La-Ha

A few months ago I took Turtle and Monkey to Mayfield Park to see the peacocks that live and roam freely on the park grounds. There is a cottage in the middle of the park; the girls climbed onto the steps leading up to the cottage and started, almost simultaneously, saying “La-Ha.” They were giggling and walking along the length of the step, saying “La-Ha.” It took me awhile to figure out what they were saying:

“Are you playing a game?” I asked.

“Yeah. La-Ha.”

I kept repeating, “La-Ha? Are you saying La-Ha?”

They were. The next time we went, the same thing happened. Then just this week we went to visit a preschool that had peacocks on its grounds. As soon as we got home, they went out onto the front steps and started playing “La-Ha.” This game has something to do with peacocks and steps, but that is about all I can tell you.

The girls, Turtle in particular, constantly make up games. There’s “keymaster” and “monkey” and “sacka” and bunch of others. I couldn’t possibly explain these games except to tell you they involve a series of actions the girls make you repeat over and over (and over) and said actions are more directly related to the name of the game than the mysterious “La-Ha.”

This past Sunday they invented a new game, one I enjoy despite its name – “screaming.” It involves the girls running around the house, screaming. One will follow the other and then they switch, and they just scream. This game should not to be confused with “chase,” which, of course, is a totally different game and requires participation of a parent. And that was the beauty of “screaming” – no parents. They just ran around having a ball while Twin Daddy and I luxuriously poured ourselves glasses of water and stood around the kitchen, basking in the glorious screaming that meant we were free to chat amongst ourselves for as long as the game lasted.

Later that same day I actually read a magazine article while they played in the living room. Granted, it was a short article in ParentWise:Austin, but still. It was like they were older children from one day to the next.

On the subject of the speed at which these children are developing, I have to say I am generally astounded about every 7 minutes by the things that come out of their mouths. I have taken to saying, “Hmmmm, okay,” a lot. I've given up recording it all but I can touch on a couple of things. Turtle likes to pretend a lot. She often calls herself “puppy” and calls Mr. Lovey her “bone.” When she’s pretending she’s a puppy, she will correct you if you call her by her real name, and she says things like, “Where’s my bone, mommy?” when she can’t find Mr. Lovey. Last week, we started a new music class with their favorite teacher, Abby, and when we got home she (and then Monkey, who often follows whatever Turtle is doing) insisted on being called Abby for the rest of the day.

While Monkey usually follows Turtle’s lead on games and pretending, she has her own interesting imagination as well. She has taken to calling Turtle, “my baby brother.” Turtle responds by calling Monkey, “my sissy brother.” Then, my favorite story this month: Monkey was chatting up a storm in the back seat on the way to dinner last Saturday night, then she suddenly pointed at Turtle and said, “That’s my cousin, Baby Jesus.”

I could try to explain the circuitous connections and theories I have about how in the world the girl came up with such a statement, but I think it’s a lot more fun if we all just say, “hmmm, ok” and play along.