Second Helpings

Out of the Mouths of Babes

I'm sure we all have family anecdotes involving children and the things they say. I frequently wish I'd kept a notebook of all the funny incidents and conversations I had with children during my career in teaching. Sadly in those times there weren't many ways to keep records apart from pen and paper.

One phrase our family uses a lot stems from an incident when my son was a toddler. My Mum and I always took him somewhere on a Sunday afternoon. He wasn't the most agile or daring of children and on one particular occasion we persuaded him to walk on a wall, something most children love to do, but he was wary of. As he cautiously put one foot in front of the other while clutching Nanna's hand, he uttered the immortal words, ' This is doing me not much good.' That phrase is still used with a snigger by my family all these years later whenever anyone finds themselves in a sticky situation.

Now we're adding the grandmonster's expressions to our favourites. At my pirate birthday party once back at home, the kids were in good form and involving our guests in their imaginary games. Dylan has a very sweet voice but like many young children has a bit of trouble pronouncing 'L' and 'R' . He'd been playing rough and tumble games with our friend Chris on the lawn, then when Chris took a breather and came to sit on the patio, Dylan climbed on his lap. After a short respite he gazed up at Chris and asked, ' 'What's the pwan now Cwis? ' it's rapidly becoming a family favourite.

Angel on the other hand is now well into reading and loves to pick a book from the cupboard to read out loud. Last weekend she selected Hansel and Gretel and proceeded to entertain us all in her own inimitable style. She rarely stumbles over any words and if she's not sure will take a guess. Hence the passage 'The children were on their way to visit their grandmother, who was a weirdo. ' ...Think about it.

I assured her just because her own grandmother is a bit weird doesn't mean they all are.

Bobby at nearly three months doesn't say much, but does make the occasional 'o' and 'oo' in between sleeping, smiling, feeding and gazing around. Such a placid baby, but then so was Dylan once.

Today we're taking the older two out for the day and they'll be staying overnight. Time to make up the beds, get the toys out, pack the wasp spray and check the medicinal booze for after bedtime.