Berkeley...where retro-cool happens

The Spoken Word (Part 2) and other musings

While sitting at the table last night with Parker I had another moment that inspired me to relish the stage of development Georgia is currently in. While looking at her profile and listening to Parker tell me about her exciting experience at the library; she was very excited about getting her first library card and checking out five books by herself, “I even wrote my name by myself on the paper!” she exclaimed, by the way thanks for not getting photos of this Laura, that $700 SLR camera is safe at home where it should be as opposed to capturing our children’s important milestones that I don’t get to experience because I have to work all day mired in responsibilities of providence and……but I digress. Anyhoo, while investigating her profile as she assiduously pieces together the 60- piece ballerina puzzle with very little assistance, I see a profile of a young mature person and I’m reminded of a famous phrase from Faulkner – “times is a thief of which we have no justice against”. Further analysis determined it wasn’t Faulkner but rather Patrick Swayze in “Road House”.

Translating from Georgia-nese to English.

Unfortunately, babelfish.com cannot help me in this matter, I have to rely on the two people that interact with her on a daily basis much more than myself. With that said, I am thankful for Parker and Laura and their effort to educate me on just what the heck Georgia is uttering. I hate it when I kneel down to Georgia’s level when she’s talking to me and I helplessly respond with a “Ohhh” or “really Georgia?” and nod my head and just smile like the president when he is at a staged photo-op with some foreign dignitary from Who-cares-istan without a translator in sight.

Such a helpless feeling.

I must say that it’s quite adorable to hear her talk. I know I’m going to miss it when she becomes fluent in English. Whenever I am in the position of listening to her speak I try to remind myself that this moment is fleeting.

Favorite Words or Phrases in Georgia-nese that I do Understand and Adore

1) When Parker and I were making chocolate shakes a couple nights ago, Georgia pushed one of the chairs from the dining table into the kitchen to “help”. While trying to make room for her to “help” she emphatically repeated “eschoo sme, eschoo sme”.
2) When she wants Parker’s attention she emphatically repeats “Parta, Parta”
3) When she says words like 'milk', 'chip' or 'help' she replaces the first and last consonant with the letter ‘P’ so the words sound like ‘pilp’, 'pip', and ‘pelp’.
4) Whenever the tv is on, she enthusiastically states in the format of a question "Bi-dett?!?", which translates in Georgia-nese as "do you know where my blanket is?"
5) When I give her something she wants she politely states “deece” which means ‘thanks’ in Georgia-nese.
6) When I'm doing something that deems interesting she'll say "a-shy" which means "I'd like to try".
7) When the tv is on something she doesn't want to watch she'll say "A doo doo?" which means "I'd like to watch Scooby Doo".

It's all in the delivery.

The Spoken Word

Slowly but quite surely, Georgia is really communicating with us. This weekend I noticed her vociferously stating “Parta, Parta” as she tries to get Parker’s attention from across the room.

Georgia has very good manners. Whenever we give her something (usually it’s something she wants) she immediately replies with a kind and hearty “deece”. The word “deece” dates back to the fifth century in ancient India. The term is ancient third or maybe fourth generation Sanskrit and carries the meaning “thanks doofus, now am I gonna get a lollipop or what?”

Or maybe she’s just trying to say “thanks”. I’m not sure.

I do have one general observation of children-if you put several children in a room with the t.v. off and they are loud and playing games and jumping off the furniture and bouncing off the walls, all it takes to get them to stop is to turn on Noggin. It’s quite scary to see how their behavior can take an immediate and complete 180 degree turn from being a pack of spastic hyenas, to a group of slow-termed lobotomized television viewers. Now that is the power of television.

Also, below are a few actual books we will not be reading to Georgia…

This one was definitely form a different era.

And last but not least...the title of Parker's autobiography when she gets a little older...(that's me in the slippers).

This and That

Crying on daddy's shoulder.

The girls love my baby shower cake.

Georgia wants to ride a bike so badly.Parker helps Ella ride a bike.

Georgia's first pony tails.

Scenes From The Desert

For weeks Parker has been very excited about Indio. When Parker is told that we are going on a vacation she gets tremendously excited even though she has no idea where we are going. After the Lake Arrowhead trip Laura and I were “in negotiations” on a trip to Lake Tahoe. Parker overheard some of that conversation and asked some questions and we left it at that. A few days later Parker was trying to recall the place where we were talking about going and started calling it “Lake Tahoe-head”.

She eagerly inquired about it for several days after continually referring to “Lake Tahoe-head”.

Feeding the duck.
The Lazy Riverdance.
The first picture in a long time where Grandma Powers did not blink.

Georgia at the pool waiting for the waitress to fetch her a fresh vodka martini.

Spelling and Counting

Parker is at this stage where she likes to count things. She proudly states the she can count to 101 however, she needs a little help getting there. Whenever Laura and I read to her she seizes the opportunity to show off her counting skills, "Mom, let me count all the cars on the page 1,2,3,4,5,6, etc..." or "Dad, watch me count the number of letters on that sign".

Spelling out her name is another act Parker like to partake in. Sometimes writing it is just not good enough so...why not Play-doh??

I'm afraid her love of counting took a turn for the worse(in my opinion) though. Yesterday I was laying on the couch and she was sitting next to me when she started investigating my head. "Daddy, I think I can count all the hairs on the top of your head because I can count all the way to 101 and I don't think there's 101 hairs on the top of your head Daddy. I'll start counting there's one, two, three, four..."

"Alright Parker I get your point - now go play in traffic or something."

She'll get hers someday.