still more Shmooieisms

Because the window of Shmooie's only-child status is getting smaller and smaller, I must indulge myself in more Shmooieisms. I keep remembering more after I hit "publish."

Catch phrases

Whenever Shmooie hears mention of Philadelphia, he chimes in with an excited "That's our city!" Guess he doesn't know yet that he's supposed to have a defensive chip on his shoulder about the city of his birth. We'll have to teach him "yeah! and who needs New York?"

Likewise, whenever someone mentions electricity, he says "That's what the trolleys use!" We then have to go into detailed discussions about the overhead contact system and what the driver has to do if the trolley pole disengages (this happened in the tunnel on one of the boys' recent commutes). As a result, I know more about pantographs and catenaries than I ever thought I'd need to know.

The electric transit discussion often leads to conversations about what else uses electricity and what fuels other vehicles. Shmoo gave HPR a great joke opening recently when he asked "What does a coal train use?" HPR lost no time in saying: A saxophone! (Get it? Allow pop-ups to hear the music.)

The parrot

I suppose it's adult vanity that makes us think it's so cute when kids repeat what we say. But, well, cute it is. Here are some

"I have an idea! Let's play."

Last night, as we were singing his bedtime song (Embraceable Shmoo), he started to say "I have a feeling that . . ." HPR and I kept singing (trying to ward off the stall tactics), so we didn't get to hear what his feeling was, but I wish we had let him finish.

Through a child's eyes

Then there's the parental cliche about how observant kids are. It is pretty amazing the things they pay attention to that adults might otherwise miss. We were reading a Franklin book from the library and got to this page (click to embiggen). After I read "Franklin couldn't believe his ears . . ." Shmooie said "But he doesn't have any ears!

Authority figure

Sometime over the summer, we started the bad habit of allowing Shmoo to take a sippy cup of soy milk to bed. This is a bad idea for his oral hygiene and also our rest: Sometime in the night, Shmooie would finish the milk in the cup and ask for more. We knew we had to break the cycle, but how to do it without major fuss/protest? Cue Dentist. The only thing we had to say was: "The Dentist says you shouldn't have milk in bed; it's bad for your teeth." Shmooie has never even been to the dentist (once again, bad parents). The only dentist he knows about is P. Sherman in Finding Nemo. But it worked like a charm. Maybe too well. When he was sick this past week, he hardly ate anything during the day and had thrown up once, so I was fine with sending him to bed with milk in a sippy. But Shmooie protested: "The Dentist says no milk in bed." I told him the dentist said it was OK when he's sick, but Shmooie was VERY reluctant to break the rules.

Comments

Trane's the man, inculcate the next generation with the knowledge.

[MonkeyHateClean]

rep yo'city, shmoo! cute post.

[supa]

haha. coal train.

man, these are so great. some of these schmooisms remind me of Owen ("I have an idea!" is verbatim).

I really ought to write his down. I appreciate them so much as I am hearing them, but when I sit down to write them 10 hours later I can't remember a one.

[ThomasT]

P. Sherman is terrifying as an archetypal dentist!

Our ped says 3 is a good age for a first dental visit, so you guys are still in the clear.

I missed hearing some Shmooieisms in person on Sunday when I subbed for Terry - hope we'll see you before the Big Day!

[Night Editor]

Here's something we did with those priceless isms: write each one on a blank, new or recycled post card, punch a hole in the corner of each, and clip them together using a key ring. We called ours T's joke book but you could do: The world according to Shmoo.

Because really "coal train" is priceless.