When NikkiZ is in the car, there are often times we have to distract her. Either because she’s irritated we’re not “there” yet (she has never enjoyed a car ride) or because she’s just being irritating and we’re trying to break the cycle. These distraction techniques have spawned some very weird car conversations that make sense to those of us involved in the original version, but make absolutely no sense to the people new to the phenomena.
For example…sometime she’ll scream, “I lost my sore singers! We need to call the hospital! What are we going to do?”
Translation? “I lost my FOUR FINGERS.”
This started when Dad was here as a technique to keep her from annoying her brother. She was sitting on her fingers, so we exclaimed that she lost them. Then the rest of the conversation involves when/where the ambulance is going to come get her. And should we call the fire trucks? In case we need their ladders to look for her fingers in a tree? And maybe the police man? Should we call him in case someone STOLE her four fingers? And so on…
There are also the moments she’ll scream, “Yook, Momma! Tree Monsters! They’re everywhere!”
That was birthed the day she was dozing off on the way home and LilZ and I were trying to get her to wait to fall asleep when she got home and was in her bed. For naptime. Because a five minute nap in the car can screw up an entire sleep cycle for a toddler. So, we were trying to get her excited and awake so we started to joke that the, “Tree Monsters are chasing us!” We’d point to the patches of trees and act like they were coming to get us. Now she’ll scream about the tree monsters and then say, “Drive Faster, Momma!” Which - if you only knew how much of a grandma driver I was - you would then appreciate how ludicrous that is.
So, if you’re in the car with us and you hear us chatting about Sore Singers and Tree Monsters - you’ll now know what it all means. Your life is complete now.
Photo Bonus Goodness:
This is what happens when you try to pose a shot with a toddler and a newborn
Stressing about TPS Reports
Not enough color on the shirt for her
She’s convinced her hugs should make him stop crying.
Hi Each time I check your website and see theirs a new post and photos I think your a superwoman.
No pressure though, take it steady. x
Ah, silly car games
My family had a whole host of them, from the normal (looking for license plates from different states) to weird (we had a game called “Number Ghosts” based on series of numbers that could be found on the car clock)… But I still look back fondly on them, and they made our car trips so much more pleasant! (For our parents, too, I have to assume)
And I love that pic of the two of them at the top - both of them have such great expressions
wow, that first pic is just CLASSIC! I love it!!
That last one? is oh so sweet. I love that she is at such a great age with a great imagination!!
That poor child is going to need therapy. lol!! Whatever works…
Hooray - a real family that doesn’t have a dvd player in the car. Insane games are much more fun to play. In our car, I-spy is very interesting with a 4 year old who invents word and subsequently how you could spell them, after being coached by her big brother who has a unique version of ’sounding out words’, and has been known to write ‘trees’ as ‘chreeys’, just as it sounds!
There’s a bonus thumb in that final picture!!! lol
I think my Mum used to do the same to me and my brother. My Dad taught us this game called Tiddly-Plonk and you had to look out for things like telephone boxes, bus stops and letterboxes and then shout different noises.
Oh - that last one is so sweet my teeth ache! She’s so serious in her job of consoling brother…
Oh I love the car games. We did them as kids as well and the tradition has been passed down to my kids. It really helps the time pass as well on long drives.
These pictures are fabulous. The last one makes my heart melt. She is such a good big sister.
Yes, I also think her hugs should make him stop crying. That is way too cute.
You are a very brave woman for adding paints to the mix of toddler + baby. Very brave, indeed.
That last photo… is soooo adorable. I love crying kids. Just because they are so in to the emotion…
I never get tired of the little old man pictures and captions.
does he have the proper cover sheet for his TPS report? did you get the memo AndyZ?
See, the problem with doing the photos last is that you blow my cuteness circuits and then I can’t remember anything I was going to say about the post.
Elizabeth has those same flowered shorts. LOVE. They go with everything.
In the last picture it looks like NikkiZ is saying “here, I’ll help him if you won’t” with her eyes!
I SO remember those days of doing ANYTHING to keep my kids from falling asleep in the car. It just screws everything up! Now we’re finally to the point that a 10 minute nap in the car can mean a big improvement in how her evening will go.
I think her hugs should totally make him stop crying! Too cute.
Tree Monsters. That is awesome! Car naps at bad times of the day are the bane of mother’s existance. That is almost as bad as when they fall asleep from an exhausting day of playing . . at 5:30. Gah.
I too think that her hugs should make him stop crying. They would make me stop crying!
I always had my older kids sing to the baby when she cried - particularly in the car.
It was often very much a ‘if you can’t beat them, join them’ sounding event.