Learning a new language
Our youngest son Connor has been speaking for some time now. It's not uncommon for children in the range of eighteen months to be speaking, but Connor has a word for everything. Which would be the main problem.
Dictionary according to Connor:
Aeeeehhhh
Pronunciation: 'Aeeeehhhh?!?!?!?!?!'
Function: noun, verb, adverb, adjective, preposition, conjunction
Etymology: Early Connorese
1: Anything
2: Everything
We tried teaching him some sign language because it's common to try with babies and they can often pick up quite a bit. For those of you who remember the signing in Meet the Fockers, quit squeezing your fists...
He learned the sign for "more" which is like pinching your fingers together in each hand and then clapping with just the fingertips. He kinda got that, but uses one hand with the fingers bunched together and the other open palmed. Not quite the signal, but close enough for us to understand.
After he learned "more" our learning progression pretty much stopped. Instead we get him having "Aeeeehhhh?!?!?!?!?!" as his all purpose verbal word, and now his "more" sign has become an all purpose non-verbal sign.
"more" = "do it again" (which I guess is about right for semantics), "Mama is home", "Papa is home", "Turn the TV on", etc, etc.
We continue to try to get him to say something else, but no luck so far. Sticking to our guns in trying to get him to say something to try to show him who's boss has no effect. He already knows who's boss and is perfectly happy in his role as the boss.
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Friday, June 09, 2006
We moved into a new house this past May. We love it, far more house than we set out looking to buy, and it came with one big bonus feature that wasn't part of any search criteria...a pool.
In our previous house there was a pool nearby that you could pay to be a member of. The cost at $300/family for a pool that was open Memorial Day to Labor Day seemed a bit much to stomach. In retrospect this now seems like a deal, we've already tossed ~$400 at our new pool in chemicals and a house call from the pool guy over an issue with our pump in the first month, and this is before the pool reached an "opened" state.
The pool has recently changed from its murky green swamp like state to some quite inviting clear blue water. This is thanks in a large part to a side effect of our house call over the pump issue (which turned out to only be a bad switch), when our pool guy noticed that our intake valve from the bottom of the pool was closed, so our pump/filter were only cycling through the water near the top of the pool.
Angie wasn't comfortable with the use of the pool just because it was clear, and wanted to verify with the pool store that the water was sitting at appropriate levels and to see what corrective measures might be needed to balance it out to where it needed to be. Me? I wasn't going to let any silly thing like science get in my way of enjoying the pool on such a great day, so I packed up from work early with my mind set on getting wet.
My previous bravery faded a little bit by the time I got home, so I gave Angie a ring to see how things checked out with the pool store. Pool store guy almost calls the authorities on her! "I've got tell you that you can't let your kids into that pool, their skin will burn off!!!"
???
Apparently, the alkalinity was way off the charts. He stated that we needed to drain our pool and refill it, or drain our pool by about a foot, add twelve pounds of some alkalinity modifier that he was willing to sell us and fill our pool back up.
Sounded fairly dire, but at the same time questionable, so Angie took the water sample to another pool store. Response? "Your chlorine looks a bit low, but everything looks good other wise."
???
Angie asked the guy in the second pool store if he was sure, if there wasn't a problem with the alkalinity? "Nope, looks fine", he replies.
After hearing this, I decided I'd let myself be the test case for the honesty/aptitude of our local pool stores and headed on down to the pool for a dip. You'll be happy to know that my skin is still attached in an unburned state, so I think pool store #2 is probably going to be getting our future business.
One final note for your amusement. When Angie got home I was still in the pool, and was greeted with "What are you wearing?!?!?". Aidan followed her right up with "Papa, are you not wearing any clothes?"
"Umm, no I'm wearing a swimsuit." Much eye-rolling ensues from Angie. "Yes, it's a Speedo, apologies for not wearing boardshorts with parachuting pockets while swimming laps in our private pool by my self in our fenced in yard." *Attempts to eye-roll back at Angie but lacks the degree of skill she has in this art, plus I'm wearing goggles so it's pretty much lost on effect*
I'll spare everyone pics of me in a Speedo, some of you may still be working on your lunches. Keeping a towel right next to the pool and putting it on as soon as I got out was obviously ineffective. Maybe for Father's Day I'll get one of those full body swim suits some wear in the Olympics to address my abysmal behavior.
Of course I'd have to wear a pair of parachute pocket board shorts over that full body swim suit if I expect to keep everyone happy.
In our previous house there was a pool nearby that you could pay to be a member of. The cost at $300/family for a pool that was open Memorial Day to Labor Day seemed a bit much to stomach. In retrospect this now seems like a deal, we've already tossed ~$400 at our new pool in chemicals and a house call from the pool guy over an issue with our pump in the first month, and this is before the pool reached an "opened" state.
The pool has recently changed from its murky green swamp like state to some quite inviting clear blue water. This is thanks in a large part to a side effect of our house call over the pump issue (which turned out to only be a bad switch), when our pool guy noticed that our intake valve from the bottom of the pool was closed, so our pump/filter were only cycling through the water near the top of the pool.
Angie wasn't comfortable with the use of the pool just because it was clear, and wanted to verify with the pool store that the water was sitting at appropriate levels and to see what corrective measures might be needed to balance it out to where it needed to be. Me? I wasn't going to let any silly thing like science get in my way of enjoying the pool on such a great day, so I packed up from work early with my mind set on getting wet.
My previous bravery faded a little bit by the time I got home, so I gave Angie a ring to see how things checked out with the pool store. Pool store guy almost calls the authorities on her! "I've got tell you that you can't let your kids into that pool, their skin will burn off!!!"
???
Apparently, the alkalinity was way off the charts. He stated that we needed to drain our pool and refill it, or drain our pool by about a foot, add twelve pounds of some alkalinity modifier that he was willing to sell us and fill our pool back up.
Sounded fairly dire, but at the same time questionable, so Angie took the water sample to another pool store. Response? "Your chlorine looks a bit low, but everything looks good other wise."
???
Angie asked the guy in the second pool store if he was sure, if there wasn't a problem with the alkalinity? "Nope, looks fine", he replies.
After hearing this, I decided I'd let myself be the test case for the honesty/aptitude of our local pool stores and headed on down to the pool for a dip. You'll be happy to know that my skin is still attached in an unburned state, so I think pool store #2 is probably going to be getting our future business.
One final note for your amusement. When Angie got home I was still in the pool, and was greeted with "What are you wearing?!?!?". Aidan followed her right up with "Papa, are you not wearing any clothes?"
"Umm, no I'm wearing a swimsuit." Much eye-rolling ensues from Angie. "Yes, it's a Speedo, apologies for not wearing boardshorts with parachuting pockets while swimming laps in our private pool by my self in our fenced in yard." *Attempts to eye-roll back at Angie but lacks the degree of skill she has in this art, plus I'm wearing goggles so it's pretty much lost on effect*
I'll spare everyone pics of me in a Speedo, some of you may still be working on your lunches. Keeping a towel right next to the pool and putting it on as soon as I got out was obviously ineffective. Maybe for Father's Day I'll get one of those full body swim suits some wear in the Olympics to address my abysmal behavior.
Of course I'd have to wear a pair of parachute pocket board shorts over that full body swim suit if I expect to keep everyone happy.
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