I hit the Mudder Woad

Hello mudder, hello fahder........

You know the song. I know the song. And that's what my little Rayla calls me and her dad. Mudder and Fahder. It is by far one of the cutest things I hear my kids say on a daily basis. Luckily for me, most of the children have spoken some of their letters a little 'off' at times, resulting in the sweetest versions of whatever it is they're trying to say.

Speech impediments are no stranger to this family. From a young age, Katie had difficulties with the sound 'k'  the sound 't' and differentiating between her R's, L's and W's. One summer, before we were even married, I think, we were driving in to Portland and playing the game 'I spy' with things along the drive. It was Katie's turn, and she had the letter W. I remember her looking out the front window and shouting "I got it!! I spy, with my little eye, something that stawts with W." And, so we began......"Is it Washington?" "No." "Is it the window?" "Nope" We went on and on with guesses until it seemed that she really hadn't figured something out and was pulling our chain. So we gave up. "What is it then" We asked. "Silly mom, it's WOAD! We dwive on a woad!" OH. MY. GOODNESS!!!! We nearly wet ourselves laughing so hard. And, before she called Corey 'Dad,' she had some difficulties with his name that always left us giggling. She couldn't say Corey with a 'k' sound. But, she COULD say the sound. So, for a good two years, we practiced constantly with her; "Say, K - K - K - COREY." She would say "K - K - K - TOWEE." Eventually, she got it. But, we don't let her forget. Woad, load, road.....To her, it was all the same thing!

Now, little kids often have issues with "th" and making it sound right. Most of the time, the replacement for 'th' is 'd'. Which is where Mudder and Fahder come in. Only Rayla does this right now, but, Cooper and Katie both did it, too,  when they were toddlers. Mackenzie went straight from 'mama' to "It's awfully nice to see you mother." Articulate child, she is. But, when Rayla calls me Mudder, it's just a blessing to hear. She's got a little bit of a raspy voice (naturally), and when she actually says the word, it's always in an endearing manner. "Mudder, may I please have a snack?" or "I love you, Mudder!" Just wonderful. It's even cuter listening to the twins talk since they got their hair cuts. Somehow, everything seems cuter with their little bob cuts!!

Corey and I attended Cooper's first school conferences. It didn't quite go as we had thought it would. Smart kid, they say. Does well in math, in reading, and in recalling things he's been taught. In fact, he excels significantly for Kindergarten and is above where he needs to be. But, he just doesn't listen to his teachers!! What?!? Could they really mean my sweet, smart, patient, loving little boy? Apparently so, because, the two different teachers we conferenced with both told us the same thing. Lovely. While we were sitting in conferencing with Mrs. Irusta, a teacher who proudly doesn't give in to the devilish behaviors of these testy little critters, Cooper says "Mrs. Irusta, I love you." Now, as sweet as that did sound and may seem, she was quick to say, "Well, buddy, you're too late. I've already told your parents about your awful behavior." Now, it might not have been those exact words, but you get the gist. And, to top it all off, this was the teacher that he cried over having to give a Valentine to, because she had sent him to the "thinking chair" too many times. Obviously, not enough, though, since his report card, AND both his teachers, verify that he's failing in that area. I know I'm not failing in teaching him at home. BUT, there's room for improvement. And, from here on out, this mudder isn't going to let things slide as easily as before. Now, how to convince Corey to lay the law down a little harder on his one and only son......that's another story.

Those Dreadful Valentines....

Valentine's day is in two days. There are two things that usually cross my mind when it comes to this holiday: 1.) Are we going out or staying in? And, if we go out, who's babysitting?
2.) Oh, those dreadful school Valentines!!

Just kidding about the dreadful Valentines. But, the task is large, especially for younger school age children. It's all about finding the "coolest" box sets of valentines to hand out to friends. Now, I've only in the past had Katie to deal with, so as long as it was frilly and girly it was fine.  But, apparently, boys are different. The box set needs to be "boyish" and even the cards inside must be separated for the boys and the girls. Heaven forbid that a boy gets one of those Spongebob cards that looks like it should have gone to a girl!!! Maybe that's just my son, for he is a perfectionist. Wonder where he gets that from?!? Actually, we sat down Sunday afternoon and had ALL the kids do their Valentines. The girls have preschool Valentines, and Cooper has kindergarten. Katie couldn't care less, probably because she doesn't have a boyfriend.....I'm not complaining.

Watching the children do their valentines is really quite sweet. They are all so different in the way they went about personalizing their cards. Cooper carefully wrote every name clearly, and signed his so that everyone knew that it was from him. He was thrilled to be filling these out. EXCEPT, when it came to one of the four teachers that he interacts with. In fact, we had to convince him, through tears of refusal, that all teachers deserve a Valentine. Apparently, however, Cooper didn't see it that way - According to him, there's one teacher who has no problem throwing him in the "thinking chair" whenever she sees fit. Now, because I KNOW that my son is ornery, I know that every time he's sent there is well deserved. Anyways, we finally convinced him to sign a card for her, and in the end he was happy to do so. But that, was quite the trip!

The girls are nothing alike. Mackenzie signs her name on her cards very carefully and makes an "assignment" out of it. She always finishes what she begins, so this task took a LONG time. Good thing we did this on a Sunday or mama would have been doing this on Wednesday night after everyone went to bed! Rayla is a little more eclectic with her cards. Apparently she didn't understand that you write your name on the back of the cards...a few cards in I realized that she was actually coloring in the Hello Kitty face on the front of the cards. Oh, well...She says that this way everyone will know it's from her, which I'm sure of. A Valentines card with a cool cartoon, colored in with black pen and an empty back side where the names are supposed to go? Yep, that's my Rayla.....spaz extraordinaire!

Thank God Katie doesn't have a boyfriend yet. She isn't really into Valentine's Day, and that's okay with us! She went to the Valentine's dance last weekend with her friends, and she loved "going stag." I was a little leery about this group of girls going to the "Valentine's Dance" dateless, but, they just figured they were all each other's dates. They re-created a picture that they all posed for 8 years ago....that's half their lives! So it was worth just that for them to get out and be together. This whole thing about me hoping that she doesn't find a boyfriend in the near future probably has something to do with the stories Corey has told me about boys this age. It scares the crap outta me! Of course, I think that my husband, back in the day, likely wasn't the best example of how boys should act. But,  if that was the case, he's learned something over the years, cause' he really is the biggest romantic I know!! That being said, I have no idea whether he's planning something or maybe I should!! ha ha. With four kids, though, putting romance into the day is nearly impossible for us. And, it's a school night......ah, parenthood on Valentine's day!!

So to all of you out there gearing to celebrate love, Happy Valentine's Day!