5/31 NanTalk

At bedtime last night Hannah asked for a Nanwich.  That's when Mommy and Daddy are the bread and Hannah is the peanut butter.   We lie down with her, one on each side and cuddle her up.  A Hannah Sandwich.   We pretend she's not there and we teasingly talk about her, literally, over her head.  

We usually say things like, "Oh, did I mention how much l love our daughter?" 

Or, "I could not BELIEVE it today when Hannah cleared the kitchen table without being asked."  

Or,  "That Hannah has the stinkiest breath ever. That girl needs to brush her teeth!  P-U!" 

To which she squirms and wiggles and squeals out her pretend outrage.

But last night wasn't optimal for a Nanwich, James had work to do. So it was an open-faced Nanwich instead, with only one piece of Mommy bread.

We were snuggling and started to talk about her teddy bear, Molasses.  I told her about my favorite stuffed toy hippo when I was little.   She asked what it's name was.   It didn't really have a name.   

She asked if I named it Ralph.   

Me:  No. I wouldn't have named it Ralph because that's my brother's name.  You know, Uncle Ralph.   Would you name your bear Chris?

Nan:  No! I wouldn't. You should have named your hippo Anthony.

This reminded me of a book we used to have. "There's an Ant in Anthony"    

I knew she'd remember it, so I said, "There's an Ant in Uncle Anthony"

Giggles.

Nan:  You should have named your hippo Ant Ralph.    (get it?  Aunt Ralph?)

Then we took turns thinking of words that had "-ant" in them. Laughing after each idea.

She started it:   anti-body

Me: antagonistic

Nan:  ant hill

Me:  antidisestablishmentarianism

Nan:  antibiotic

Me: elephant

Nan:  Fran-tic   (very nice play on words using her very good friend Fran, whom she usually calls "Frand", her friend: three bonus points for Nan!)

Me:  Plant

Nan:  Sea Chanty   (I was impressed!)

Me: Dance   (dants)

Nan (running out of steam from laughing so much):  I can't.

She wins!!

And there you have it:  Thinking, without it being school.    She amazes me.  

(and yes, I did stop midway through to get a piece of paper to record the words.  My middle-aged brain needs some short term memory improvement)   


p.s. I am working on an upcoming Q&A post, so if you've got questions, send 'em in.  Email works better than comments for long questions, so I can reply and clarify--address is on the side bar ---> )