Tea Party stories

We are having a tea party this morning. Sam got out her special tea set that Becky gave her and set the table for me. I got the tea, and we sat at the table to have breakfast together. I told her that when ladies have tea, they have nice conversation together. She said okay, and launched into telling me tales.

There were little ants
They went home
They were alive
They got bit by a BAD caterpillar
They died
Their grandmother got in a car and drove to the hospital. She had some babies that needed to go to the hospital. And a little black ant went to see the koi that they saw that’s what the grandmother did. I love this story and Bye!


Wait, I have another story!

They gathered up around the day and they had a red cherry in their mouth. It was not supposed to be in there and they put a green cherry in their mouth and it made them sick. They got a new one and they put it on the edge of the tub at night. (green teeth that was not supposed to be in their mouths) It glowed at night.

There’s more about the ants

They went to the mall They got new pairs of shorts. They got new pairs of just shorts. They had an ant bed and an ant song just right for ants and an ant cd just like my cd with an ant song.

[Sam sings]

The ants go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching two by two, hurrah, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching three by three, hurrah, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching three by three, hurrah, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching three by three, hurrah, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching four by four, hurrah, hurrah, hurrah
The little ant stops and sat down, hurrah, hurrah, hurrah

Skinamarink a dink a dink I love you!

They watch some tv and ‘Singing in the Rain.’ They went to their ant treehouse and they had some tags. Some tags said “wake up!” One rule, every ant wakes up. Every ant wakes up except one ant sleeps on the blue slide. A big monster woke up the ant. [the tree house has a blue slide with a 7 foot soft moster from Monster Inc] The monster helped the tree house wake. They [ants] love the treehouse and they went home. They got into their bed. The house had a crack in the middle. The end.

Dancing

Sam is dancing around the living room with the helium balloons to Brahms, something or other. She looks very graceful holding onto the strings and swaying around.

We are a bit tired after Ella's birthday party. Sam was very upset that Ella couldn't go to her party, so she decided Ella needed her very own party. Our friends were very easy going about the whole thing, even singing "Happy Birthday" with me and Sam when I gave Ella her cake. Sam was quite startled when she pulled out the birthday candle and stuck the 'frosting' end in her mouth. She didn't realize it was canned dog food! She wouldn't touch the candles after that. Ella was very happy to be out and about with the guests, something I can't allow when we have hordes of small children around, mostly because the parents get nervous. Ellen brought a present for Ella which Ella carried with her everywhere. Ella is a most appreciative pup.

We had a very nice day, and I have to say, Sam's idea of a party was excellent.

Stories

Conversation from today:

“Sam, I want you to take this towel and wipe up the mess [water] on the floor, please.”

“But Mommy, I was having so much fun making a mess!”

I couldn’t help it. I started laughing so hard. I eventually was able to stop laughing and told her she still had to wipe up the floor, which she did. I am not sure what the kitty shelf looks like, haven’t dared to look yet.


Later, she came in with a wet cotton ball and said, “Mommy, I have something for your boo-boo!” I lift my sleeve and she, with exquisite care, puts the cool cotton ball on my rather nasty bruise from walking into a purse hook on the back of a bathroom stall. She was so gentle. I also got several ‘I love you” kisses. She will be an excellent nurse and an even better doctor if they ever start placing value on bedside manner.

I’ve got a couple of stories that Sam is fascinated with right now.

“Misty Pearly Dawn

One morning, Mommy and Daddy got up very early, when it was still dark out. Daddy took Mommy and a suitcase downstairs and got us in the car. We drove through the misty, pearly dawn to get to the hospital. The nurses dressed mommy in a silly gown that was closed in the front and open in the back. They put me in a special room and took you out of my tummy. Daddy was the very first person to see you, and he thought you were very beautiful. The nurse cleaned you up, and gave you a bath while the doctors cleaned mommy up, and then I got to see you. You were the most beautiful sight in the world, even better than the misty pearly dawn. Neither of us wanted you out of our sight, and the nurses kept teasing daddy because he would go down and take you out of their nursery. We just wanted to look at you and hold you all the time because you were so beautiful and we had waited so long for our special little girl.”


“Star

In March 2001, mommy and daddy went out into the night and looked up at the sky. There are billions and billions and billions of stars in the sky. We looked, and looked, and looked, and looked some more. Finally, out of all those billions of stars, we saw the perfect star that we thought would be just right for our family. So we asked the star, “Would you like to come and live with our family?” And the star said, “yes.” It leapt from the sky, flew all the way down to earth and went into mommy’s tummy where it stayed for nine months, turning from a star into a baby. And when you came out, we knew we had picked just the right star.”

Words

Sometimes Sam's vocabulary is so out of the norm, it is hard to know what she is saying. For example, how is Jim to know that Sam is speaking Swahili and not some made up language? Sam made a story, and Jim wrote the words for her. He wrote "toto" and "La Salaam" Sam was saying "Jambo Watoto" for "hello children" and "la la Salaama" for peaceful goodnight. These are phrases from "Jambo Watoto", one of her favorite books. It's about baby cheetahs, and every few days Sam will insist that she is a cheetah, and she is our watoto. On these days Matt is "daddy duma" and Amy is "mama duma" to her.

Then Sam got me. She said her favorite word was 'Tussock.' Huh? I wasn't sure I heard her, so she repeated it a few times for me. Then I said it was a very good made up word, and she said yes, she liked it with grass. Ahah! The light bulb goes off in my head. She means a tussock of grass, a little mound of tall grass. I must have said that to her last year, and she just pops out with it now. Well, how was I to expect that out of a three year old with no context? I knew just how Jim felt then. How was he to know Sam knew a few words of Swahili?

I was disapointed with Sam yesterday when she wouldn't let Amanda, our 15 month old friend, have Sam's broken necklace. I tried and tried to get her to agree to give it away, especially when Amanda had loaned her a beautiful doll for so many months. Sam steadfastedly refused. I told Daddy about this at night, and he asked her why she hadn't given it to Amanda. "I was afraid she would chew on it and it would go down her throat" was her reply. Well, Sam was right, it is a choking hazard for a small child. Guess she was one up on both mommies that day.

Sam continues to amuse me on a regular basis as her vocabulary and language syntax continue to race ahead. This morning she came into the bedroom where there were 5 or 6 pillows on the floor. She decided she wanted them to be on the bed, so she said "Could you pick up the several pillows on the floor and put them on the bed, please?"

Several? Since when do three year olds use the word "several", and use it correctly? Am I just underestimating most three year olds?

And then there was the moment when she noticed that the Thai restaurant where we had dinner tonight had a plate of lollipops near the cash register. Her whole face lit up as she exclaimed "Oh! They have lollipops here, I see!"

On another note, we've been planning to give away some parlor games that we never play, and Samantha wanted to know what kinds of games she would play when she was older. Amy told her that when she was older she'd play chess with her daddy. I'm not sure why she said that, since I'm one of the worst chess players around, but be that as it may, Samantha informed me this evening that when Tigger is older he'll be able to play chess too, but he's too little right now. Poor Tigger.

Good Girl!

Yesterday Sam picked up every single one of the stuffed toys she had flung around the room *and* neatly stacked her books -- All of her books, either on her nightstand or in her crates. Today she put herself in her room for quiet times. Who is this living with me and what has she done with my daughter?

Samantha has discovered addition, at three and a half years old.

Last night I was putting her to bed. We read a couple of books and I asked her to turn out the light. She wanted to read some more, so I told her to get one more book from her bookshelf. She look at me very eagerly and said "If I get one book and one book, that's two books!"

We still read just one the one book, though.