Makela Speak

Kids say some funny things. I especially enjoy the misspoken words that Makela says.

Just this morning, as I was getting dressed and ready for the day, Makela asked me what I was going to do next. Before I could really say anything, she answered herself by saying, "Mommy, you need to put in your eyetacks."

There are tons of other examples. Makela commonly uses the "f" sound instead of "s" and the "v" instead of "b," and sometimes the "g" sound instead of a "t." A few of my favorites:

She sings about the "Itsy Bitsy Fider" -- and how it "went up duh water fout."
She calls her cow "Buh-tello" instead of "Vitello."
Vanilla sounds like "baninna," as in "baninna milk" from Starbucks.
Instead of "supposed," she says "fost" (rhymes with "most").
Her first six syllable word, "automatically," comes out sounding like "augo-mag-ig-ly."

Easter SUNday

It was a fun Easter Sunday. Makela was in a terrific mood all day long. She loved her Easter basket and had fun hunting down the candy-filled eggs that the Easter Bunny hid for her throughout the living room. And at Gram's suggestion, we ventured out to the beach this afternoon after quiet time. Daddy had to return to work around noon, but the three of us girls had a grand time at La Jolla Shores -- we had to wait FOREVER for the cars to move in the parking lot, but then ended up with a PRIME parking spot.

We had fun building another huge sand castle (several times), complete with surrounding moat. We played in the warm sunshine and in the water -- it actually wasn't THAT cold after you got used to it. As usual, Makela would have walked to Hawaii if we'd let her. And we played some "football," although it mostly consisted of Makela throwing or kicking the ball away from herself and chasing after it, calling "I'll get it! I'll get it!"

Makela also said something very funny relatively early on in our beach adventure. We were working on our first version of the sand castle, and she was happily splashing in the moat and playing with her watering can. Suddenly she looked at me, her eyes big as saucers, and said, "Mommy? Maybe someday we can have some ocean next to our house. AND some sand!" Gram was right there next to us, and she looked at me and grinned, then said, "Makela has great ideas." ;-)

"D" is for Daddy

Date: Friday, March 21, 2008
Time: Approximately 5:00 pm
Location: Home, sitting at the little white craft table
What: Makela wrote her first letter!

I was minding my own business, trying to get some desperately needed laundry done by hanging up some damp clothing to air dry in our bedroom closet. Just around the corner and outside the bedroom door from me, Makela was busy working at her craft table. While I was hanging things up, she told me, "I'm making a happy note. It's for Daddy." Then, after a short pause, I heard this: "I'm writing a 'D' for Daddy." I figured she was scribbling her usual "writing" on her artwork. So imagine my shock when I finished the laundry, rounded the corner to take a look, and saw an actual "D" written on her page!

Are three-year-olds supposed to be teaching themselves to write? I'm guessing probably not. This kid continues to amaze me.

Makela at Three Years & Two Months(ish)

Since I'm also using this blog to refer back to when scrapbooking, I wanted to put down some adjectives that came to mind about Makela today. It was a LONG day at that. We are in a bad sleeping phase again.

With that in mind, at three years and two months (or so), Makela is:

Artistic
Musical
Intense
Passionate
Stubborn
Energetic
Funny
Afraid of monsters in her room
Athletic
Coordinated
Left-handed (we think)
In love with books and words

Makela Hatches Another Question

Another day, another amazing question. Well, it was actually yesterday, but here's the story.

Makela bounded into our room yesterday morning and jumped on the bed. Daddy was wearing his old, favorite t-shirt with the sharks on it. Although Makela knows what it says, she asked about it again. Daddy told her: "Guess which one's the lawyer?" Then Makela pointed to the one wearing the tie and said: "Dat one." After a long enough pause to make us think she had moved on to another line of thought, Makela came out of left field with the following question.

"Daddy, do sharks hatch or are dey born?"

After Joe picked his jaw up off the covers, he looked at her and said, "That's a really good question. Both, actually. Some sharks hatch out of eggs, and some are born live. It just depends on what kind of shark it is."

Not to be sidetracked, Makela then pointed to Daddy's t-shirt and asked, "Which kind are dese?"

"I think these are born alive, Makela."

While Makela definitely surprised us, she has been really interested in learning about different animals this week. We checked out a book called "Verdi" by Janell Cannon, who also wrote the classic "Stellaluna". It's all about a baby python that grows up but doesn't grow old, and the back includes information on how snakes hatch. And I had a big conversation about birds and how they hatch out of eggs. As an aside/one final note, Makela also asked me while looking at the windshield from her carseat yesterday, "Mommy, why do birds poop in the sky?"