Rain Rain Go Away

For those of you who did not experience the deluge last week, the southeast decided to try on monsoon weather.  Thankfully it didn't fit well and we are back to toasty warm days with beaming sunshine.  Four days of solid rain and three more of scattered showers really put a damper on our summer.  Ever adapting, by the end of the week Whit was mowing in the drizzling rain while I sat in the open garage and enjoyed the slight breeze cooling off the 90+ degree heat.  By the end of the week I experienced, I think for the first time in my life, cabin fever.  By the weekend I was calling everyone I knew trying to setup playdates for Whit so that I could get out of the house. 

There's nothing like packing up six kids and two adults, driving nearly 30 minutes to downtown Knoxville and a scattered thunderstorm catching you a 10 minute walk from the car.  Whit had a blast playing in the fountains and Mama was nearly as wet as Whit by the time we got back to the car in the rain.

This week cashed in on a few more playdates but 80-90% humidity has not made for fun days outside either.  The park at 10 am is stifling and hot days and high humidity inevitably lead to afternoon thundershowers.  We've had wonderful rain every afternoon this week and I, being a proponent of line drying my clothing have had a few items rinsed several times in the rain and Whit's sand and water play table has become simply a water play table.  

Playing trains in the rain

Baseball  with Mama!

Fountains at Market Square

Having a snack at the Splash Pad

All tuckered out, but hanging onto the baseball gear

Home again, home again

Jiggity-Jig!

That's what we say every time we pull onto Durham Road to head to our house.  Kirk or I start and Whit finishes.

We had a wonderful visit in VA with Kirk's family and my sister but there is something about going to sleep in your own bed at night.  I haven't had a chance to post since we got in on Thursday because we (Kirk) have been busy putting together Whit's big boy bed (Thanks Nana Lu!).  I'm planning to post "before and after" photos by the end of July after we paint and get curtains, sheets, bedspreads, etc. For now, we are making do with what we have and Whit is loving his new room.

We've also spent a significant amount of time cleaning. It's funny, really, because I'm certain we cleaned the house before we left. But I guess there's something about Nana's house that changes my perception of clean.  Suddenly the basket full of clean laundry is out of  place in our bedroom and the two half full glasses of water (yes, mine!) should not be on my dresser.  We organized and put away and cleaned the last 2 days and I'm sure we will sit and enjoy it for all of 3 hours before we begin to slack and go back to "good enough for us" mentality.

Just three weeks at home for Kirk and I to wrap up our school work, Whit to play ball in the living room, organization (and re-organization) of the house before we head out to a wedding, the beach, and another foreign bed.  We will just have to enjoy it while we can.

Check out facebook for photos of our trip home. http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=6217920&sk=photos

The Name Game

I've always felt that a person's name has some influence on who they are. When I was growing up I was "Rebecca" to everyone except family.  I was "B" or "Becka" to most people but "Becky" to my Grandma Overdorff.  When I moved to Virginia at the age of 12 I became "Becky" to everyone.  I won't lie and tell you it wasn't a difficult adjustment.  Who was this "Becky" person, how could I be her?  When I left for college I leaped at the opportunity to be "Rebecca" again and interestingly my good college friends all call me "Becka," the natural nickname that I developed as a youngster.  I can always tell how people know me based on what they call me and I tend to interact with people differently based on that.

Before Whit was born we were going to name him "Whitfield" and call him "Whit" but for the first two years I called him "Whitfield" most of the time.  We are now working toward "Whit" but to me he will always be "Whitfield," especially when he is in trouble!   I'm sure as he gets older he will pick up other names and he will adjust who he is to fit that name.

Another post in the Wonderful Words series, this idea came about after some serious name confusion.

As with any other time in history, there are popular names that seem to crop up multiple times in a generation or every generation.  Additionally, there are countless stories about someone's name being changed because a nickname was used or someone used a different name.

The first time I encountered a name change was when I saw a letter addressed to "Stephanie Overdorff."  I looked at my mother in confusion.  Yes, she has 3 sisters and 4 brothers, but none of them are named "Stephanie;"  so who was this Stephanie person? She cleared it up and let me know that it was actually my Aunt Dawn, who was called by her middle name because my Grandfather, who is deaf, couldn't say "Stephanie."  Ah, I get it!

My brother-in-law is often called "Rico" by his family members. It began as a nickname, there's a story, but I cannot recall all of the details, and now it drops in as a greeting, cheering at a ballgame, or general conversation.

KIRK (to his mother): How's Rico doing?

Occasionally, and perhaps the most intriguing, is when a name changes because the newest member of the family doesn't pronounce the name correctly or there needs to be some distinction between people.  Whit calls Rico "Eck-ick" which is his interpretation of "Eric" (Rico's actual name).  I doubt he will stay "Eck-ick" as we are trying to have Whit to pronounce names correctly. We've recently succeeded with his second cousin Sydney who was "Sis-Sis" until just this week.

On the topic of Sydney, it just so happens that she shares this name with her father.  Needless to say when Nana says "Sidney is coming over" and Big Sid rather than Little Sydney shows up Whit is confused.  As I sit here (supposed to be doing homework) and watch the family play ball in the yard below me, I can hear the effort being made to say "Sid" and "Sydney;" to make some sort of distinction.

Other names of note:

Nanny Kate (Whit's Nanny) vs. Katie Bug (Whit's friend Katie)
Hunter (Nanny Kate's son) vs. Baby Hunter (Katie Bug's brother)
Reece (Whit's male friend) vs. Baby Reese (Whit's female friend)
Miss Marsh-Marsh (Marcia, Katie and Hunters' Mommy)
Sah-Sah (Sarah, Baby Reese's sister)
Mungka (Grandma Hylton)
Pop-Pap?? (We are still figuring out what to call Grandpa Hylton)
Opee (Nana Lucille, which started out as Whit's first attempt at "Hey Babe" and came out "Op-bee!"
Kis-tis (Aunt Kristin)
Not-Mama (one of the funniest, Nanny Christine, who he was calling "Mama" and she kept saying "I'm not your Mama, I'm Nanny Christine!" "Not Mama" was somehow the name that stuck!)

I'm sure there are some other cute names that I'm missing, so no offense meant if I left you off the list. 

Currently, Whit can say "Eamon" and Eamon can say "Whit" so there are no issues with their names. I am, however, curious to see how the name game will be played out with any future children that enter the family as I have some interesting and difficult to pronounce names in my potential baby name line up.

Wonderful Words

Since I know I'm going to do several more posts about Whit's growing vocabulary, I've decided to group them together into a "Wonderful Words" series.

Say that again

Negative

A guest blog from my wonderful sister So Many Words

The Name Game

Negative

Have you ever considered how many ways there are to say "no?"

You can say  "nope, never, no (in spanish, which is just no), uh-uh, negative"
You could simply shake your head. 
And then there are the phrases that, when you get down to it, really mean "no."  "Stop that! Don't do that! Don't touch that! Don't eat that..." need I go on?

Children are inundated with "no," is it any wonder that they learn it very quickly?  Or, in some cases, very slowly....

As Whit embraces the "twos" (I can't bear to call them terrible, because many aspects of them are wonderful) he has learned many ways to tell me "no." His favorites are "uh-uh" and "nope." 

ME: "Whit, we need to take a potty break, do you need to potty?"

WHIT: "Nope!"

I could go on in this vein, but I think you all get the point.

As with all of my other parenting decisions, I am trying to give Whit a start in life that gives him the most potential to be a satisfied, self-sufficient and functional citizen of the world.  With that said, I say "no" very little.  We've created a few things that mean "no" such as "freeze your feet" for "no, don't go any further" and "Not a toy" for "No, don't play with that."  We try to save "no" in it's most basic form for truly dangerous things.  (Whit does not hold that same opinion).

A few of my favorite ways to tell Whit "no":

"Not right now, honey"

"I don't think that's a good idea"

"Maybe later" (I got that one from my mother, thanks Mom!)

"Let's do this instead"


See other Wonderful Words posts