Thinking like a four-year-old girl

It is absolutely fascinating to see the world through the eyes of two four-year-old girls. Hans, Mom, Dad, and I continue to be amazed at the ways they express things that they want to describe, but don't know the correct word for. They usually hone in on some words they know that are similar, but not quite the final word. The latest was when I was going to draw a picture of Thomas O'Malley and Duchess from "The Aristocats" for Cora. She asked me if I was going to draw the "handsome thing" on Thomas O'Malley. At first I didn't understand what she was talking about, but then she pointed to the collar and bowtie that he has on and I knew what the handsome thing was and, yes, I did draw it.

Greta's most memorable phrase of late was when Mom was riding with the kids and me up to Greeneville, TN, for my grandmother's funeral. That day happened to be one of the super-foggy days we get here sometimes in "the valley" (that would be the Tennessee River valley). We were talking about fog, so it wasn't that Greta didn't know the word for the white stuff all around us, but she expressed it in her own astonishingly artistic way: "the fog is a blanket of white." Mom and I just sat there looking at each other for a moment in awe of what just came out of the mouth of a just barely four-year-old girl. Greta loves to look at art and notices details that we adults don't usually see. She loves the Maxfield Parrish prints we have on the wall in our guest room. We have several of the ones in the collage below, specifically, the ones on the four corners and the one on the right-hand side in the middle.

Both Greta and Cora enjoyed watching and dancing to "Singing In the Rain," especially the very artistic scene with Cyd Charisse and the famous "Singing In the Rain" scene where Gene Kelly sings and dances in the street. They have tried to duplicate the flowing dresses and streaming scarves like the "green lady" (Cyd Charisse).

It's fun to watch the girls dance since they've not been taught any real dance moves. Sometimes we have "The Cora Show" and "The Greta Show" where we put on a CD and let them dance however they desire. Greta's style is smoother, more like real dance moves. Cora's is a bit wild with her long arms & legs flapping maniacally. That's Greta at the top and Cora at the bottom. Fun times!

And, yes, I'll write something about Franklin and Carlton in the next post....