Monday, April 19, 2010

Childhood Expressions

Kikkerland Imperial Led ChandelierBarbara at TherExtras is hosting this Blog Carnival inspired by William the Bear who has lived in Barbara's room since her daughter moved him in there. I had to join because I have a Lambchop doll who moved into our room one afternoon who will never leave either!

Childhood expressions are some of my favorite memories of my children. When my kids were little I had one earnest friend who chided me for not immediately correcting my children and allowing their immature understandings become part of family lore. Nearly 20 years later both of our kids are finishing up high school or headed to college and no one could tell which of our kids has silly family stories in their backpack...

(One of my children, however, hated to get anything wrong so some favorite stories will not be included here...)

Here are some of my favorites:

Bowl-hat: Is it food storage or a wardrobe accessory? At our house, both. Then we would wash them in the sink with mountains of suds. Still, a sanitizing dishwasher was good to have.
Ladies and Gempimum!!: An announcement made before feats of danger and derring-do--wise mother wears sneakers at all times and starts running before the end of the word 'ladies.'
Oh Poor Jeffer: this was another announcement that required mother to run. When baby Jennifer cried my son would say those words and then throw her the toy he was sure she was craving--a truck, a bowling ball... whatever... Her life would pass before my eyes every time.
Diamond Room: Dining room (it has a chandelier.) I kept this because we were the only family on the street who had one...
Ball Room:  aka the living room... went well with the Diamond Room and the 'our home is our castle' meme--would have been even better if it wasn't because we had a ball pit (and a mini-trampoline) instead of furniture in there.
More Jesus Please: This was a signed request... hilarious because what she wanted was more Cheez-its.

And, drumroll please.... our family's all time favorite childhood expression is:

Can't Like It: This was (and often still is) my daughter's response to negative experiences... love this and use it all the time.

Too many chores, too little time and me the only one home to deal with it?

Can't like it!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Amazing the shared understanding we parents have of each other. Certainly our commonalities outweigh our differences. One of the mysteries of life - how we can be so different and so same at the same time. Barbara

Terri said...

Thanks Barbara and thanks for hosting this carnival--looking forward to some good reading!

karen rothfus said...

I loved this!! It made me want to keep a log of all those little things I take for granted. It also reminded me of Keaton who tells the tallest tales. Everyday I hear how he nearly escaped death or how Sarah (his fair maiden) rescued him....I love these stories from my little guy who "experts" told me would never be creative. Those around tell me I should curb his flights of fancy, lol no way!

Terri said...

Thanks, Karen! Thinking about these was fun... a trip down memory lane. And you are so right, and the 'experts' were wrong--enjoy the creativity!!

Bethany said...

These are such precious expressions of childhood! I love the double uses for the bowl. Why not get more for your money? And the signing More Jesus please for more cheezits is a delightful cross over of auditory rhyme and signing. My two nieces had some funny expressions like "night ups" instead of "night gowns", "poll nailish" instead of "nail polish", and my Little Bit who "hates dinner" but loves spaghetti, chicken, pizza, rice, hamburger, etc. Also when she wants something you have like a cookie she will stand right next to you and stare at you and announce "I like cookies".

Mrs. Mac said...

I so need to use your phrase, 'Can't Like It' ... especially when life gives me lemons ... of course, I make lemonade .. but it would be nice to say 'can't like it' too! I loved your post for the carnival.

danette said...

These are too cute, especially "can't like it" :).

Bearhug used to say, "donh lubbit" (don't love it) for things he didn't like :).