Pfui! I'm No Blatherskate!

While watching "Phineas and Ferb" the other evening ("Aren't you a little too old to be watching children's cartoons?" "Yes, yes I am.") I decided on a word-hoarder challenge. Well Luke and I decided together. The fictional brothers of summer high jinks and wild imaginations (really, you ought to watch at least one episode) compiled a list of atypical words for kids to use in their everyday conversations, and then they began using them. Brilliant! It was then, actually, during a walk that we hit on the idea to make our own list. Of course, the list would be fashioned for our use, but where to find the words? Random searches in the dictionary? Words we had often heard but rarely used? We chose to start with the words of the fictional "grand master of detection," Nero Wolfe (and if you haven't read any Nero Wolfe mysteries, you should also give one of them a try).

Wolfe is a stickler for proper usage of the English language. In one story he even destroys a dictionary, page by page in the fire because it was a new edition that, in his mind, blackened the beauty of the language with vile acceptance of some definitions. But proper use doesn't mean there won't be a "pfui," "confound it," or "blatherskate" escaping from his lips when he is agitated. Why burp when you can eruct? Why call someone stupid when they are really fatuous? See the fun? His right-hand man, Archie, often has to look up words in the dictionary just so he can understand Wolfe. Luke and I have to look the words up too. And why look up a new word if we never plan to use it?

If we could only use a dictionary to look up Geddy's words! He's got a few recognizable ones now, however. Adding to dada, mama (which merges with more, or more correctly mo), he now articulates hot (or ot), truck (or uck), and tickle (or gltigltigl). I think he calls outside sigh. Maybe he even says shoe as su. But Luke and I think it would be chucklesome if Geddy's first big word were something like egregious or supercilious. Tantamount? Chicanery? And not because we practiced a big word with him 100 times a day but just because he heard us use it and liked to play with it on his tongue and then start saying it on his own. What sagacity he would radiate.

Currently our list is not complete, and maybe it never will be. I'm adding daily to my note on the kitchen cabinet. I don't want it to be onerous but fun. I fear too often I will be pusillanimous and not try out a new word when I have the chance. For now I shall aim to be temerarious.

Geddy Update

Farewell Facebook, now how to keep Geddy's fans up to date on his life? I'm pledging more time to blogging, and, when in doubt about a topic, I turn to my favorite little story. 

It started with a haircut and suddenly our baby became a little boy ready for school. If he was just a little taller he would easily fool some administrators about his age. OK, and if he spoke English. (He speaks a ton, but it's still his own magical language.) 

But height and verbiage aside, Geddy is walking more and just about ready to wear shoes when we go places. He enjoys traveling several feet back and forth on the carpet between Mommy and Daddy, diving for the outstretched hands at the last minute and giggling like crazy. 

When Daddy comes home Geddy is often reaching for him and then pointing upstairs as if to say, Let's go to the office! That is definitely his favorite room in the house. Lately he's taken more interest in the guitar and is ready to strum away when they get up there. Or play with whiteboard markers. 

Geddy had some noteworthy firsts over this last week. He spent his first nights in a hotel when we went to visit friends and family. We told him there was a pool but I guess we forgot to mention that it wasn't in our room. Getting ready one of the mornings I lost track of Geddy, and with a sudden OH NO! rushed madly to the bathroom where he was happily splashing in the toilet. (That first being bad enough, I won't tell you about the first I had while Geddy was sitting in my lap!) 

He met some dear people for the first time and their dear pets. The rats were thrilled that he couldn't get into their cage; the chickens were happy he stayed on the other side of their fence; the dogs couldn't get in enough kisses; the cats kept their sweet distance.

As I write this, Geddy is working on nap number two for the day, exhausted from playing piano, stacking blocks, tickling Mommy, and reading stories. If only he would be just as exhausted at 4 and 5 AM!

                             Ready to whack Grandpa with a spoon!

                  My fingers go here?

The Smelly Life I Wouldn't Trade

Yesterday I was walking with a friend along a sidewalk above a canal. Finally unable to keep it to myself any more I exclaimed about the horrendous smell accosting my nose. She agreed it was bad and thought it might be the canal. Or a dead animal. I could hardly focus on conversation I hated the smell so much. A little later on we saw a Roto-Rooter truck outside of a place of business. Ah, the culprit: sewer. EW!

I'm not sure how far into the future I will remember this particular sensory walk, but smells have a way of holding onto my nostril hairs long after the smells have dissipated. You probably have several memories connected to smell. Several smells that make you want to hurl and some that bring pleasant thoughts. Lately I have filled our house with the aromas of brownies and banana bread baking because something kept smelling funky every time we would walk through the door. I noticed it. Luke noticed it. Geddy probably created it.

Living with boys brings lots of new smells to my life. Take, for example, the pair of socks on the couch. Or the pair on the floor staying cozy with Luke's shoes. Or the pair under the bed. Luke gets home and his socks come off wherever he happens to feel inclined to remove them. At least I haven't found them on the kitchen counter! I don't spend any time smelling these socks, but it's summer and, well, it's hard to wear any item of clothing for very long before it gets damp and stinky.

Let me just pause for a moment to say that yes, I smell pretty ripe sometimes, so I realize that icky smells don't only come from the guys. And I was the one who lived for two years in a small rectangle attached to my landlady's kennel-for-a-home dwelling. It was like having dog and cat urine anti-air fresheners. For some reason it annoyed Luke more than me, but I guess I got too used to it. But there was the time I returned from a weekend in Boise and ended up sleeping in a tent in the yard. It took awhile to locate the source of that awful smell, but it wasn't animals. My landlady finally checked some sort of tray under the refrigerator that had collected a brown goo. They cleaned that out and gave me a ton of plug in deodorizers, which were extreme in the other direction of smell.

Now when I come across disturbing smells at home and I've showered, collected all the socks and tossed them into the laundry basket, I turn to the other guy in the home and go after all his diapers and diaper accessories. We're part-time cloth-diaper parents. It was my choice: save the landfills a little, save some dollars. While we stay part-time to make nights and travel away from home less wet and smelly, the stench from messy diapers is bad with both systems. One day I returned from a walk with Geddy and was attacked with an odor as soon as I went upstairs. Oh the horror when I discovered that I'd left a wet cloth diaper in Geddy's room in my hurry to get outside! Most of the time we get a good system going. I change the diaper and Luke runs outside with it. Or I change the diaper and flush the poop and rush it to the bucket while Luke takes the Geddy. Or Luke changes the diaper. It does happen. He's a hands-on daddy.

I must say, the little guy smells rather good most of the time. And so does the big guy. I'm thankful to be living with my guys because their smells are very worth it to have this awesome family. Right now Geddy is smelling his lambie. Hmm. That is probably a sign that I should wash it!