Handy Amusement

One of the best and cheapest travel amusements we have are our hands.  Ours talk and apparently have developed complex personalities.  My daughter loves this.  Even at 7 1/2 she adores conversations with talking digits. 

My parents were visiting this week and it became apparent where all this hand talk silliness came from.  Papa has two talking hands that resemble alligators named “Alli” and “Gate”.  They are always teaching the unsuspecting child something science-y and have a habit of finishing each other’s sentences.  Much giggles and accidental learning occurs.  I remember myself at Laura’s age drinking it all in and talking away with these hand-things.

Mine have been named Critter 1 & 2.  They get into mischief, tell bad jokes and often get mixed up.  (I’ll do anything for a cheap laugh.)  Laura is quite patient with them and tries to teach them things.  She squeezes them and washes them in the bath too.

My husbands hands are gators and they are always wanting to snack on things.  Laura is trying to get them to eat food not everything in the room.  Sports are challenging for these gators as they are always eating the balls. 

The most interesting pair for me are my son’s hands.  He doesn’t pull them out often but they have unique personalities.  One is deaf.  He doesn’t talk but will sometime sign something.  The other hand is shy and doesn’t say much but does translate for the deaf one.  I have no idea where these personalities come from.  Owen is neither versed in sign language nor shy like his characters but this is what he has chosen.

Laura’s hand characters are an adorable reflection of her.  Small and sweet, they love to cuddle, chatter about nothing in particular and sing off-key.  I love every minute of it, at least until my hands cramp up.

Next generation of great chefs

I would take a photo, but I hate to interrupt the moment and it might break the spell. Right now, as I lazily surf through the blogosphere, DH (dear husband) and DD (dear daughter) are being chefs in the kitchen.

The voices and smells coming from that room are amazing. Laura is being the incredibly proud sous-chef to Steve. There has been no fingers chopped nor burned arms. I hear a whole lot of joy going on. It is a long weekend and Steve loves to relax by being his own next food network star. Tonight's theme is Indonesian cuisine - mango salad, nasi goreng, satays and other delicious stuff. Laura proudly came up and has said such things as "I tried a green onion and I really, really loved it!" and "It's OK, I can handle it a little bit spicy - just pour me a big drink!"

I'm smitten. I do believe I'll keep this family.

PS - Also in the best mood as I got free tickets to Black Eyed Peas for tomorrow!

Sunshine kid

My kids make me laugh about 100 times a day. Most of the time it is laughing with them rather than at them. Sometimes I do things to make them laugh, just so that I can get a laugh myself. The things I do for amusement. Anyway...

Right now I am smiling at how excited my son was this morning.

O: Mom, that was great.

Me: Really?

O: No wait, better than great. It was excellent.

Me: (absently) Oh, good.

O: No, actually it was better than excellent. It was awesome!

Me: (nothing actually - he was too busy bouncing to slip in any comment.)

O: No wait! It was SPECTACULAR!

We were talking about waffles.

Now how can a cold and blustery morning be any competition to the sunshine that boy emits?