Friday, May 4, 2012

Lost in Translation

Very often I need to act as a translator for my twins.  They are three and my daughter (Baby B) can be very shy and soft spoken and has a little, tiny "minnie mouse" voice.  My children all understand one another and 99% of the time I can understand all of them, too.  When I can't, I will ask one of my older two - what did she just say?  and with a big sigh, they tell me.  But very often, friends, extended family and even their dad get that blank look on their face and nod pleasantly at one of the kids, then ask me later - "what did he/she just say?"  

Part of the challenge is that the twins are three and don't have clear voices yet, part of the challenge is that my kids have funny made up names for things or use the "wrong" name.  Some are easy to figure out, and almost a kind of short hand, others not so much! For example, my three year old son calls doughnuts bagels.  He doesn't like eating real bagels and has no interest in them, but put one of his "bagels" with sprinkles in front of him and he will make it disappear!  Apple Juice is  "ap-ap", Milk is "milkey", Lemonade is "lemon", Cookies are "cook-cooks" and Pretzels are "pretzys", and  Kisses are "kissey -kisses".  I know that some parents are probably reading this and shuddering!  It doesn't bother me, they are three and they are cute and they are little.  I know that they will grow up and grow out of it.   My 7 year old and 5 year old use the correct words and get embarrased by their younger siblings! But, I am going to enjoy their "kissey-kisses" as long as I can!

This morning though they stumped me.  The three little ones were getting ready for school.  I sent them into the bathroom to wash hands and brush teeth while I made their beds.  My son came out of the bathroom as proud as can be and said "look mommy, we all brushed our teeth and we used the same toothbrush."  I tried to not be grossed out and gently explained that it was important for everyone to have their own tooth brush.  His respone was,  "no silly" and pulled me in the bathroom.  Sure enough they all used the same toothbrush......lined up nicely in the toothbrush holder were three of the exact same toothbrushes!  My little man new exactly whose toothbrush belonged to whom and who used which one! (They even put their tooth brushes back AND put the top back on the tooth paste tube! Not bad for two three - year olds and one five year old!  For this I can overlook the big pink toothpaste globs in the sink any day!).

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

2 comments:

  1. That is a funny story. You know you are doing something right when your very young kids can do the tooth brushing routine independently! Thank you for linking to Multiples Monday on Capri + 3.

    : 0 ) Theresa

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