Saturday, December 31, 2011

Holiday Season

Both kids have been enjoying the holidays and family visits, and we are happy to see they are starting to play with each other now (though RR still spends plenty of time with her toy trains, as well.) Without any profound summing-up coming to mind, here in the last hour of 2011, I'll just report a few vignettes from RR.

When admiring some fall colors: "I like both seasons: Fall and Christmas!"

One of the kids' presents was a songbook. I realized my rendition of "Clementine" was more effective than expected, when I saw RR was in tears after a few verses. She said several times "I'm so sad! Why 'lost and gone forever'?" She wasn't satisfied with "it's just a story" and T eventually offered that Clementine later resurfaces and lives with the narrator happily ever after (and with some additional comments about swimming lessons.) This version was accepted I think with some suspicion.

We have a large rug in the living room which mysteriously, and incessantly, gets pulled sideways and forms wrinkles. Due to its size, and number of toy bins sitting around the edges, straightening the rug is a several step process. RR surveyed my efforts with a critical eye. "What do you think, is it flat?" I asked while lifting one corner of the sofa and tugging at the rug, expecting approval. "No, there is another bump over there!" she replied, pointing at the opposite corner. This was repeated several more times as I realized I was not going to get away with any half-hearted rug-straightening jobs. Finally I pulled a minor wrinkle flat and asked once more. RR surveyed the floor and pronounced her judgment. "It is a splendid rug, daddy."

We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday, and we wish you a Splendid New Year!

4 comments:

Shirley said...

Sounds like she has a big vocabulary, using words like "splendid" to describe the rug!

Nana East said...

At a New Year's Eve Celebratory Lunch with our elderly peers, the song Clementine came up - we all knew it by heart and sang it. And someone mentioned that he never knew any real Clementines, (except the citrus types in our supermarket).
Google says Winston Churchill's wife's name was Clementine. Perhaps the name was more common 100 years ago.

Waltzing with Widgets said...

Not sure I've ever used the word myself, but she avidly watches "Thomas the Tank Engine" videos, and one of the characters, James is often described as a "splendid red engine".

Lady M said...

Splendid New Year to you too!