The Emma & William Chronicles

Humpty Dumpty or Umpty Umpty

2011-05-14T15:14:00.000-07:00

William loves Humpty Dumpty (or or Umpty Umpty) and loves to get dressed up in his finest. As I was drawing this out William insisted on many things such as: top hat, bow tie, gloves, a feather in his hat, a mustache, and ears. I've never seen a Humpty Dumpty with ears or mustache, but I have to admit, I quite like the British Dandy look.

The Kid's B-Days & Halloween 2011

2011-05-09T13:14:00.001-07:00

This is an attempt to catch up with the important events I missed. The Poodle Cake is for Emma's 7th B-Day and the Pirate Ship Cake is for William's 5th. William had a Buzz costume to go with Emma's Jessie, but felt more like a Knight the day of this party.

October 2010 Old Tucson

2011-05-09T11:33:00.000-07:00

My Art Critics & Inspiration

2011-05-08T21:13:00.000-07:00

As I was building this piece, prior to the birds being attached, Emma commented, "What is she reaching for? Is she trying to catch a cat?"

William responded, "No, she is singing, (now singing loudly) I love the sky, I love the sky!"

And with this inspiration I named the piece "Of This I Sing".

William's Funny Thoughts

2011-05-08T20:27:00.000-07:00

Burton gave me a beautiful orchid for Valentines Day. William looked at the flowers and said, "It has a mouth and sharp teeth, will it bite me?"

William watching Snow White & The Seven Dwarves:"That's Happy, Doc, and Allergic."

WIlliam stating things he knew, "Some people are allergic to cats, like you mom, some people are allergic to flowers, some people are allergic to camels".

William watching Mr. Mogorium's Wonder Emporium: "Look it's Curtain the Frog".

The Brand New Baby T-Rex

2011-05-08T20:09:00.000-07:00

William cutting the rug

2011-02-07T08:01:00.000-08:00

Funny Things

2011-02-05T21:10:00.000-08:00

William caught picking his nose and eating his findings.
Burton: Oh William don't do that!
William: But daddy it is my favorite food.

Burton: William do you want some more Steak? Just eat this one bite of corn. You like popcorn, this is like popcorn.
William: It will give me bad dreams.

Emma: I hear a dog barking.
"Toooooooot"
Tracy: I hear a spider barking.
William: No Mommy, that is Daddy's bum.

New FirePlace Surround

2011-02-05T21:07:00.001-08:00

The green monstrosity is gone! William had fun creating his own artwork while I was laying tile today. Good day!

2010-05-22T13:41:00.000-07:00

Chronicles # 11

2010-05-21T08:33:00.000-07:00

January 2010- May 2010

William makes every hand washing a water-filled adventure. Potato Head and Duplo blocks have little battles and eventually all go “aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh” or “weeeeeeee” into the full sink. After 30 minutes goes by we have to see what the floor looks like. Believe it or not his joy of toys has made it a quieter home, most sound chips in toys don’t make it through the dunking.

William was at his little table in the kitchen eating his Cheerios. He looks at me and holds up a Cheerio and said “close your eyes mom”. I hear copious amounts of crunching, “open your eyes mom, it’s magic”! I open and exclaim how amazing and he answers with a conspiratorial whisper, “I put it in here” as he points at his wide-open mouth.

Very dear sweet Emma was our best grief counselor. Burton’s lovely Aunt Margie passed away on April 24th and we had several family members staying and visiting with us. Emma drew portraits of each person, lovingly colored in crayons. She smiled and listened and was a charming 6 year old. We love you Emma!

Emma finished her first year of school. It has been such a joy to see her growth and discovery of reading. Ms. Marshall was a stellar teacher with 34 years of experience. She sang and danced her way into the Kinder’s hearts. Emma learned many great songs and gave many performances through the year. I think her favorite was:
“Wringle wrangle jing a long jangle, HOOT HAA! Got me a horse I love of course and got me a pretty persons love. Dollars worth of beans, new pair of jeans, learning to cook and sew-oh! Wringle wrangle jing a long jangle, HOOT HAA!”

Emma has been insisting on a lemonade stand forever. We had all the lovely lemons from Grandma’s tree so we began juicing. After making the lemonade Emma made a sign “lemonade 20¢” and we taped it on the side of the kids table. We moved out some chairs, the ice chest and cups. The kids started waving at every motorist going by yelling in unison, “cold lemonade”! Every time a car went by without stopping they both said in unison, “aaaaaah”. When someone stopped William counted out the cups and Emma poured. Many people left the change and the kids made $5.00. We split out a quarter for tithing for each, put some in the piggy banks and took a dollar out for a trip to the dollar store. William bought a car and Emma bought a 5 foot long rubber snake.

On the way to the library:
Emma: Can I use the computer to look for worm books?
T: Sure, you will need to type in the word worms.
Emma: I don’t know how to spell worms.
We work on sounding it out, “Wwwaa, W, er er er, O R, mmm M, sa sa, S”
William: X X X!
Emma: Then it would be wormX!

Firm Picnic

2010-04-14T11:45:00.001-07:00

These are taken at my mom's annual work picnic.

Photos from April-December 2009

2009-12-25T22:11:00.001-08:00

Chronicles #10

2009-12-25T22:03:00.000-08:00

April 2009-August 2009
We are going through Costco’s meat aisle and William emphatically is saying, ”look, look, look!” We realize he is pointing at a package of whole fish.
Burton responds to him, “Yah, they aren’t alive anymore”.
Emma responds to him, “William can you say Dead Fish”?
William says, “Dead Fish!”

We were listening to the song “Big Rock Candy Mountain” and Emma says, “That makes me want to eat the radio.”

After a primary activity Emma told us the boys were throwing balls and one hit me in the head. I had to go to the doctor.
Burton: “What did the doctor say?”
Emma: “Stay away from balls.”

William affectionately calls Tracy’s parents “Papa and Wamma.”

Emma is so desparate for a pet that she caught herself a pet fly in her bug box. “I call him Wally, I love him.”

Emma: “Mom, lets be wild hamsters.”

Emma crouched over her stuffed animal giraffe and alligator and says Emma: “Pretend I am a tiger and I am eating these for breakfast.”

Emma: ”Lets be mama monkey and baby monkey. Would you pretend you are eating insects out of your baby monkey’s fur?”

William was playing with a crunchy chow mein noodle that had a small hook shape and says, “arghh, arghh Pirate” and then places it in his mouth and pleads, “Ah, help me, help me.” Williams infatuation with pirates extends to hangers, which he will take in one hand and try to pull his arm back up into his shirt sleeve to pretend he has a hook arm.

Emma: “Pretend we are bunnies.”
Tracy: “How will we open the fridge, do the dishes, get things in the counter?”
Emma: “Daddy will stay a person when we are bunnies and get stuff out of the fridge and counters. Daddy will make us a box to keep us in. There will be a bunny size fridge, bunny size couch, scriptures, rocking chair and books.”

We often find shoes missing a shoelace because William loves lacing and unlacing Burton’s shoelaces and then using the laces to tie to his truck and pull it around.

William loves his Mr. Potatohead and carries it around with him everywhere. He often removes the little storage door on the back to put his hand inside and make it talk.

While in our rental property on the golf course Emma and Tracy where crafting on the back porch when a golfer missed a shot and Emma asked, “Mommy, what does ‘ohjit’ mean?”.
We’re glad not to be on the golf course anymore.

We recently moved into a lovely new home and when we showed the house to the kids for the first time they went tearing through each room exploring. Upon discovering the under stair storage closet Emma emphatically states, “Mom look there’s a secret passage!”

Robot

2009-12-25T21:00:00.000-08:00

William pointed to a collection of boxes in the garage and asked, "Robot"? I had some fun with the glue gun and William had fun making Robot sounds. It lasted a full 5 minutes before losing it's head!

Trippin the Light Fantastic

2009-12-25T19:52:00.000-08:00

Our lovelies accompanied by William's humming.

Reluctant Dancer

2009-03-08T17:18:00.000-07:00

William the Fearless

2009-03-08T17:04:00.000-07:00

Tickle Tickle

2009-03-08T13:14:00.000-07:00

Chronicles #9 Photos

2009-03-08T12:56:00.001-07:00

Chronicles #9

2009-03-08T11:54:00.000-07:00

Jan 2009- March 15th, 2009
William has made a huge step of progress in his language. He has always used simple words or phrases but now he is finally repeating every word we are saying. His little pre-school has helped him immensely and we are excited to see him communicate with us more clearly.

William continues to surprise us in that he can recognize and pronounce the sounds of most letters. He has even written a few. He gets very excited when he sees a letter on clothing, books, or big trucks going by. “Dubba-You, wuh wuh, Tee, tuh tuh!”

William took a grapefruit out of the bowl and added his potato head parts to make a very cute grapefruit-head man. We finally had to hide the grapefruit as they were all getting covered in little holes.

We thought it was very cute that every time William played doggy with Emma or played with a dog stuffed animal that he calls it Happy. He says things like, “Happy, come ere! Bad dog!” We just realized that instead of saying puppy he says happy. We still think it is a great name for his pretend doggies.

I had the rubber mallet out for some project and right before William’s bedtime, he found it. He very excitedly grabbed it. I put him in bed and just as I was about to take the mallet from him, he hugs and kisses it, holds it close and pats it, as though it were the most precious thing ever.

William’s favorite thing to do at Grandma & Papa’s is to ransack the closet while he is supposed to be sleeping. I went in the room and he was trying to put on one of Papa’s leather riding boots. I told him to get into bed. He grabs the boot and scurries up into bed. He hugs the boot closely and pats it. (In case you are wondering, he does have plenty of stuffed animals and toys.)

William loves to snuggle down and bury himself in the clean laundry pile. He giggles as he disappears from sight.

William said to Emma, “Emma, pease say boo”
Emma: “Boo!”
William: “Aaaaah!”
Emma: “Boo!”
William: “Aaaaah!”
Emma: “Boo!”
William: “Aaaaah!” You get the idea.

We recently watched Harry Belefonte’s visit to the Muppet Show and now both my kids run around the house belting, “DAY-OOOOOO”.

Emma has recently started doing her own hair, which involves putting every single hair clip into her hair.

Emma also is learning her letters rapidly as we prepare her for kindergarten. She can recognize most letters and sounds. She can spell many words out on her etch-o-sketch drawing pad and is constantly asking how to spell words like, “Elephant, bear, kangaroo”. She came up to me and said, “Mom I spelled pig!” and on her pad was the word, “GIP”. We are still working on the importance of putting letters in the right order.

Emma was dressed as a queen with several blankets wrapped around her waist, one over her shoulders, a tea towel draped over her head, along with her Little Bo Peep Bonnet. She was walking with slow, royal gait and her head held high. I told her that it was time to clean up her mess in the den and she very regally responded, “Queens do not make messes! Kings make messes. My husband the king made the mess.”

Emma with a very furrowed brow, concerned look on her face said to me, “I don’t know when I will find the man who I will marry”. I calmed her by telling her she has a lot of years to figure that out.

We don’t know where she picked it up, but for some reason all animals or imaginary friends of Emma’s get named either Lisa or Nina.

Chronicles #8 Photos

2009-01-02T20:36:00.000-08:00

Chronicles #8

2009-01-02T19:54:00.000-08:00

September - December 2008 William really loves the PBS show “Super Why” and we found the best way to get him out of the bathtub is to say, ”William, do you want to be Super Why?” He very excitedly allows us to place his hooded ducky towel on his head and goes running full throttle with his cape flapping in the wind.

William’s hat obsession has extended to all balls in the house and we often find them with Tupperware, buckets or actual hats on top of them.

Anytime something is broken (which happens quite regularly) William will bring the item to you with all pieces and imploringly say, “Ix it, ix it”.

William now says his name as “YahYum”.

I made William his B-day cake with a 3-d brownie train. He came in after his nap and made me feel good about my labors. I got a very loud, “ooooooooooh, toot toot!” He also started crying when I put it in the fridge. He went and got a chair and opened the fridge and stood there pointing excitedly at it.

William had a bit of a drippy nose and I gave him a tissue. He said, “Tanktwo”, and then proceeded to wipe his nose on his arm and then used the tissue to wipe his arm. I guess the indirect method is better than nothing.

We took William to Chuck E Cheese for his Birthday and the kid was like a pinball bouncing from one game to the next. It was even enough sensory stimulation for our busy boy.
I ask you, who in their right mind would put a tube maze on the ceiling of child entertainment center? Obviously it was not someone with a young child. William slipped past us and started to explore with glee, until he realized he didn’t know how to get out. Every few feet there was a clear plastic window and we would point which way to go, but when there was a fork in the tube, there were no windows. So frustration built into tears until he laid down on the window in sad defeat. Here comes Emma to the rescue! Emma scurried up the tube like a pro and found here brother and gently led him back. He collapsed into my arms and held on tight. Time to depart.

William is adding new words to his vocabulary every day and never on command, just when the moment is right. We were coming out of Sam’s Club and William was riding on his dad’s shoulders and handed the door checker the receipt, which the checker drew a line through. William handed it back down and said, “mile”. The checker drew a smiley face and returned it to our happy boy.

Once conquering the word smile, he now uses it regularly as we draw our smiley faces. William chants this as we draw, “dot, dot, dot, MILE”!

William sees his Daddy & I on our cell phones often and to not to miss out, he picked up what was handy, and began talking on a plastic potato.

Anytime or any context that Burton and I say “Ready”, William blurts out, “GO”!

Christmas morning was complete for William once he opened his stocking and discovered his slinky. He bounced it up and down saying, “bonk-ka, bonk-ka, bonk-ka”. I thought this might be just a special slinky sound effect but today on our walk he saw an inflatable yard Christmas Tigger and pointed and said, “bonk-ka, bonk-ka, bonk-ka”; an interesting substitution for boing.

Emma was having a fit about something in the car and to try to distract her I pointed out some horses along our drive. Emma, still in full fit mode yelled, " I hate horses!" I decided to not say anything more and ignore her. After a few minutes of sniveling and grouching Emma says in a full whine, "When I am done whining, I think I will like horses." "Mama, you be my wife & I'll be your husband. Wife, (in deep gruff man voice) I am going hunting!" After I few minutes she comes back and says, "Wife let's cook reindeer for breakfast". We were driving home at night and in front of some new construction down the street from our home, I spotted a Javelina (Shaggy wild desert pig). Burton flipped the car around so the headlights lit up the new-build house without any doors. The javelina quickly ran into the garage and there were 3 more inside. As our lights hit them they all ran into the house. Emma started giggling and said, "They think they are persons!"
At the store Emma says, “I want this toy, it’s not too expensive and it’s not annoying.”

Emma’s memory often shocks us. We went to get ice cream at Baskin Robins for William’s 3rd B-day and the last time we had gone was on William’s 2nd B-day and at a completely different location. As we arrived at the store Emma said, “ I want the rainbow ice cream with pink and purple.” She had Rainbow Sherbet a year ago.
“Mom, I want to learn how to play a tuna.”
“Tuba?”
“Yah, Tuba”

Emma: “You have to water a chi chi chi chiba chiba pet!”

Emma saying her prayers, “Thank thee for my family, I like them more then I thought.”

Emma turned 5 this December and she has been asking for a Javelina Birthday cake for the last 6 months. For those of you not familiar with South West critters, a javelina (pronounced havelina) is hairy dessert pig/hog. I was quite concerned how I could make a cake to look like this not so beauteous creature. I made a German chocolate cake as I thought the coconut frosting would mimic well their shaggy hair. After getting it cut out and frosted Emma came over and said, “It’s perfect!” I like that girl.
Emma also asked for a stuffed animal skunk, which her kind Grandma & Papa helped accommodate. Her Uncle Keith & Aunt Shelley heard about her weird obsession with Javelinas and found her a mama and baby stuffed animals. She has quite a menagerie.

Emma had her doctor set and had her little ear scope and said, “Mommy, let me look at the tiny aminals in your ear.”

Emma's Art Work Age 4

2009-01-02T13:25:00.000-08:00

Here are some of our favorite drawings that Emma did this year.

Groovin'

2008-09-16T08:46:00.000-07:00

Chronicles #7

2008-09-15T13:50:00.000-07:00

August - September 15th, 2008

We were driving over to pick up Burton at work and Emma was drawing away on her Magna Doodle. “Mama this is a Havalima”.
“You mean Javalina?”
“No, this is a Havalima monster and it eats APPLES! It goes out when it’s not bright anymore, it goes out when it is dark”
“What does it look like?”
“It is blue and purple and it likes shadows. It has a big nose like Wallace and Grommit. It has a big chin, but you can’t see his chin because his hair covers it up and you can’t see his eyes or his nose because they are all covered up by hair.”
Emma holds up her drawing so I can see it in the rear view mirror and it looks like Cousin It.

In the car, Emma was talking to me, and her stuffed animal cat.
“Mama, this is a real cat it is not tend. Hello kitty (falsetto voice) do you want me to take you home? Oh you are such a nice kitty, I will call you Chazzanina. Oh Chazzanina I love you!”

Emma has her hand cupped tenderly around some pretend object and walks toward me, “Mommy look at my dumpster, isn’t he so cute”!
“You mean hamster?”
“Yes. Isn’t my hamster cute!”

Emma was talking with her Grandpa Holmes on the phone and he asked her if she had been running through the sprinklers this summer. We recently moved into a rental with a low maintenance, xeriscape backyard. Emma responded, “Actually we don’t have sprinklers, we don’t have grass, we just have rocks”. How sad, we have to work on that one.

“Daddy, I am a baby tiger, my name is Nausea.”

William, as ever, is our little scientist. He is very fascinated with the way things work. He examined the cookie scoop’s release mechanism by squeezing the handle over and over again, watching the gears engage. After figuring out how it worked, William placed several Cheerios in the scoop, dribbled some water on top of them by shaking his sippy cup, then opened wide and released his soggy treat into his mouth.

William has a new favorite hideout. If we can’t find him he is likely under our bathroom sink relaxing on some of the towels we keep there.

William has discovered the leverage he can achieve with the use of a spoon. When he can’t get a drawer open in the kitchen he will place a spoon under the edge and use the counter’s edge as a fulcrum and open the drawer.

Other science experiments of note: William has discovered the vacuum seal he can create on his chin with small plastic cups or with a straw dangling from his tongue. He is also doing extensive research on the displacement of water by the volume of an object. In the bath he gets the water pitcher just at the edge of overflowing and very carefully sticks his finger in. As the water trickles out of the spout he starts giggling and then he shoves his whole hand and really laughs.

William has some short phrases that he uses frequently, a lot of single command words, but seldom uses full sentences. He shocked us the other day when he was gesticulating wildly for something he wanted on the counter. There were some finger puppets up there and I picked up one and asked, “Do you want this one”?
William answered, “Give me all of them”.

Whenever there is cheering on the television or when we clap for William he will bow his head and say, “Tank two, tank two, tank two”.

Chronicles #6

2008-06-29T21:20:00.000-07:00

Emma: Why are teeth wet?

We are driving in our car after a church activity and Emma says, "Go faster!"
Burton: I can't go faster, we will hit the Bishop's car in front of us.
Emma: What would we say?
Tracy: Sorry.
Emma: What would he say?
Tracy: I don't know.
Emma after a few minutes and saying with the gusto of just having had an epiphany,
"He would say, 'What's the big idea'"!

Emma: Mama you be a mama dinosaur and I will be a baby dinosaur. I'm hungry Mama dinosaur.
Tracy: I'm making you some cookies, baby dinosaur.
Emma: No I want food. There is food! (Pointing at her little brother.)

William's newest favorite utensil for eating rice is his shovel from his sand bucket. His favorite new hat is the bucket.

A new surprise phrase from William. We were at the park for a primary activity and one of the other kids started climbing high on the equipment and he starts yelling "Get down, get down!" William is a boy of few words, but he stores them away for the right moment and then shocks you with the clarity with which he can say them.

William really likes chocolate. When given a chocolate chip cookie, he takes his finger or whatever other utensil available and digs out the individual chips. One cookie can last him a good 20 minutes as he is very thorough.

The Holmes Family Portrait

2008-06-22T21:00:00.000-07:00

Our budding Artist Emma Caroline drew our family and remembered important details like "Daddy's scratchies (stubble)".

2008-06-22T19:18:00.000-07:00

Chow Mien Slurp

2008-06-22T19:12:00.000-07:00

This is filmed by Emma so apologies for the wiggle.

Chronicles #5

2008-06-22T16:22:00.000-07:00

Our black-eyed beauties. At the beginning of last week William was throwing a rock over or at the fence and it bounced back and hit his cheek. Then the middle of the week William swung a plastic pencil box at Emma which resulted in a blood blister just below her eye. Yes we know, it is just a matter of time before our first emergency room visit.

Emma was trying to avoid going to the bathroom and she was pretending to be a "talking cat". I asked her to go use the facilities and she says,"Someone took my bum, maybe a soldier or something took this kitty's bum."
I responded that someone can't take her bum to which she responded, "No, this is a tend (pretend) kitty and someone took her bum."

Emma working on her pet negotiations skills while we were outside weeding the yard:
"Mama you be Frosty and I will be Karen. Frosty, look at all the snow (as she is making piles of gravel in 100˚ weather). Frosty, (she waits for my response in Frosty the Snowman voice) I have a friend named Emma and her Mama said she could have a pet (Oh really, that sounds nice, says frosty). Emma is going to get a doggy from the pound. It will be soooo cute and she will name him Tiny!"

When I am sitting at the couch Emma comes over and wants to pretend that my feet are horses. She brings over plastic carrots and apples to feed my toes by shoving them between my toes (that really tickles). After the feeding she climbs onto my knees and goes for a ride. Here is an example of her interactions:
"Say nay! (nay) Good horsey! You cited (excited) we are going to have breakfast. We are going to go to the fair, you are going to take me. Talk in horsey Spanish (Graaaaacioussss). Help I'm stuck, I can't get up. Help me Spanish horsey. Thank you, good job horsey."

Whenever we go to a friends' house Emma asks,"Mommy would you please leave and go on a date with Daddy and leave me here".

After William pulled Emma's hair she says, "Brother doesn't know the quences (consequences)."

Papa was cleaning Emma's boogery nose and Emma says, "Papa, you sure do love your granddaughter don't you".

William watched Papa swim under the water and he frantically pointed and said, "Oh no, oh no, oh no!"

William likes to put things together in unusual ways, especially his food. We went out to eat with Burton's lab at the Mongolian BBQ. William takes a chopstick and slides it into his drink cup and tries to drink from it. I give him a straw which he puts in, takes a few drinks, then he discovers that the chopstick fits inside the straw. He plays for a little while, pulling the straw and chopstick combo apart and together several times. I give William his chow mien noodles which he excitedly pulls out with his finger, dangling them over his face and slurping up like Lady and the Tramp. He removes the chopstick from the straw and realizes he can thread the noodle into the straw. Once the noodle is in place he slurps it out. He likes this so much that he finishes all his noodle this way, (see video above).

Another food discovery:
William was sitting at his chair with his bowl of rice staring intently at his belly button. He was inserting grains of rice, one at a time.

William has the amazing pocket holster/sword sheath. Any long object such as a spoon, chopstick, ruler, etc. is stuffed into his pocket and then pulled out with a flourish and brandished.

2008-06-05T11:05:00.000-07:00

1-2. Notice William's green marker war paint, before the rice war. 3. Stripey kids playing computer game 4-5. A rare moment of cuddling. 6-7. Painting gourd birdhouses

Chronicles #4

2008-06-05T08:52:00.000-07:00

Emma has discovered the velcro capacity of green bean leaves.

As the trashman is dumping our garbage cans Emma yells, "Thank you garbage man! Thank you for taking the stinky diapers!"

We have trained Emma well. We appreciate that some people are pet people but we realized a long time back that we are not. After we played with our neighbors darling puppy Emma said, "I want a puppy just like that, when I have a house of my own".

Emma's morning farewell to Burton, "Watch out for dogs that whistle and wild aminals".

This morning I couldn't help but laugh even though it was 5:45 am. William comes bouncing into our room "Mommy, mommy geeup geeeup (get up)". He runs over the bed grabs my hand and pulls "come-on". Then he adds his Japanese sounding gibberish in prolific waves to try and hurry me up.

William does nothing calmly. He has this amazing way of getting off the couch. He stands up, kicks his feet out from under him, bounces on his bum and lands on his feet on the floor.

We always know something is up with William when we hear his maniacal giggling. If he is that happy it usually involves something messy. Yesterday I let the kids eat their dinner out on the porch and from inside I hear that laugh accompanied by Emma's shrill "STOP IT". I look out to see William chucking hand fulls of rice at his sister. Much better than last time we heard that laugh; He was gleefully dunking his head in a public toilet.

See the video below to experience some of that giggling.

2008-05-30T10:52:00.000-07:00

Chronicles #3

2008-05-19T11:57:00.000-07:00

Emma:” Mama, what’s the cricket saying to us”?
Tracy: “Goodnight, goodnight.”
Emma: “No Mama, he is saying” I’m looking for a girrrl cricket””.
One very preceptive girl.

William was fussing in the morning, Emma’s comment: “He’s just a little grumpy guy. How about you leave him alone”.

Emma: “I’m Huckenberry Finn”.
Emma is fascinated by Huckleberry Finn and her usual night time routine is one of us pretending to be Huckleberry and she is Lucky the dog. The area rug in the living room is the raft. We fish, clean our catch and cook it over the fire. When Emma is Lucky, she talks with her lips almost all the way closed, muffling a high squeaky voice. Burton was effecting an over-the top southern accent and told Emma, “Lucky, say goodnight to your mom”. Emma quickly corrected him in Lucky voice, “Actually it’s Mama”.

Another Huckleberry instance, Emma announces in a whispered, scared Lucky voice, “There are mean raccoons over there”. Burton asks,”Where did they come from”? Emma responds, “North Carolina”.

Emma saying goodbye to her dad: “Watch out for lions, spiders, mean rumbling horses, and watch out for buffalos, they will hurt your car”. This morning she also added bunny rabbits. I asked her why we needed to watch out for bunny rabbits and she said while giggling, “They will chase you”!

When Emma is running around the lawn with her daddy she will say, “chase me like a fish”. Whatever, that means.

I was putting William down for bed and I gave him his sippy cup with water. William took one sip and crinkled his nose. He jumped up and ran out of the room. He ran back in, dragging the gallon of milk and his cup.

When it is time for prayer we tell William to kneel down. Instead of slowly kneeling down, William jumps into the air folds his legs and lands with a thump on his knees. Nothing is halfway with William.

Burton was watching the kids while I was being a guest teacher at my friends classroom. William was having some constipation difficulties and Burton decided a suppository was necessary. I called him on a break and Burton said,”I put one of those superlatives in”. We both started laughing. I guess an exaggerated expression of praise would be better than the alternative.

Later that evening: Tracy is changing William’s diaper and Burton comes in with a plastic bag
to collect the offending item, saying, “Bring out your dead, bring out your dead”.

At bedtime William can’t quite get out the 2 syllables of goodnight so instead he says “ni-ight” in 2 syllables. When he gives kisses he says, “mmmmaaa” as he puckers up.

William loves hats, tupperware, potty seats, cottage cheese containers, metal bowls or anything else that will fit nicely on his head. When he puts metal bowls on his head he loves to run as fast as he can because the bouncing of his head makes a thumping noise against the bowl. His favorite hat of all though is Emma’s lavender Easter hat.

Other than the frilly hat thing, William is boy through and through. He throws everything. I apologize before church starts, to the people in front and behind us and warn them of flying objects. I’ve learned the hard way that I only give him soft toys during meetings.

Last night William made a frightening discovery. Well frightening for us. He was throwing his knit hat up in the air and it caught on the spinning fan blades and shot across the room. With utter glee he screamed out and laughed. We just can’t wait to see what else he will throw up there.

Chronicles #2

2008-05-19T08:13:00.001-07:00

William is quite funny when he is watching a video. If he finds something scary he will slide out of his chair, walk about 6 feet back to give himself some distance from the frightening scene, all the time still watching. After the scary scene is over he slips back into his chair.
Burton was about to leave for a bike ride and Emma asked him,”Daddy do you have your phone? Watch out for BIG bugs! If you see any call me. Call Tracy, Emma & William. I will come and take care of them”. And again yesterday as he was leaving for work Emma said, “watch out for bugs, lions and bears”!
Something else that has somehow become a tradition with Emma before anyone leaves the house is,”I want to tell you a secret”. She will then say out loud “It’s about brother” or some other subject. She then proceeds to lean forward and whispers loudly in your ear, “tell you a secret” but then she grabs your face and turns you the other way so she can once again say, “tell you a secret” in the other ear. She never tells us what the secret is, but that’s OK.
William’s speech is getting a little clearer and here are a few of my favorites: “Burrdda” for bird pronounced just like Bambi, “Ge Be Fiii” for give me five, “Peas” for please said very softly, and “Tanktwo” for thank you.
William likes to help me with the laundry by putting the wet clothes into the dryer. With every handful I give him he says, “Tanktwo” and then he gladly stuffs them into the dryer. It just makes me smile thinking about him saying, “Tanktwo, tanktwo”.
We had just arrived home from our 2 hour drive back from Grandma’s house and I asked Emma if she had to go potty. She responded, “No Mommy, I’m not dancing”.
Emma & William were staying the night at Grandma & Papa’s house. Emma woke up with a nightmare and Papa came & laid down with her. It wasn’t long before Papa had fallen asleep and Emma woke him back up and told him, “Papa your snoring is hurting my ears”.

Chronicles #1

2008-05-19T08:11:00.001-07:00

To Keep you Updated on the Events in the Holmes Household

Emma is now four and loves to tell stories and this newsletter will try to keep you up to date on her funniest new creations. William is just about 2 1/2 and gives the Tasmanian Devil a run for his money. We will try to give you a little taste of their antics each month.This is a story about Emma that happened a few months back. Emma loves to pretend to be different animals. That particular day she was being a lion, therefore I was “Mama Lion”. Papa & Grandma Castro had given her a Moose puppet from their trip to Alaska. She had the puppet laying on a large tupperware lid as though it was on a platter and she turned to me and said, “Mama Lion, let’s eat the moose! You take off the onklers and we can eat it.”

In February Emma was watching her National Geographic kids video on the ocean and she said to me, “Let’s go to the beach and pet a whale. I can say “WHALE” and maybe they can hear me”.
We were driving home from a primary activity a few weeks ago and I turned on some music as we were driving home and Emma commented, “Mama, I like this music, it makes my toes wiggle”.

Tonight, Burton trimmed Emma’s fingernails and afterwards we went on a family walk. Outside the waxing crescent moon was a tiny sliver in the sky and Emma said, “The moon looks like a nail”.

William can now get into the fridge and freezer quite successfully and every 30 minutes or so he gets out another Gogurt and points emphatically at the scissors saying, “More, more”.
William is so quick that we decided for his safety and our sanity that we would get him a child harness. When I first brought it home he refused to let me put it on but Emma wanted to wear it. William walked her like a dog on a leash and thought it was hilarious. As soon as Emma took it off, he wanted it on. Then Emma walked him around the lawn. We went on a very successful walk in our neighborhood after that. I could keep him from running up to every door on our street and ringing the doorbell. Of course half way through the walk he got down on his knees and started to crawl and mewed like a cat.