Swimmin' and Talkin'

Despite what the calendar might say, it's summer here in Southern IL.

We've had 4 days of 90+ temps, and don't get me wrong - I'm not complaining.  The pool is a perfect temp and the garden is taking off.  We're in the pool every afternoon which wears little kids (and their mom) out and we all sleep great. Well, 3 out of 4 of us.  One of us has to work and not play, poor guy.

  

Calla is still swimming like a fish and Corrie has started to embrace the pool, pushing off from the steps with her floaties on and spinning in a circle, laughing.  But Calla... she can't wait to get in the pool every day.  She's floating and swimming and dipping and diving.

If Calla's swimming like a fish, then Corrie is speaking like...like...a Talking Elmo with fresh batteries?   She's babbling all over the place, but if you can decipher half of what she says, you're ahead of me.  I've got a good 50 %.  Here, in case you visit, is my translator:

Hoo = Juice, Shoe, Poop.  Usually you can figure it out in context, but you'd be surprised at the number of times I've knelt down to give Corrie her re-fill of OJ, only to get a whiff of something.  Not asking for juice.

Gucky = Yucky, Ducky, Socks.  Again, context is key.  She is taking after her Aunt Jessica (this being one of my only clear memories of baby Jess) in that she hates having messy hands at the end of dinner.  "Gucky!  Gucky!" she screams, thrusting her tomato-saucy hands in my face.  Not sure why she can't just wipe them on her pants like the rest of us.

I'm also not sure what to do when she points to my bare feet and says "Gucky!"  Is she saying my feet are yucky?  Or that I should be wearing socks?  Or that that cluster of mosquito bites resembles a duck bill?  It's anyone's guess.

Gock = Sock.

Gull = Squirrel.  Usually screamed in glee when she sees one.

Burr = Bird.  Again, screaming in glee.

Go, go, go! = Shoes are on, let's hit the road.  Quit looking for your keys, Mom and get a move on.

Chee = Cheese.  Loves it.

Da-eee = Doggy or Daddy.  Loves both of them.

Heee = Hand

Ala = Calla

Finally, a request of any future visitors...
While I don't have a good photo of it, Corrie has a gorgeous head of curly hair right now.  It's like a little curly tonsure that rings the bottom of her hair.  One little corkscrew curl in the very back of her neck reaches, when wet, nearly to her shoulder blades, but then springs back up.  The humidity makes it even curlier.

I don't know what to do with curls, but I love them, and am afraid that her first hair cut will take them away, forever.  But whenever I bemoan what I fear is the impermanence of her curls, Calla will bust out, a little too enthusiastically, with the suggestion that "we should just cut off Corrie's curls!"  So please, please, if you visit us, when you admire little sister's beautiful hair, might you also admire big sister's hair, too?  I'm hoping to squelch a little sisterly rivalry before the scissors come out when I'm not looking.

Or at least until I can get a good picture of the back of Corrie's head.