Oakley and Emerson, my little jabber-mouths. I LOVE the way they talk! I thought I'd share some of their most recent adaptations to the English language as the intro to this post. In addition to the phonetic spellings, I have included a translation and/or explanation. It is also labeled "E" if Emerson says it, "O" if Oakley does, and "B" if they both do. Enjoy!
B: "keema-uppa, keema-uppa" Do this in a sing-song voice and it stands for "Clean up, clean up!" Though it is both boys who say it, Oakley does far more. He is OBSESSED with cleanliness and gets a little irritable when there is too much mess. His initials are OCP, but we call him OCD. :) Of all the things that he could make such a stink about, I am NOT complaining about this one.
B: "Tootoochain toofpaste." Choo-choo train toothpaste, specifically Thomas the Tank Engine.
B: "No buzznwoody!" We fasted from Toy Story for 30 days. When your kids routinely wake up and immediately say, "Buzznwoody?" as in, "Can we watch Toy Story now?" you find it necessary to say, "No buzznwoody," quite a bit, and after a while, they said it too! Kerry's parents recently brought down some real Toy Story figurines. Let's just say the boys think they are in paradise.B: "No chicken nuggets." We are on a[n indefinite] fast from chicken nuggets. Way. Too. Many. on our last trip Up North. I could vomit just at thinking about the smell of chicken nuggets. So, every time we drive past McDonald's or Burger King we hear, "No chicken nuggets."
O: "Emmason's turn!" This is how Oakley says, "Emerson's turn!" when they are shooting hoops, riding on something, going down the slide, jumping in the pool, etc.
E: "Oakwee's turn!" You get the point. Warms my heart at how good they can be at taking turns!
B: "Sowee. Give you." When someone in our house commits an offense, that person needs to say, "Sorry, ____________." The offended replies with, "I forgive you, _____________." Only, when they are saying it to each other, it comes out, "Sowee Oakwee," and "Give you, Emmason." Does it get any cuter?!
E: "Dockow." I have no idea why, but that is how he says, "Thank you."
O: "Tahtum." Again, really no clue here, but this is his version of "Thank you."
B: "Run fast!" In our house, we don't run. We run fast. Always.
B: "Jump high!" In our house, we don't jump. We jump high. Always.
B: "Frow hard!" Throw hard... you get the point.
B: "I may never shoot anyone!" Yes, that is verbatim their version of the Sunday school song, "I'm in the Lord's Army!" which has been labeled in our house as "Payton's song" or "Yesh, shir!".
E: "Want monkey cheese," is translated to, "I want macaroni and cheese." He is his father's child!
B: "Chuch." That's "church", minus the r. Say it out loud. I like it!
E: "Wanna go Wyan's hoouuuuuuuuuse!" He only did this once, but it was at the top of his lungs, crying hysterically in his bed at nap time. He was mad at me, so he said, "I wanna go to Ryan's hoouuuuuuuuse!"
O: "NO! No orange!" We're in the midst of learning our colors. Oakley is convinced that orange in really called pink. He thinks every shirt he wears is pink and when I correct him he says, "NO! No orange!"
To add to those hilarious sayings, the boys hit a huge milestone a few weeks ago-- on the same day at two different times! This really jazzed me, because they are as fraternal as fraternal boys can get and they NEVER develop at the same time. While preparing to go to the zoo, I asked Oakley (his brother was still sleeping), "What are we going to see at the zoo today?" and he replied, "Fish and elephants!" This was the first time he responded to an open-ended question without being prompted of the answer. I was so happy Kerry was there to witness it. Later that night, while eating dinner, I asked the boys, "What did we see at the zoo today?" and Emerson replied without prompting, "Fish and elephants!" Kerry and I were (well, I will speak for myself here) shocked! They seriously NEVER do stuff like that-- reach a milestone in the same day and using the exact same words to do so! Now, they are able to respond to open-ended questions all the time.
"How does your chicken taste?" "Good."
"What did you do at the park?" "Slide. Swings."
Sometimes they answer incorrectly, like in, "Fish and elephants." There are no elephants at the Blank Park Zoo. :)
One last monologue. A good one. You don't want to skim this!
Over the past 11 weeks, God has been using the Breaking Free Bible Study by Beth Moore to show me how much he longs for me to live a life that is free, joyful, and honoring to Him. I've learned a lot about my own struggles with anger and now the truth of God's Word is actually creating a new way of thinking and behaving in my life. Through this, I have had a heightened awareness of my sin, particularly in the issue of anger, and am pleased to say I deal with it much better now, thanks to the Lord's patient endurance with me. My outbursts have become far less frequent and, when I am angry, my sensitivity to the Holy Spirit is higher so I am able to stop sooner and realize the root of my anger quicker.
Yes... I realize this blog is getting a little deep... You might be asking yourself, "What exactly does this have to do with Poucher, E&O??" Well, everything, actually. I didn't want to believe my children were affected by my anger as much as they truly are, even though in my heart of hearts, I couldn't get away from it. I understand that children are sponges and are aware of far more than they can articulate. I do not want to be their main example and, therefore, justification, for any future anger problems.
To put this in perspective, I have observed the following scenario many times over the last two weeks.
Me: [quietly, to myself] Ugh.
Emerson: Sowee, Mommy.
Oakley: Give you, Mommy.
Get it?! Emerson hears my frustration, no matter how minuscule it is, and takes it upon himself, assuming he did something wrong and must apologize for it. Breaks. My. Heart... Tears are welling up in my eyes to know my two year old is blaming himself for my irritation.
Then, there's Oakley, who clearly understands I am not behaving correctly when I express my frustration like that, and he feels personally offended by it. How do I know? He's forgiving me! "Give you, Mommy."
They understand! They are watching everything I do. They've picked up on my tendencies. They know right from wrong. They have feelings. My precious little boys are going to do what I do, even when they know they should do as I say. And that, my friends, puts the fear of the Lord in me.
Disclaimer: I'm not saying God says it's wrong to be angry ever. Ephesians 4:26 says, "In your anger do not sin." There is a way to deal with anger while avoiding sin. Even Jesus became angry (Matthew 21:12, for example), and the Bible says he never sinned and was totally perfect.
Ahhhh, feels so good to get that off my chest! As always, feel free to contact me if you have any questions/comments/concerns!
Now, on the to pictures!
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| Oakley, post-spaghetti |
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| Oakley's "bike". |
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| Emerson, "riding a bike" as he said. |
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| The boys love taking pictures with Mommy these days because they love to look at it on the screen after. I definitely don't mind! |
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| Emerson and Mommy! |
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| Emerson and Mommy again. He thinks so hard about it that he forgets to smile. :) |
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| Emerson Crane Poucher and his pal Jon Crane. One day, Emerson randomly said, "JC's my friend." Precious! |
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| Getting ready for the pool! |
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| Oakley in Daddy's boots. |
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| Bros. |
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| Gangsta! |
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| Popping popcorn on the stove! |
Their new room! As promised, here are the details of their totally spacey room!
We bought a bunk bed with rolling trundle. Emerson's bear takes up a huge portion of the bed and weighs about 50 pounds, so he gets the bottom bunk. Oaks and his puppy get the trundle. When we want more space, we just push the trundle in. No one sleeps on the top bunk, yet!
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| Vintage bookshelf with sweet painting from Shelby! Also we put a digital clock in their room (covered the minutes side) and taught them how to recognize 7 from 8. They aren't allowed to get out of bed till 8! It's working well! |
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| The heavens are telling of the glory of God, and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Psalm 19:1 |
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| The map! E and O pick one nation to pray for each night! I took this picture after Emerson woke up from peeing the bed, can ya tell? His exact words, "Mommy, I soakin' wet." |
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| Bed with trundle out. |
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| Bed with trundle in. |
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| O loves his new room! |
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| Kerry's awesome art skills. Here you see Mars and Mercury (maybe) and the Little Dipper! |
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| Here is Caseopea and some other planet... |
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| Uncle Milton's Moon in My Room goes thru all 12 phases of the moon. Cool nightlight. |
