Vocabulary

Beatrice's vocabulary has been blowing us away lately.  It's really too bad that her articulation is so much weaker than her words, because she "sounds" like a 3-year old, but her words, if you can understand them,  are of a much older child.   Here are a few samples from the past few days that made me smile:

(asked in response to Anthony talking about "bad people":  "You mean villains, right?"
"It's a terrible tragedy,"  
It's a dream come true!,"
"I'll leave it here, but at some point I will return for it."
"....and they were never to be seen again!,"
"I will roll Daddy's scarf out onto the floor and turn it magically into a classical rug!"

Meanwhile, here's out nutty little linguist before bed.  I asked her to put her dirty clothes into the laundry basket while I was at the computer.  She yelled for me to close my eyes and then ran in giggling madly looking like this:

Full of It

I don't know if it was the fact that she had a big brownie for dessert at lunch, that she's finally over her drippy nose and cough, or if it's because it was early dismissal from school due to snow, or because Daddy was her date at Special Persons Lunch, or because she got to wear "blue and gold" clothes instead of her uniform (Catholic Schools Week), or what, but Beatrice was FULL.OF. IT. today! Silly, wild, mischievous, devious, and oh so very happy. She must have said "close your eyes!"  a dozen times today and each time when I opened them she had done something naughty and/or ridiculous. Yet I kept closing them.  :)  And then she gives this devilish laugh.....

Here she is at the end of the day, giving me a "pirate face" with pajama bottoms on top of her head.  She demanded that I get the camera and photograph her.  Of course I obliged:

She started the day with showing me Chocolate Chip (her new favorite friend) with his "super hero cape"  (aka used kleenex with ponytail holder):

She played hard all day:  card games, board games, and of course pretend.  Today, all within the confines of our home, we churned butter, made honey, and hunted bear (aka Sula---all the influence of reading Little House in the Big Woods).  We  had an elaborate Queen's campout complete with packed suitcases, sleeping bags, a spaghetti dinner cooked over campfire, and an enormous tent held down by using "a banger." (I think that's a hammer).  Cousins Molly, Kate, and Sophie joined us too.  (Her pretend friends) Mango and Madonna are back in town, as her parents apparently need to attend a funeral and I agree to watch them.  Almost everything Beatrice owns has at least two purposes, one concrete and one or many imaginative, and she is just devastated when I throw away or recycle something that was ultimately important to her imaginary world, but which I just see as a piece of trash.  Such a sad twist of fate that this creative genius has such a rational, literal mother!

It's hard enough to skate for the first time in 2 decades,

But even more of a challenge to do so while holding a big bulky camera!  But it happened.  We headed to the ice rink today, for the first time in over twenty years for both Anthony and me, and first time ever for Bea.  She  was not enthused when she heard what was on the agenda for the day, but there was no way we were backing out since she's talked about this on and off for over a year.  I wasn't sure any of us would make it on the ice, and even more certain that we wouldn't last more than five minutes, so first I made sure we had good shots to prove we were actually there:

See?  That's me in my $4 rental skates:

Like with most things, Beatrice had to warm up to the idea and do it in her own time.  Anthony and I skated a bit first alone and she stayed on the sidelines with my sister.  With the assistance of a, um, eh, oh let's just call it what it was....a bribe of hot chocolate, we got her out with her own "walker."  She thought she was just like Pepere!

 She was a trooper, and none of us fell, not even once!  Miracles do happen!

What was not photographed was her second outing on the ice, with no walker,  and just holding my hand.  That was an experience I'll never forget.  Complete trust in me.  Because Mama said it would be okay, she risked everything and conquered her fear.  Thank you Beatrice for trusting us.  What a wonderful outing!

Quoteworthy

My four-star rhymer strikes again!  Yesterday morning Bea decided to talk about a "wicked witch."  No idea where she heard about or saw it, but "wicked witch, wicked witch" was sung and talked about repeatedly through breakfast.  Then suddenly it became "wicked witch, wicked  _itch, wicked witch, wicked  _itch" over and over.  Don't know why she was eyeing me at that point.  :)

Then tonight, during dinner I noticed the cracks in the outside kitchen wall and remarked to Anthony how many there were!  He said that this summer he will fill them in, sand, etc. and Beatrice says "No Daddy, it's okay.  We live in a crack house!"  Hopefully she won't repeat that one at school.



Last quote, because it's been going on for weeks and because someday I will forget... Beatrice uses the phrase "even me!" instead of "me too" every time she wants to express that she agrees with something or shares an opinion.  I love going back over this blog and re-reading posts about little things like that which I'd have surely forgotten had they not been documented, so now it's in writing!

Post-nap Saturday afternoon

Look who just woke up?

Beatrice, your cheeks are so rosy and the sun is so beautiful, may I please take a picture?

Could I have just a little smile?  A teeny one?

Almost, one more try!

There it is!  Thank you!

             1/2 hour or so later, little Liberace donned an accessory scarf for practice time:

She has five songs to practice, but I told her she could pick any three:

                     Now that she's in Book 3, most songs have notes played with both hands:

I love the focus in this picture!