The Big Bad Wolf

Katherine is obsessed with stories that involve The Big Bad Wolf. Yesterday, she told a story that started off being about Little Red Riding Hood, then morphed into The Three Little Pigs, but ended up as a hybrid. The outcome was that The Big Bad Wolf blew down the houses of LRR's Mom & Grandma, then ate Grandma & "The Man" (presumably The Woodsman), and they died. Wow.

Fun With Shapes

Me: Katherine, do you see any circles in here?
K: I see squares.
Me: Yes, there are lots of squares and rectangles. Do you see any circles?
K: (Points) Jillian's head!

The Big Trip, Part 4

Our first full day in-country was spent in an Arabic language class. Anyone who knows me well will confirm that I am the sort of person who is big on being prepared. The arsenal of stuff I had with me to placate/entertain/distract/mollify the girls while we were in transit was impressive, and worked pretty well. For some reason unbeknownst to me, I neglected to bring any of that with us when we went to this language class. Perhaps the cumulative lack of sleep I was already experiencing took its toll. I don't know, man, but that was a serious blunder on my part. As we kicked off the class, both girls got tired & antsy and started making noise. Our poor instructor, who was really quite awesome, got a little flustered and stopped talking. My general reaction was, "Don't mind us, we'll get this under control in a minute, just carry on." That wasn't how she was rolling, though. I get it. When you're teaching language, the students really need to be able to hear the pronunciation, which is hard when there are screaming kids present. So, here I am, trying desperately to calm the girls down, and everyone is staring at me. AWESOME. We did manage to get some quiet, however, and I think everyone learned something, or at least had a good refresher.

We went out to lunch and our instructor plied Katherine with lots of sweets. This was a recurring theme--everyone there wanted to give Katherine candy. The girls were reasonably well-behaved during the afternoon session, especially considering that Katherine didn't get a nap and was running on limited sleep--also a recurring theme for the trip--and was basically not eating or drinking much of anything but snack food and juice (not her usual fare), with an additional influx of sugar. I was more distracted than everyone else, what with caring for two small children while still trying to listen & learn, but I still managed to learn some stuff, so that was cool. Afterward, I had a very encouraging discussion with our instructor about why we were covering our heads, and she expressed gratitude, telling me how much everyone appreciated the respect we were showing to their culture, and what a great face this put on Americans. Hijabs, FTW!

The next day, we went to the very large tourist market there, which is always an experience. Katherine was tired & clingy, as was Jillian, but we made it out alive. We stopped at a restaurant there and had the best. chicken. ever. We did, however, have a tussle with a couple of really courageous cats to ensure we got to eat it unmolested. Our friend Tim had made the fateful decision to give up meat for Lent, so he went with the felafel, which included lettuce. Bad move. Actually, though, when he was predictably laid out the next day, God really spoke to him the whole day, so it was good in the midst of pain. As He does.

My favorite story from that day was David's experience. I had told everyone that we had really good luck fending off agressive vendors last time by speaking in a language other than English. We had a hotel employee accost us on the street, and our friend, Eric, responded in Italian. The dude actually threw his hands up and stepped aside to let us pass. It was fantastic. Apparently, the dudes in the market are a lot more savvy. David was being rather forcefully pitched by some guy selling...I don't know, scarves or something. He decided to respond in Japanese, in which he is fluent. The guy immediately starts talking back in Japanese. FAIL. Turns out, a lot of these guys speak several languages. David subsequently observed them watching who was coming down the corridor and calling out to them in various languages, including English, Mandarin, Japanese, and perhaps a few others. Crazy. Good for them, though, I guess. I'm sure they have families to feed, and the more tools they have in their toolbox, the more effectively they can sell trinkets to tourists, right? We got to start practicing a little Arabic this day, too. My new favorite phrase was, "Shukran, enna mish machtag da," which basically means, "Thank you, I don't need it."

The Cleverness Continues

Daddy: "You just took a toy away form your little sister, I think it's time for a time out."
Katherine: "Cowboys don't get time out."

Me: "I like hearing you tell stories, Katherine."
Katherine: "Oh, shucks."

Mama!

Jillian finally said "Mama" in my presence yesterday (5/11/10), without crying, even! We'll see if this trend continues.

Also, I just had the following conversation with Katherine:

Me: I have a tummy ache.
K: Did you swallow a dragon?
Me: (laughing) No.
K: Oh. Did you swallow a sea monster?
Me: Noooo......
K: Oh. Then what happened?
Me: I don't know.

Edited to add: I finished telling her a story by saying, "And they lived happily after after." She added, "And they ate soup."

More Quips

"Oh, brother."

Upon my saying, "Whoa, whoa, whoa," just now, K replied, "That's too much whoa."

Another thing she's doing is trying to talk me into whatever she wants by running around and yelling very rapidly, "I get _______! I get _______! I get _______! Thanks, Mommy! Thanks, Mommy! Thanks, Mommy! I'm gonna give you a kiss!"

K's Latest Quips

"Are you kidding?!"

"I'm serious."

"Speak up, Mommy!" (When she wants me to respond to her)

"See? I told ya!"

"I guess so."

"Oh, boy....."

"No, thank you." (When we ask her to do something she doesn't want to do or eat something she doesn't want to eat.)

"Little help, here?"

These are almost always completely random.

She also occasionally refers to herself in the third person, so I guess it's time for me to stop referring to myself as "Mommy," although I'll still do that with Jillian, I guess, so.....whatever.

Jillian has taken to making the "Ow" sound. Between us and Katherine, she probably hears it enough. Not sure if she knows what it means, though. :)

A Piece Of The Puzzle

Katherine is really good at doing puzzles. Everyone is rather astounded at her ability in this area, and I think she totally gets it from dad. Even though she's really good, she still occasionally struggles to get the pieces aligned just right to fit together. As I watched her struggling with one the other day (not wanting help, of course, because she can do it all by herself), I realized that we must look a bit like this to God. We try to make all the pieces of our life fit together, and we often want to do it all by ourselves. We may even be pretty adept, but we're still awfully clumsy sometimes.

Mama Mia!

Apparently, Jillian is saying "Mama," but I have yet to hear it. She does it when she's mad I'm not with her, or did a few times on Saturday (5/1/10) with Daddy. Mostly while crying. I guess that means she might know what that word means. She's also starting to get a tooth on top. It's not quite out yet, but it's close!

Katherine's potty training is continuing apace, and I have hopes that she'll be good to go by her 3rd birthday next month. We shall see!