Verbal Snapshot

I'm going to interject the kind of post that is my kids' favorite to read, even though Christmas is next in the queue.  I found some old papers with cute things the kids have said in the past, and I'll combine them with current personality updates.  I can't even begin to express how I love these details and anecdotes about my kids.  Each one of my children is unique - and so darn cute.  Of course, there's a liberal sprinkling of boasting included, but I think the kids should always know how proud I am of them.  They have all adjusted well to our new life here.  The oldest three have made friends easily at school, and the people in the ward love having our kids around.


Eli
- Eli loves animals.  (He is obsessed with our cat, Max.)  One day, we were driving up our hill and we saw a dead opossum.  As we were driving past, the kids looked closely at it (it wasn't bloody or anything).  Then Eli said, "Sometimes they play dead.  Maybe it was just pretending to be dead!"  They all agreed, and it made them feel much better.
-When Eli watches a show, he will often recreate it in some way after.  (My brother, Mike, did the same thing.)  After watching Despicable Me, Eli made little minions out of Legos.  After an episode of Wild Kratts, he used cardboard and duct tape to make "creature suits."  Once he made the Mario characters out of Lego.  He'll also act things out from a show or game with Jonah.
-Eli can still spend long hours building with Legos.  If we'd let him, he'd also spend long hours playing video games.  Or watching Phineas and Ferb.
-Eli is still very affectionate.  He's often my helper, and he loves to spend time doing things with John.  He has been so excited lately about working on the pinewood derby car with his dad.  Maybe that's why I got the shaft yesterday. :)  I had spent hours the last two days working on his American Revolution project with him.  It really turned out well.  On the required dedication page, he wrote, "For Dad."
-He's sensitive to the feelings of others.  If I am really stressed, he'll say, "Love you, Mom."  He is friends with a boy at school who gets bullied by others.  He doesn't like to see anyone mistreated.  Sometimes he'll jump into disagreements with siblings.  (That's not to say he won't argue himself. )
-Eli's teacher says he reads so much at school, she has to get after him sometimes.  She loves it, but she'll chuckle and shake her head as she tells me.  (So maybe she doesn't really love it.)  There are stories of my dad doing the same thing.  His teacher told me she's amazed at how much he knows.  She'll mention an obscure science term, and he'll already know about it.
-His pockets are always full of an assortment of little things.  I have to check them before I throw them in the wash, and I'll find bits of eraser on which he's drawn faces, small rocks, Lego mini-figures, wood chips, etc.
-Eli has gotten too old to have me come to lunch with him now, darn it.
- Eli enjoys art.  The art teacher at school asked him to help with a big totem pole he's making for the school art show.


Tori
-Here's one from a couple of years ago: Tori came home and told me that they'd been mixing church colors in art class.  (Primary colors, of course.)
-Tori still loves her Webkinz animals.  She seems so grown up sometimes, and then she still seems like my little girl at other times.  On Easter, she got a stuffed dog, and gathered her other stuffed animals to meet him.  They were all there in a half circle.  She was frustrated when Maggie wouldn't bring hers over to be greeted as well.
-She would really like to have a hamster or little bird.  She frequently checks out books on caring for them from the library.  At recess, she and her friend, Josie, pretend to have pet hamsters and they make little beds and collect food for them.
-Tori takes good care of Maggie.  She likes to hold Maggie's hand as they go to sleep.  The two of them often play together.  Sometimes, though, Maggie just doesn't do things right, and it makes Tori a little crazy.  When Tori gets upset with someone, she'll dramatically go to her room, and then come out later when she's over it.  It works out pretty well. 
-School is a breeze for Tori.  Her teacher can't say enough good about her.
-Tori has a beautiful singing voice.  She's also quite artistic.  I don't think I mentioned on my blog that Tor won an art contest at school last year and was in the local paper.  She also won a contest for a TV station and they showed her drawing during the weather.
-Oh, here's one for all of them.  They've made up some silly characters like Smee and Little Miss Lucy.  They've also made up some words and phrases that go with them - like Hooper Fish.  They'll often say something like, "Smee thinks that....."  (Sorry, I'm not remembering specifics.)  Anything they say when they slip into this mode is extremely humorous to them.  They can get each other laughing hysterically.  Often during dinner.  And it sometimes devolves into bathroom humor if you're not right on top of things.
-Tori is often my most independent child.  She doesn't need any encouragement to sleep through the night by herself or do anything solo. 
-All of the kids love playing board games, but Tori will often initiate it.  Her favorite is UNO, and she's a pretty good shuffler.  She does not like to lose, if the other people enjoy winning too much.
-Tori draws pictures for me and makes cards all of the time. 
-Tori likes to read books from the Rainbow Magic Fairy series.  There's a fairy for every imaginable thing - animals, jewels, flowers - and each has its own book.


Jonah
-This is from when Jonah was three:  He told me he didn't like Barney anymore, and I expressed some surprise.  He thought for a moment and then said, "I will only like Barney if we talk about it...... When I jump on the bed, that means I'm ready to talk about it."  Then he started jumping on the bed.  So I realized that was my cue to say nice things about the show.  It was a funny exchange.  (It's interesting that I can find a paper with an anecdote on it like this, and it takes me right back, even though I'd forgotten all about it.)
-One more from that time period:  Jonah is sometimes a bit hesitant about things.  The kids had been invited to Matthew Warden's party, who's Tori's age. 
Tori asked Jonah, "Are you excited about Matthew's party?"
"Only if you are."
"I am!"
"Then I am, too."
-The last time we stayed at a hotel, Jonah wondered if we could get something from the "vendering machines" in the hall.  (Unfortunately, when his siblings correct him, he'll never say it wrong again.  Unlike Maggie, who just keeps saying, "lellow" or whatever else.)
-A lot of the things I said about Eli are true for Jonah as well.  He can build with Legos for long periods and he loves pretend games with Eli or me.  We still play versions of our "Zoo" game, which he often initiates.  The dynamic between Eli and Jonah has changed a bit.  Jonah used to be thrilled just to be included with Eli, and willingly followed all of his instructions, played the less cool characters, etc.  Now, he seems to be on equal footing, and is therefore less accommodating.  Sometimes, too, Eli will come and complain to me now that Jonah doesn't want to play with him.  They really do play remarkably well together.  All of the kids do.  They can get really crazy at night, especially.
-We have to drive for 35 min. to church each way, so we often play 20 questions.  We've added a couple of specific categories for things that they regularly choose: "Is it an animal?" and "Is it a bug?"  A while back Jonah wanted to add a new category: "Is it a made-up thing?"  I told them there was no way I could guess a made-up word, since there were millions of letter-combinations he could use.  But he insisted.  So - I try to guess for a while, and then I tell him I give up.  He enjoys it.  (When Jonah was little and we'd play it, we'd always ask, "Jonah, is it Barney?"  And it nearly always was.)
-Jonah is a good little reader.  He didn't get as much preschool, so I didn't know if he'd start off as strongly as the other two.  But his teacher thinks he's amazing.  And he is.  All-day kindergarten is still a little long for him.  He's happy when it's a weekend.
-Sometimes if Jonah stretches the truth or says something that's clearly not true, he'll look embarrassed and say, "April Fools.....even though it's not April Fools day...."  He's so cute.
-Jonah does not like to dress warmly.  He has worn shorts at home all winter, and he'll go without a jacket whenever he can get away with it.  If you see a family picture where he's the only one not in a coat, it's not because the weather was somewhere in between.  (Eli prefers shorts indoors, too.)
-Sometimes when someone says something like the punchline of a joke or an interesting name, Jonah will whisper it to himself once or twice.  He's done that for a while now.
-For Christmas, Jonah's teacher sent home a little sandwich bag that said, "Snowman Soup" on it.  It contained a candy cane, marshmallows, and a hot chocolate packet.  It had instructions that included stirring with the candy cane.  Jonah kept asking to make his snowman soup, and I kept forgetting.  I could tell that he thought it was something more than it was, since we often have hot chocolate in the winter.  Finally, I got it made, and he later confided sadly that "it just tasted like regular hot chocolate."  False advertisement.
-Jonah is also quite affectionate.  Before he gets out of the car for school, he'll tell me the number of kisses and hugs he'll give me.  Then he gives them, and there's no rushing through it, even if he's late.


Maggie
-Maggie's scripture reading has evolved.  When John moved back here, and we read together on Skype, she would hold the scriptures and say strings of nonsense words, even though she could talk well.   Later, she would look down and say religious kinds of phrases.  Then, she would say about the same phrases each night:  "Jesus made our bodies healthy and smooth.  He gives us healthy food to eat, like....meat ..... and broccoli....."  (She's a picky eater, so she has had plenty of reminders about the value of healthy food.)  A while ago, we started asking the kids a few questions while we read scriptures, to make sure they were paying attention.  So now, when it's Maggie's turn, she'll just ask odd questions: "What do you know when you eat granola bars?"  Sometimes you get them right and sometimes you don't.  It just depends on what she's looking for.
-The kids told a joke for a while that said, "Will you remember me in a month?  Will you remember me in a week?" etc. and then "Knock, knock."  "Who's there?"  "You forgot me already?"  So, Maggie tells her own version that changes every time.  "Will you remember me reading a book?"  "Will you remember me in the earth?"  "Will you remember me eating healthy food?"  And then she exclaims, "You forgot me already?!" in a happy little voice.
-Maggie dances and sings for me daily.  And sometimes she does fashion shows.  Sometimes I'll get distracted during a performance and she'll stand there in the ending pose and say, "Mom, c'mon.  That's the end."  I have to applaud loudly when it's time.
-We also play school almost daily.  One day, we had just painted her nails.  She said, "Yeah, but I have to be the teacher because I painted my toenails, and teachers have polish on their toenails."
-That reminds me, for a long while, Maggie always started her sentences with "yeah" or "well" or some kind of introductory word.  "Well, but I haven't finished yet."
-One day a while back Maggie was telling me about the "owies" she had on her leg.  She said the first was from falling.  Then she paused and said for the second sore, "This one, he just did it hisself."  Just showed up on its own.  Maggie sometimes has scratches from Max, but you can't really blame the poor cat.  He puts up with a lot before he resorts to that.
-When Maggie sees animals or cute pictures of them, she'll say, "Aaaaawwwwww" in a voice that sometimes sounds like she's moaning in pain instead of expressing admiration.
-Maggie loves the show, Max and Ruby.  Every one of my kids has loved that show, but she may have taken it to a new level.
-Taking Maggie shopping is like going out in public with a celebrity loved by older people.  They can't get over her curly hair, mostly.  Young adults will comment too, but people over the age of 60 love seeing Maggie and her Shirley Temple hair.  When she's feeling shy, she'll smile and do a little blink - in a coquettish kind of way.  Which they also love.
-Sometimes Maggie and I play board games that she doesn't understand, but it doesn't slow her down.  When we play Battleship, she'll yell, "Sunk!" after every shot I take.  And she'll often say the same coordinates for all of her shots.  Whatever we play, I just have to roll with the ever-changing rules.  The other kids are less accommodating.  Tori was upset playing tic-tac-toe because Maggie said, "When someone does a really big X, they win."  But Maggie meant when she does a big X.
-Maggie's at the age where she's constantly saying funny things unintentionally.  Just now, she was in the bathroom without the door closed.  As Jonah approached, she said, "Just for the record - don't look!"  Another time, Tori asked if she wanted to see some cute pictures online, and Maggie said, "I want to look at pictures of cats, apparently."  Apparently?
-I just remembered another thing about Maggie.  Until recently, she would always want to hug my upper arms/biceps.  She didn't like me to wear longer sleeves that covered my arms, and if I was lying down with her for a nap, I had to be on my back so she could hold onto my arm.  Kind of a fettish, I guess.


For some reason, I feel self-conscious when I try to put my feelings for people into words.  But if I can give examples of what they do, maybe everyone will just think, "How could anyone NOT love him/her?"  I'll do that with John soon, too, because he is such a wonderful husband.