Category: talking

Claire, after running laps in the cul-de-sac: “I can feel my heart beep!”

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One of those words that Henry learned by reading instead of hearing: he says it as “invent-ory” (like “owlery, or smithery”, not inventory.) And he thinks of it as where the inventions are kept. I love that to bits, Kevin started to correct him and I frantically waved him off. I love the idea of a little boy with an entire wing of inventions. (Even if they ARE all planes.)

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Talking about snow at dinner, and how we hope it snows this year, when Claire chimed in:
“Do you remember when we knocked over the snowman and found the grass?!”

Kevin and I were astounded, the kids didn’t see snow in person at all last year, so I think she’s talking about the early-December 2014 snowstorm when she was just two!! So amazing that at four she still remembers it (and that it’s the first time she’s mentioned it!!)

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Claire, recently, loves adding units to numbers to emphasize how impressive they are.

“This book was 100% pages!!” (She meant it had a lot of pages.)
“I waited 17 inches long.” (A long time.)
One of the kids in her class turned five. “He turned five! and now he’s so tall. He’s five million tall.”

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Claire, in her scientific observation voice, riding in the backseat: “Our voice doesn’t evaporate in here.”

(She meant echo, which is doesn’t do either. :-))

In the parking garage at Logan, picking up our rental car for the 4th of July weekend.
Claire: “Is this car an electric car?”
Kevin: “Nope, it’s gas.”
Claire, very judgy: “We don’t WANT a gas car, we want an electric guitar!”

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In NH, in the scrum while everyone was trying to get ready and head out the door to visit the library.
Henry: “I’ll be the mother, and you be the son,”
Claire: “And I’ll be the sunscreen!!”

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Claire, 7:12 am, sitting on Kevin’s pillow, typing away furiously on a purple post-it note folded in half: “I’m emailing Jeff. I’m letting him know I’m going to be on vacation in Norf Carolina. So! I can’t come to work, I’ll be on vacation.”
Me, eyes still closed: “Oh! Smart.”
Me: “Which Jeff?”
Claire: “The normal Jeff. Not the countdown Jeff.”

So, to summarize, Claire sends pretend emails to Jeff Bezos and thinks of him as “the normal Jeff.”

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Claire, at dinner, apropos of nothing: “Do you know what I will have in my house? [when she’s an adult] A desk, a computer, and everything Henry has in HIS house.”

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Henry has a mental block on “Angel food cake” and always instead says “Angel fruit cake”. A logical substitution. 🙂

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Henry has three field trips a week for camp this summer, and the first two were off to a great start: the Burke Museum (complete with dinosaur skeletons) on Wednesday, and a tour of Safeco Field plus lunch at Jefferson Park (overlooking Boeing Field and all the planes landing) on Friday.

And yet, at bedtime: “I can’t WAIT until next week. Friday. Why? [Henry is a big believer in the Socratic Method] Library! We get to take out books. And what does that mean? Learn new words.” And he looked so pleased and content with the anticipation of it. 🙂