Vocabulary

We did this along time ago but we are starting up again for the new year. I have been getting words off of dictionary.com's Word of the Day feature for a while now, giving Hunter a new word to play with every day. It has been an on-again, off-again occurrence, and we haven't been doing it in a while now, but we're back and at it again (and really excited about it).

When I first started doing this, I thought it would be a cool and logical idea, but had no idea how much fun we would have with it.

A lot of the words have resulted in a fun imaginary story to act them out and explain them, such as camarilla (a group of secret and often scheming advisers), or deus ex machina (an agent who appears unexpectedly to solve an apparently insoluble difficulty). 

So, here we are back at it again. These are the words of the day for January (taken from the January 2009 list on dictionary.com)

1. wanderlust: impulse to travel
2. xanthous: yellowish
3. yegg: burglar or safecracker
4. zealous: very enthusiastic
5. abstinent: self-restraining
6. beleaguer: force to quit; upset
7. candor: honesty
8. daunt: cause to lose courage
9. eclectic: varying in style
10. fastidious: hard to please
11. gargantuan: huge
12. hapless: deserving pity
13. iconoclast: critic of ideas
14. jettison: throw away or over
15. kinetic: moving
16. laissez-faire: non-interference
17. magnanimous: generous and noble
18. narcolepsy: sleep disorder
19. obscure: less visible or clear
20. pandiculation: yawning and stretching
21. qualitative: based on qualities
22. rancor: deep anger and ill will
23. sallow: unhealthy looking
24. talisman: lucky charm
25. unconscionable: lacking conscience
26. vacuous: inanely foolish
27. wanton: behaving lewdly
28. yielding: giving in
29. acclaim: approval
30. bemoan: regret and complain
31. canine: doglike

"Naphtali is a hind let loose: he giveth goodly words." 

Genesis 49:21

Hunter is 4 years, 9 months old

New Decade

This is the first snapshot I took in this new year.

Hunter brought in the new year by running out the front door and throwing off snappers, snakes, and sparklers with the neighbors, while I talked to my family back home on skype. Oh, and I can't forget that they also gave him some sort of party horn. Which he blew for about 45 minutes.

I took this picture, though, minutes ago. He was celebrating with his "puppies", one of whom I just sewed the tail back on. He really was happy. I don't know what the silly face is about. I took a couple more, but to be honest to the first-picture-of-the-year, this is it.

As I was sitting there snapping pictures, realizing how huge my almost-half-a-decade-old son is, I realized that the next time we celebrate the turning of a decade together, my little baby boy is going to be a young man.

And even though to the modern world, a fifteen-year-old is still considered a child, historically speaking, and even still in most of the world today, a teenager is, yes, a young man.

And by the time that a child has reached that age, I believe at least, a parent's job is, in one very large sense of the word, over.

It's not that an adolescent doesn't need his parents anymore. Just that their influence has diminished, quite greatly, from the total and all-surpassing influence apparent during infancy to that of a companion and guide. Beliefs cannot be forced on a young adult and, the raising of the child, I believe, is virtually over.

Am I really ready for that? A decade ago certainly doesn't seem so far past. I remember 2000 quite well. Can I really accomplish all that I want to accomplish in the fleeting amount of time I have been given?

It's an overwhelming thought on my mind, to say the least. It's one of those "Spiderman moments", sitting there and truly realizing the weight of the truth that, with great power comes great responsibility.

My reflection on my inadequacy is frightfully overwhelming. But thankful that God's grace is sufficient, somehow, someway...

If your child is to latter cherish you, you must cherish him every day, every hour of his development. There are no neutral moments in a child’s life. Every moment is a time of continuous need and development. 

Debi Pearl, co-author of To Train Up A Child

"Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." 

Proverbs 22:6

Hunter is 4 years, 9 months old

Candor

can⋅dor

[kan-der]

–noun

1. the state or quality of being frank, open, and sincere in speech or expression; candidness

So I found this little survey on someone else's blog the other day and thought it would be fun to try out with Hunter, see what answers he would come up with.

I tried not to give him examples when asking the question (i.e. asking "What do you and I do together? You know, like do we read, cook, walk, what?") because he will generally just pick one of my suggestions.

So this is the suggestion-free survey of Mommy according to Hunter. (Warning: complete and utter randomness)

Hey Hunter, we're gonna play a game ok? I'm gonna ask you some questions to see how much you know me.  

"I do know you. You're Elizabeth. Elizabeth [Last name]."

Ok but I'm going to ask you some questions about what you think about me, ok? It'll be fun. 

"Ok."

 1. What is something I always say to you?

"Um, get my lesson book, feed the dog..."

Is that all? 

"Yes."

 2. What makes me happy?

"Cleaning up stuff, like the living room, the dog's cage, the kitchen..." [really?]

 3. What makes me sad?

"It makes you sad when Brandon's not here and me and Brandon go places. That makes you sad."

That's what makes me sad?

"Yeah, it does make you sad. But when we come back, it doesn't make you sad. That makes you happy."

 4. How do I make you laugh?

"Um, when I'm playing with Brandon, you make me laugh."

How?

"When you say something funny that makes me laugh when I'm playing with Brandon."

Like what? 

"I don't know, I can't think of anything."

 5. What was I like when I was a little girl?

"I don't know."

You can't think of anything?

"You have been bad when you were a little girl and not listening to my Nana. And you took a toy in bed and lost it when you woke up."

Ok... anything else?

"My Nana told you to put the toy away and you disobeyed her. And I was gonna be there to help, but I wasn't there. But I should've. And you should've asked for something, like pudding... But if my Nana askes you to set the table, will you set it? Did you set it when my Nana told you to, did you? When you were a little girl, did you? Excuse me Mom, did you?"

[I was typing and trying to record all this, so I didn't answer right away. I think this story possibly has something to do with a story I may have told him a long time ago about a time I disobeyed, but I really have no clue what he was talking about!]

 6. How old am I?

"Um, I don't know how old you are. How old are you?"

 7. How tall am I?

"I don't know. You're like 60 pounds." [I guess he doesn't have the greatest sense of weight]

No I asked how tall I was not how much I weighed, silly.

"I don't know." He paused for a minute, then said, "I want to measure you."

Just guess. You are 44 inches tall, how tall do you think I am?

"I think you're 62 inches tall." [close - 65, actually]

 8. What is my favorite thing to do?

"Playing with me. That's what you wanna do in the whole world."

 9. What do I do when you’re not around?

"Um, be with Brandon, playing with him."

What do Brandon and I do?

"Well let's see.. you play with Brandon and you watch TV with him, and you come to pick me up when it's bedtime for me. That's what you do with Brandon, that's all." [pick me up at bedtime has to do with the time he went to the neighbors when Brandon and I went to a Christmas party] 

 10. If I become famous, what will it be for? (I had to explain this one, he didn't know what famous meant.)

Famous means like something you do that a lot of people know you for, like the president is famous, or a musician, or an athlete... 

"I'm really good at drawing. I'm a muscian. I'm famous, cause I'm really good at drawing."

Well famous means that a lot of people know you for it, like you're on TV and stuff. What do you think Mommy could be famous for?

"If you could do stuff, like be famous, like be a musician, and, nothing else."

A musician? You can't think of anything else?

"Yeah. And, I don't know what else. I have no idea."

 11. What is something I am really good at?

"Um... hmm, let's see... I'm just tryin to think of something. Well, eating, not getting food on your face." [we have been trying to get him more neat and careful when he eats and not make a mess]

Is there anything else?

"You're good at drinking, not getting drinks on you."

 12. What am I not very good at?

"Gluing."

Gluing what?

"Gluing paper."

What do you mean?

"If you have it off a book... If you have a piece of paper and you're gluing a thing off a book, and you're making a circle, that'd be hard. That's why I said that." [starts twirling a sword around and making strange noises]

Then he announces, "I'm going to ask you a few questions. What are you good at? Telling time?"

You think I'm good at telling time? 

"Yeah."

 13. What do I do for a job?

"Um, working at... Let's see, working at karate, which is cleaning... Your phone! Why aren't you answering it?" [text message came in]

I got it baby boy. But, you said my job is what?

"Working at the gym, remember?"

Well yes that was a job, but what is my job now?

"Cleaning the house. Feeding Brandon, that's your job."

Anything else?

"No, no way. Nothing else that I know."

 14. What is my favorite food?

"Pudding. Candy. Brownies. Chicken, and corn, and celery, and potatos..."

But which one do you think is my favorite?

"Chicken." [he was close with the brownies one. Chocolate is up there on my list.] 

 15. What makes you proud of me?

"When you make me food that makes me proud of you. And I'm proud of you because you make me a tent."

 16. If I were a cartoon character, who would I be?

"Supergirl."

Do you even know who Supergirl is? Have you ever seen her in a movie or something?

"Well if you're in a movie, you can be Spidergirl. I am Spiderman, there can be two. And the hulk, and we can beat up all the bad guys."

 17. What do you and I do together?

"Play. Play money-go."

What's money go?

"The one that has pennies and quarters and nickles and stuff [starts singing money song]."

 18. How are you and I the same?

"Um, well we're not the same."

Are there things about us that are the same?

"Well, we're both brown and white... And red, and black, and white..."

What? I'm not red and black and white.

"Yes you are, your lips are red, and your nose is white, and your eyes have black. We're both those same colors."

 19. How are you and I different?

"Your hair is different, because it's longer than mine."

 20. How do you know I love you?

"Because, you just told me, you just told me that you love me."

Is there something that I do that makes you know that I love you?

"Yeah, you feed me, and, let me play with my gun. And you let me play with Brandon and my gun, and read, and let me get food... But I can't get anything else without asking."

 21. What do I like most about Brandon?

"That he protects us, that he gets the bad guys, that he lets his friends come over, and that when he goes to work he says bye. That's what you like about him. That's all I'm gonna say."

 22. Ok, this is the last one for now. Where is my favorite place to go?

"McDonalds."

What? 

"Yeah, because they have cheeseburgers!"

No, what's my favorite place to go?

"California."

But we're already in California. Where is my favorite place to go here?

"I don't know. Burger King."

No, somewhere that's not food. Like any place that I like to go, a place that we can drive to, or walk to, or anything. What do you think?

"The park. You like to go to the park."

Afterwords, as I was typing, I told him, "Thanks for answering those questions for me, Hunter. That was very nice."

To which he replied, "Did that sound like a gentleman, when I talked?"

"Yes it did sound like a gentleman, Hunter."

Walking away, he smiled and whispered to himself, "I guess I am a gentleman."

"Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles..." 

1 Peter 2:12

Hunter is 4 years, 9 months old