Mommy a girl, Daddy a boy

So Irene has figured out the difference between booys* and gools*. I have no idea how she can tell, but we asked about many people of her acquaintance, and she got them all right. We think it might be hair, but when asked about a very short-haired woman, she said "gool". She would not be confused, either. Mark tried very hard. He's cool like that.

*Booy (Boo-ey) = Boy; Gool (said like "good", only with an 'l' at the end) = Girl

Clean House?

There is nothing like having a lively, talkative two-year-old to keep you on track. I told Irene that I would sit down at the computer for 15 minutes, and when the timer went off, we would clean the house. She was happy with that and went off to play. As soon as the timer went off, though, she was on me. "Time clean the house now, Mommy!" I tried to brush her off because I was in the middle of something (haven't yet learned how to drop what I'm doing and pick it up later), but she was insistent. I reluctantly got up to clean the house, but have you ever tried cleaning with a two-year-old who is really excited about it? Some of that excitement rubs off! We had such a great time together.

Don't get any marathon cleaning ideas in your mind here. This was just an hour of mirrors, dusting, and vacuuming. Not even an hour, actually. More like 45 minutes, and that was only because we did a more detailed vacuum of one room. We do this every week, so it never gets very dirty. I've been including her in it since she could walk and hold a little duster. Honestly, she really doesn't do much, but she feels like she is helping, and loves it!

Grandmas

A couple of days ago, I talked to my grandma on the phone. When I got off the phone, Irene said, "Was that my gramma?"
"No, that was your grandma's mommy."
"OH, was that YOUR gramma?"
I think she must have heard me saying "Hi, Grandma," but still!

Stories From the Week

The other day, as Irene was eating her lunch and I was standing withing sight of her, she said, "Mommy, look! My eye is off!" I looked, and sure enough, she has figured out how to close one eye. Later that day, she said to my sister, "One eye off, one eye on, see?"

In other news, today, Irene and I went to watch Mark play outdoor soccer for the first time. We do not normally go because it is quite early in the morning to make such an expedition. He plays with a couple of guys from church and their friends, nothing organized. Irene was beside herself with excitement this morning, and "watch Daddy play soccer" was all she could think about. At one point during the game, I noticed that Mark was making a good play, and I whispered to her that she should say "Go, Daddy!" She started shouting "Go, my Daddy, go! Go, my Daddy, go! Go, my Daddy, go!" He later told me that it was his best play of the game.