Kenzisms - Manners

I don't know what it is about my children starting out a sentence with the words "I want" or "Can I" that bothers me. I truly don't even notice when another child does it, but when my own kids begin their requests with "Mom, I want . . . " or "Mom, can I . . . " I find myself wincing.

So, I often prompt my children to say "May I" before their little requests. I feel that I have to prompt them more often than not to use this small form of good manners.

Sigh.

I wish it weren't so.

I wish they just used the sweet little "May I" phrase without my help.

But practice makes perfect and we practice a lot, so I should be optimistic right?

So, here is where the Kenzism comes into play.

A typical conversation would go as follows:

Kenzie: (often with a whiny or demanding tone) Mom, can I have some milk?

Mom: (Gives Kenzie the half smile and the raised eyebrow which the children know mean they either need to say please, sorry, thank-you or may I. They are often guilty of goes through all four in a rushed fashion in hopes to hurry the process along) How do you ask nicely?

Kenzie: (With a big goofy smile and in a sing-song voice) May I can I have some milk pleeeeease?

I didn't type that incorrectly if you were having to take a second read through there. Kenzie cracks me up by saying May I and Can I all in the same sentence, and I don't know why, it just makes me giggle. Garrett and I were trying to correct her error a few weeks ago when we looked at each other and realized that we didn't WANT to change it because it can make us laugh so hard. She'll figure it out all in good time . . .

Kenzisms - A New Discovery

While eating our lunch today of chicken nuggets and french fries Kenzie took a a big bite of her chicken nugget and then looked at her nugget with great surprise. She then exclaimed:

"Hey Mom!" (with an intonation of great discovery) "There is chicken in my chicken nugget!"

Apparently up 'til now the chicken nugget has just been some mystery food that every kid in America finds satisfying . . . today it actually became a food that has chicken in it. :)

Kenzisms - Baby Come Baby Go

We were on our way to Aunt Heather's house a few nights back to celebrate Uncle Ben's birthday. Aunt Heather just had new baby Bennett about a week ago and MaKenzie and Jordyn have been nothing short of obsessed with him. Jordyn asks to hold him, but never really puts her arms around him when you put him on her lap . . . it's really quite funny to watch. Kenzie would probably sit there all night with him in her lap if we let her.

Anyway, while we were driving to Aunt Heather and Uncle Ben's Kenzie chirped in from the back seat with a very serious question:

"Mommy, is Aunt Heather's baby going to be out of her belly tonight?"

Top Five Fridays - No Children Allowed

Today's Top Five Friday is dedicated to the top five places that I can think of that test my sanity limits when ventured into with my girls.

1. The airport.

It's busy. People are in a hurry. People can be helpful, but the pushy ones seem in greater abundance.

Every time you walk on a plane with little ones, you are greeted with some smiles and some horrified looks that seem to say "Please don't sit by me lady!"

Yes, the airport is always stressful with the little people.

2. The Post Office.

It's so quite there. Has anyone else ever noticed that? Any conversation you have is overheard by all and it's quite difficult to get your little ones to use any thing less than a VERY loud whisper in their communications with you.

3. The Grocery Store at Lunch Time

You'd think I'd never have done it more than once . . . but I am guilty of bringing hungry kids and a hungry mommy to the grocery store.

It is never pretty.

4. Okay, so I couldn't think of five things today . . . these three just leave such scars on my existence that to take it further might cause me to go into shock . . .

Real Life

I swear I have not been sitting around all day doing nothing. But some days it certainly feels like everything around me is proclaiming otherwise . . .

The undone dishes.

Only heaven knows how long that's been in there waiting to be folded? (And heaven probably has better things to do than keep tabs on my unfolded laundry . . . so really NOBODY knows how long its been.)

Oh, and the toys that I put away a few times and day and then just give up because two little people always trail along behind me to undo all of mommy's doings.

Some days these undone things drive me crazy, and others I really don't care. (And please note that the days that I really don't care tend to be less stressful and make for a nicer me.) Now why is that?

Top Five Fridays - Social Norms

I got to thinking today about all the little things that my kids do that crack me up; however, I would find these same behaviors to be quite disturbing in an adult.

So here they are, the top five social norms that our children have not quite mastered yet.

1. Announcing all bodily functions in proud and boisterous voices. Jordyn has recently crossed this line. She has about ten or fifteen words in her little vocabulary and one of them is poo-poo. She often walks around patting herself between the legs and screeching "poo-poo, poo-poo" whenever she is in need of a changing.

2. The girls are quickly crossing the lines of declaring what belongs to whom. They really do get along about 95% of the time, but there are those moments where one child snatches a toy out of the others hand's declaring "THAT'S MINE!" I'm pretty sure I'd be a bit spooked by any rational adult that snatched something out of my hands with such force. Fortunately, the girls seem to know that you don't cross the snatching line with mom and dad, but they don't seem to have any qualms about doing it to each other.

3. Kenzie is going through this phase where she randomly will take my face into her two little hands (never minding what is on those little hands) and she pulls my forehead to hers and lovingly says "I love you really so much mommy". I'm quite fond of these little moments and they always make me smile, but if any adult besides my husband tried this one it'd be tremendously awkward.

4. My children like to scream my name at the top of their lungs to get my attention . . . when they are standing RIGHT next to me. I'm pretty sure I'd jump and scream and then run if an adult standing next to me used teh same attention-getting-tactic.

5. Jordyn is currently obsessed with board books. She LOVES to sit on your lap and read. The only problem is that she tends to be a bit hostile in her demands for some reading time. She gets a board book and hits you in the chins and declares "BOOK". We are working on holding the book out and saying "book please", and she has been successful a few times; however, if you are not looking she is quite capable of catching you off guard.

Jordynisms - First Words

I can't believe my baby is already capable of having her own little "isms" category. She is growing so fast!

So here they are, a list of her current vocabulary:

Mommy: "MAMA!" (She tends to say this with a great amount of force resembling an excited sports announcer in the final moments of an intense game.)

Daddy: "DaDaDaDaDaDaDa" (She likes to pretend she is a broken record with daddy's name.)

All-Done: "Aw-dnn" (She puts up her little hands and shakes them for emphasis.)

Thank-you: "ank-ew"

Please: "esse"

Up: "Uuup, Uuup, Uuup" (Once again, the broken record. This term is usually accompanied by some tugging and begging on your legs . . . its a basic plea for "pick me up!")

Down: "Dwnn" (This one comes into play when she either wants out of your arms at the most inconvenient times, or when she is done with a meal and requires release from her high chair.)

Ball: "Baa"

Book: "Boo" (She likes to hit you in the chins with the book if are not watching)

Baby: "Bay-bay" (She is fond of her baby dolls and loves to cuddle and hold them and call them "awww, bay-bay")

Soft: "oft, oft" (She went through a face of grabbing hair, eyeballs, lips -you name it. To help her learn to stop we would take her hand and pat the person she was hurting and say"be soft, be soft" Now any time we tell her to be soft she sfotly pets herself or the victim on the head and says "oft, oft")

Snack: "SNAAA" (This is usually more of a demand than a request)

More: "Mo" (She does the sign for this one)

Sippy: "Ippee"

Poo-Poo: "Poo-poo"

Yes: "ess" (accompanied by a violent nod of the head)

No: "No" (accompanied by a violent shake of the head)

Cheese: "esse" (This term can be used for the snack or for a response to a camera pointed in her direction.)