Vocabulary Explosion

Every new day with Lola and Locke brings a symphony of new words, and new ways of stringing together familiar words. The rate of learning for a 4-year-old is astonishing. Sometimes what comes out of their mouths is a regurgitation of overheard phrases with faint understanding of what they actually mean. But they understand more than I realized they could at this age. And now that they're sounding out more words, they're even learning through written words.

Locke has been developing his vocabulary by focusing on his latest passion, dinosaurs. He can tell you the names and eating habits of at least 30 dinosaurs, including Heterodontosaurus and Quetzalcoatlus. Often he can tell you how large it is in both feet and meters, too. But some of his best new lines are derived not from his beloved dinosaur library books, but from the commercials he's seen on the Discovery Kids network.

The other day he saw a commercial for a hair iron that straightens and curls. He was so impressed that he told me, "That hair worker works like no other hair worker!" Then, days later, as they were dressing in the locker room after their swimming lesson he said, "Regular irons might damage your hair." I wonder if he's trying to tell me something.

My favorite vocabulary words of Lola's are the ones that she gets a little wrong. Like the other day when she told me, "When I grow up and have babies, I'm going let my kids stay up ALL night so they can see the 'nocterminal' animals." Or when she told me that Locke knocked over her bowl but "he didn't do it on 'kurpose'."

The rate and the level of their vocabulary development is surprising, but even more surprising is how much I'm learning as a result of their learning. For instance, if I find myself at a cocktail party with a paleontologist, I'll actually be able to discuss their work with a slight degree of understanding. And I'll know not to ask about Brontosaurs. (For those of you not as current on dinosaurs as I, a Brontosaurus is now called an Apatosaurus.)

Not to be outdone, I'll fill you in on my own latest vocabulary acquisition. I picked it up at the kids' swimming lesson last week. When we arrived at the gym and the indoor pool was closed I was surprised to learn that their lesson was being conducted in the outdoor pool. It was sprinkling and 68 degrees outside. When I asked why the indoor pool was closed, I learned this little gem: "fecal incident." I'm hoping I never have reason to use that one again.

Thank You, Mimi!

Most of my local friends with kids live here because their families live here. Many have lived elsewhere -- New York, Portland, San Francisco -- until the first baby was born. Then the need to be close to family becomes more important than whatever it was that was so important where you were living. Because once you have kids, you don't remember much about what happened before that.

Kelly and I were in a little different situation than most. In order for me to stay home with our babies, we had to move away from our families. It was very difficult but we both feel that it was the best choice. So, unlike most people I know, we don't have the grandparents across town to take care of the kids for the afternoon, or the weekend, or the week.

But we have something that none of our friends have. We have Mimi.

Mimi will drop everything to babysit for as long as we need her. This summer she spent 4 weeks here so Kelly and I could go to our close friends' wedding, renovate the kids playroom, and take care of several other orders of business while she was here.

She took the kids to school, classes, play dates and birthday parties. She took them to the dairy farm to see the cows and chase the chickens. She took them to eat cupcakes. And she took them on picnics. She baked with them, she painted with them, and she gardened with them. The kids had the time of their lives.

I know my parents would have loved to be here, playing with and caring for Lola and Locke. They've definitely done it before. They teamed up with Mimi a year ago to babysit so that Kelly and I could go to Beijing for the Olympics. That was the trip of a lifetime and I'll always be grateful for it. So, for a family living so far from family, we are very lucky.

This summer Mimi went beyond the call of duty. Thank you, Mimi.