Skills

Some people teach their kids the important things... their home address, how to read, not to talk to strangers, etc. I think the real flourish of parenting is the idiosyncrasies you teach them. * When you see someone "hit the deck", climb on their back (she learned this from "riding" on Chris's back for pushups and will now hop on anyone's back should they lay down.) * Making up random songs to tunes you know. Take the song, "money, money, money, mon-ey". Joelle changed it to "honey, honey, honey, hon-ey" when I got out the honey for the pancakes. * How to make a fake cry that is so real, Noonie doesn't even believe us when we tell her it's fake. * How to appropriately position your hand to get a stamp after any kind of class (gymboree, gymnastics, music, etc.). (hand goes on top of the head to wait for stamp to go on, remove hand, enjoy stamp) * How to properly handle the bait and switch. In the grocery store, she points out some blueberry muffins that she'd like to buy. Ok, we think - it's healthy enough. As we look away, she grabs the chocolate chip ones instead. I think she learned skills like the bait and switch from Disney World when we had world class maneuvering to limit her line time. The "bubba chuck" relay was our favorite. See dumbo line. Chris and Joelle enter Dumbo line. Mommie counts 12 sets of people and gets in line behind approximately 12 sets of people. (There are 12 Dumbos). Chris and Joelle enjoy Dumbo. Mom grabs Joelle after their ride. Mom and Joelle enjoy Dumbo. Apparently, we're teaching her some handy skills.