I am continually amazed at the cute and funny things that come out of kids mouths. When they are learning to adapt their speech to our common usages the things they put together are so amusing. Learning that adding an "ed" to the end makes something past tense results in things like "goed" or "gone" instead of went, "maked" instead of made, "keeped" instead of kept. Those are common things coming from Katherine these days.
Other funny things stem from associating an object with what it does. Today, Jack was using the sign for nurse even though I was across the room (he sometimes uses it to indicate he wants something, not necessarily to nurse). Katherine, who was sitting next to him, exclaimed "Jack wants to nurse from me." That alone was comical enough to picture, but she followed it up with "He can't do that, my nurses are too little." Hysterical!
She must just have babies on the brain (no idea why). She has been pretending to be pregnant today and while we were in the car she informed me that she was going to have two girls and two boys: Melissa and Tatum for the girls and Conor and Jack for the boys.
Jack still only really says Mama, Daddy and now something like deedee for dog. However, he has started singing the tune to one of Katherine's favorite songs. For months Katherine has been singing the song "My God is Mighty to Save." She and James heard it on the radio in the car on their way to school and she sings it often. Over the last week or so Jack has started singing - really cute, especially when he pulls out a stool, stands on it, and sings to his heart's content. A couple of days ago I realized that he was actually singing a specific tune - he has been singing the tune to "My God is Mighty to Save."
Jack has really gotten into cars, trucks, and things that "go." Last weekend we all drove up to my family's farm in Minnesota for my grandfather's funeral. We stayed late with several cousins on Sunday to play around on the farm. I got to drive a tractor, James hit golf balls into a corn field and had some target practice with some of Papa's old guns, Katherine had a sleepover with Grandma and Great Grandma the first night, and Jack became enthralled with the tractor. Jack was the funniest - he watched me drive the tractor around, then when we had parked and turned it off my cousin Shannon lifted him up to the seat. He immediately grabbed the steering wheel with a grunt of satisfaction. Shannon hit the starter button, making a really loud noise - Jack didn't flinch. Shannon hit the button again, then Jack tried to press the button - he had a blast!
Out of the tragedy of Papa's death came the blessing of reconnecting with relatives I haven't seen in almost a decade. Most had never met the kids, some hadn't even seen me since I was a kid. With the blessing of modern technology we hope to keep in touch better in the years to come, and plan to get together more than once in a decade!
