Baileyisms and Other Family News

Since Bailey was a wee little thing, I've been telling stories of the funny or interesting things she says. She had a vocabulary of about 10 words by her first birthday, so we've had a lot of time to comment on and laugh about her sayings. Now that she's 4, I feel like I have less and less funny stories about what she's said and more and more insightful ones. However, she was cracking me up this past week, so I feel compelled to share.

1. We were out shopping and she was trying to grab something from an upper shelf that she knew she really shouldn't pull down. Right about the time she wrapped her fingers around the item (imagine her on her tippiest tippy-toes), the loud speaker clicked on and a male voice said, "We need a manager at the register, a manager at the register please." Bailey immediately recoiled and burst into tears. I had no idea why, so I crouched down and asked her what was wrong. She said, "I don't want to get arrested, momma!!" After some more questions, it became clear that what she heard was, "We need a manager to arrest her, a manager to arrest her, please." We laughed about Bailey getting "arrested" for a good 2 hours afterward. So funny.

2. After having played with the neighborhood kids for a little while, Bailey ran over and told Jason that our neighbor Calli (who is 13) is pregnant. My husband couldn't hardly stand the news and sent me over to find out if it was really true. So, Bailey and I walked back over to the group of kids and I asked everyone what was going on. Callie, almost immediately said, "I'm running for president." She went on to talk about her junior high elections. At first I didn't make the connection, then quickly realized that Bailey had mistaken "president" for "pregnant." I had to have a talk with her about starting rumors!!! Needless to say, my husband is relieved and Calli is still a sweet little innocent 13 year-old girl.

3. Bailey and I went to Target and had our standard coke and popcorn date at the end of our shopping. I didn't notice, but a baby was crying around the corner. Bailey said, "Babies are so distractive." I said, "Destructive? Yeah, sometimes they tear things up, huh?" She sighed and said, "No, they're distractive and I can't concentrate." I laughed and corrected her that she meant distracting. Then, I told her that she needs to have patience with babies, though, because they don't know how to say words to ask for what they need so crying is how they communicate with people around them. Then I reminded her that Nolan might soon be saying his first words other than mama and dada. I asked, "What do you think his first word will be?" She thought for a minute and said, "I guess he might say refrigerator." After I choked on my drink a bit, I asked why she thought this. Her reply? "Well, he has to learn all the words in the whole world, so he might as well get that hard one out of the way." Makes sense, I suppose! :-)

I'm sure there are more stories I could tell, as she never ceases to amaze me with her thoughtfulness and wit (intentional and unintentional)!

Moving on.....Nolan is buzzing around the house like a man on a mission these days. He's finally decided that walking is a pretty good deal, but we have to face the consequences of daily face plants onto the tile, side of the coffee table, etc. Poor kid just keeps right on going, but definitely gets to a point where he's just ready for me to carry him around rather than face all the obstacles in our house!

He's also started to "say" things very emphatically, but we don't at all know what he means. He really only has a couple of consonant sounds that he uses regularly (he used to say more, but has settled on a few favorites over the past month or so) so, for instance, "ma ma" could mean me....or it could have a little different inflection and mean something like "yes, I know I'm not supposed to have this remote control that I'm about to deviously throw over the backside of the couch so you have to move the 300 pound couch to retrieve it just so I can find it and do the whole routine again." Or maybe that's just me. Smile.

Here are a few pictures from the past couple of weeks. We had our church Fall Festival so the kids got to wear their Halloween costumes. Bailey is going to be Little Miss Muffett and Nolan is the spider (who sat down beside her!). He, however, refused to keep on his headpiece. He's still a cute little arachnid even without the headpiece.

We also spent some time at the zoo this weekend. Now, Jason and I had a deep discussion about whether or not Nolan had been to the zoo before. I know I took Bailey several days before he was born (hoping that the walking would push him on out), but I can't remember if he's been outside of my belly! In any case, he wouldn't have really been interested in the animals any younger than he is now. Not that he was all that interested this time. Here you can see that he gave the monkeys and the fish a second look, but that was about it!

Finally, I've included a couple of other pics and a short video from this past week. As you can see, my claim of the kids being obsessed with the computer is no exaggeration. Here they are both vying for their place in front of the screen. They don't realize that it's locked and their typing is doing nothing. :-)

What a great daddy!! Fingernail painting and everything...

Bailey doesn't usually sit in a baby swing...but, of course, since Nolan was swinging she had to do the exact same thing!