Let me be very clear

A while back, while playing on her magna doodle, Stephanie asked me to draw a word that sounded like "tree" to my ears.  So I said, "a tree?".  She said, "no, a [word that still sounds exactly like] tree". "A treat?" I ask.  "No, not a tree, a [still sounds like] tree, like you drive on".  OH... A street!  Got it!  I had never had her explain a term to me, and I thought it was quite clever.  Now she does it most of the time that I don't understand her, as she has realized how effective it is.
One of the recent ones was when she offered me "skates" when I had barely stepped out of bed.  She was holding two blankets, and I felt in no condition to start my day by scooting around on a blanket on the floor, so I said, "oh, honey I just woke up, I don't really want to skate."  And she said, "no, not skates like you use on a pond, a cape like you wear in your shirt."  Realistically, I wasn't exactly feeling like a morning superhero either, but that was a more appealing option than ice skating around the house.
Another language thing that she has been doing lately is talking in gobbly gook, and then translating for me, as what she just said was either in Spanish, French, or German.  Kevin thinks she has language overload.  I blame Dora, Fancy Nancy and Kevin (in that order) for the desire to speak to me in another language, as it can really slow down meal preparation when she places her order in another "language", but it is fairly comical.
Stephanie's use of words and her creativity is still so much fun for us.  She says so many things that we find charming and hysterical.  I try to remember some of the favorites to record here for posterity. I think it will be fun when Gwen starts to talk to look back at the similarities and differences, but that will be a while from now, hopefully long enough for me to think of some clever name for a blog for her... Perhaps since Stephanie is my little wordsmith, she will have an idea, and I will be off the hook for that one, as right now the best I have is "The squawkings of Gwen the Hen", and I don't think Gwen will forgive me for that one!

Hipping to the Hop

After weeks of intensive training, it was finally time this morning for the big dance recital for our tiny hip hopper.  Stephanie dressed for the occasion, but I had her remove some of her accessories for the actual recital.  Mary even came to enjoy the big dance!

The full outfit

And back in the hat right after the recital!

I've never loaded video before, so I'm not sure how this will work...  I had to reduce the image quality to have it load, which is unfortunate.