Michaela-isms

Michaela has never had a lot of "-isms". She wanted to speak properly from the word go. Maybe I corrected her too much. But I have savoured her own silly sayings, even though they are so few and far between. As a toddler, she would call a butterfly a "flutter-die" and strawberry "straw-be-berry". She would often say "That would be like soooooo fun." Sadly, I can't think of any others... Mattew became Maffew.

Now, if you ask her what her toothpaste smells like, she says "figaroni" with a very cheeky smile. When she introduces Matthew to kids at the park she says "This is my little brother, Maffew. He's always trotting into trouble." A piece of ribbon is her "sew-er" (used for sewing, of course).

Dress up usually consists of tieing her pink snuggly blankie around herself in different ways. Around her body like a bath towel it becomes a ballgown. On her head it is a "bride" (veil). Around her neck, a cape, so she can be a super hero.

Even though she has dolls now, I love how she still uses her Winnie the Pooh teddy to be a princess and her puppy to be a prince. The sheep teddies are their horses.

Matthew tries to say Lightening McQueen "Akeen" and his catch-phrase Ka-chow "Ah-choe". After we say grace, instead of saying Ahhh, he can now say Ahmin. And, as always, will wait until we are done praying to eat, now matter how hungry he is. Amazing the things they learn just from watching. Now Michaela will even remind me to lock the front door if I forget. I guess she watches me like a hawk.

I love how she makes up her own words to music without lyrics. Her favourite is the intermission music for the Sound of Music soundtrack. Her favorite line is "Don't forget about my sister" which she sings repeatedly throughout. She also has Cinderella on tape and will sing to the music after the story, mostly nonsense, but often "Cinderella, she is the one!" over and over. There is no better "feel good" music I could imagine listening to in the car. My other favorites are when Matthew chimes in to "Do, a Deer" (he sings the do, re, mi parts) and "So Long, Farewell" (he sings the "cuckoo" part).

In the insults department, her favorites used to be "you're a bega" or "you're a sega". A newer favorite is "Mom, you're a nose-bush". These are always used in a silly (not mean) context, so I always have a comeback to the nose-bush by calling her a nut-bush. And lots of laughing ensues. When I try to be stern with her she says "Oh Mom, don't be such a guppy." And if she really wants to impress you, she'll show you her dinglehopper (a fork) and comb her hair with it.

Our favorite last night was her desperate plea during dinner "But its too spicy when there's no spice!"