string of quotes was also from 7/9/07 or /08, or another fun day as LittleZ sat chatting from the back seat:

Zach:
Eat polies.
Der very yummy.
Have to wipe dem off.
Need a mapkin.
Also like dah worms.
How bout worms for wobin?

How very sad. As I transcribe this, I have no idea what "polies" are anymore. I do believe the "wobin" is a "robin."

Lessons Learned:
* Must remember to write down full dates.
* Must record favorite quotes within a year or two of their original utterances.

"Why is it called 'Minnesota?'"

This wasn't a joke, but I was awaiting a punchline. After I'd reminded myself not to be annoyed by all the whys.

Then, his non-punchline turned out to be pretty funny:

Why is it called Minnesota? ....
It's kind of like "soda."


P.S. It's probably obvious, but this was Zach speaking. Or maybe it's not obvious, and I need to get on the ball with posting some more of Olivia's speech these days. Pretty darn cute, it is.