Bronze, Silver and Golden Opportunities

At the Smith house, were fully immersed in this year's Olympic Games.  We stayed involved by watching on TV, reading articles and results online, playing our own games at home, and even sampling cuisine from other countries.


We took the opportunity to make it a fun learning experience for Emry.  We normally don't watch much TV, but it has been on every night since the opening ceremonies.  Emry has enjoyed watching cycling, swimming, running, tennis, gymnastics and basketball.  Oddly enough, the two events that she cheers for the most are diving and equestrian.  During the diving events, she would clap her hands and say "yeah" after every dive.  During the equestrian events, she would cheer and say "yeah horsey!" or "horsey jump" each time they would clear a gate.

While watching the gymnastics Emry noticed the strange move gymnasts do at the end of every event where they throw their hands in the air, puff out their chest and stick their butt back.  Maren taught Emry to do that move and say "Ta-Da!"  So now E will do somersaults, stand up and say "ta-da!"

We've eaten a lot of different meals the past couple of weeks too.  To honor the origin of the Olympics, we ordered Greek cuisine from Manna the night of the opening ceremonies.  Its one of our favorite take-out places.  We've also made several new ethnic recipes at home including black bean burritos, sweet & sour chicken, Indian chicken curry, and fish & chips.  Emry has actually eaten all of the different meals, even the curry...



FYI - Turmeric stains everything...Faces, hands and even skillets. 
Even after a good scrubbing, we had some very yellow
pancakes for breakfast the next morning.

While watching the games on TV is pretty fun, everyone knows that playing them is a lot more fun.  In a previous post, I mentioned how our kids might think they live in the 1980's.  Well, when the track and field events started for the Olympics, we dusted off the NES and played World Class Track Meet!

Yes, that is a single tear of joy running down my cheek

Anyone who knows my history with Nintendo knows that this was a big deal to introduce it to the girls. This one event combined my 3 favorite things in the world(in no particular order):
1. Time with my family
2. Running
3. The Nintendo Entertainment System. 

We taught Emry all the tricks to get the Nintendo to work, like blowing the dust out of the game cartridge...

And as you can see, not only do we still have a working Nintendo, but we are proud owners of the Power Pad! 

For anyone who doesn't know(and I feel sorry for those of you who don't), the Power Pad was basically the original Wii.  The Power Glove was another attempt Nintendo made as an "interactive controller."  Although these devices weren't wireless, for kids in the 80's this was pretty cool technology...you can see how cool these kids look in this commercial...

Yeah, we were playing with power!  Usain Bolt has nothing on us!

You heard Emry saying "Jump One!" at the end of that clip.  She was referring to the long jump, which she was pretty good at...

One last thought about the Olympics...I posted the lame commercial for the power pad, but how weird were the Fruit of the Loom commercials that played during every single break??  Who goes to the beach in their boxerbriefs to workout on the on rings??

Emry thought those commercials were so funny that we decided to make our own...

 

We hope everyone enjoyed the 2012 Olympics as much as the Smith's did!

Lost in Translation

My freshmen year of high school I had a theology teacher who was lecturing our class one day and said "Don't say things that mean other things."  I don't remember the situation that sparked his memorable phrase.  I don't think anybody in our class remembered what made him say it, and the irony was that we weren't sure what he meant when he said it.  So it became an on-going joke amongst our class anytime someone said something that could be mistaken for a sexual innuendo, we would say "Don't say things that mean other things." (This was well before Michael Scott made "That's what she said" a mainstream joke.)

Anyway, I was thinking about this on my run this morning because Emry is talking a lot right now and sometimes its really hard to figure out what she's saying.  A lot of times she'll say something, but mean to say something else.  To help out anyone who is hanging out with Emry, I've put together a list of some of her most commonly mistaken phrases:

Damen - Which means "banana".  plural Damas.  Oddly enough, she can can say banana perfectly if you ask her to say it, and she sings the Raffi song Banana Phone without a problem.  But if she ever asks you for a damen, now you know what she means.

Hers - Her "B," Her room, Her bed...you'd think Emry would be talking about someone else's stuff.  But if she says "hers", she really means "my" or "mine."  Its funny because most parents try to get their kids to stop saying "mine" all the time, and we are desperately encouraging Emry to actually use the word. 

Hold You - Pronouns are a struggle for Emry.  If she ever walks up to you and and says "Hold you" she really means to say "Hold me." Just pick her up and she'll be happy.   

Pump 'n Dump - Not to be confused with the process by which a nursing mother drinks too much alcohol, then has to pump out the tainted breast milk and dump it down the sink.  She really means to say "Pump it Up" which one of her favorite places to play.

Panato - This word is very complex, because she uses this word for both "potato" or "tomato."  But if she also uses it as part of another phrase... 

Panato Slide - Which means "tornado slide."  So if you ever take her to the park and she wants to go down the "panato slide" she wants to go down the slide that twists in a circle.

Whitney Poop Diaper - This can be tricky.  Emry has nighttime diapers she wears that are more absorbent that the daytime variety.  Her nighttime diapers have a picture of Winnie the Pooh on them.  So when she says "Whitney Poop Diaper" she is really trying to say "Winnie the Pooh diaper".  However, if Emry happens to see you changing Whit's diaper, Emry will call the dirty diaper "Whitney poopy diaper."

Lopper - Which means "water."  Just like she does with damen, Emry can correctly say water if you ask her to.  But if she sees or asks for water, she will call it "lopper."  The funny thing about this one is she will call a water bottle by the correct pronunciation, but if you ask whats in it, the answer is "lopper." 

Toottat - Tattoo.  This did not come from daddy, but originated with mommy.  After playing at Pump 'n Dump one day, Emry came home with a temporary tattoo.  She was afraid it would hurt to put it on, so Maren put it on her own leg instead.  Maren explained that it was called a tattoo.  Emry kept pointing to Maren's leg and saying "toottat."  FYI - She calls daddy's tats "picture," "baseball" or "ring." 

Welcome - This has a couple of layers to it, so bear with me...Emry is trying to to say "You're Welcome", but she only says the "welcome" part.  Even though she is trying to say "You're Welcome", what she really means is "Thank you."  We started working with Emry on saying please, thank you and you're welcome.  Emry got the "please" portion down right away, but the rest of it is still a work in process.  So don't be offended if you share your snack with Emry and she says "welcome."

I'm sure there are tons of other phrases and words that I'm forgetting.  These were all I could think of on my run this morning.  I need to be leaving for work, so I'm going to grab a damen and a sip of lopper.  Welcome for reading the blog!