Where Abby Screwdriver?

I think we've corrupted my daughter.

So tonight after dinner/bath Abby runs around the house saying "Where Abby screwdriver?" (Yes, she speaks about herself in the third person. Unless someone steals her stuff. Then it's - "THAT IS MINE!" Unless it's in nursery where, apparently, she is some kind of divinely angelic child whom I've never seen before who just lets other kids take what they want, rolls with the punches, very "mellow" about everything. insert eye-roll here. why are my kids rock stars for everyone but me? for me they're well, not angelic.)

But I digress. So, to my knowledge, Abby does not own a screwdriver. So I'm a little confused about what she thinks is a screwdriver and why she thinks it belongs to her.

Keep in mind that Abby calls things whatever she wants to call them - regardless of what they are actually called. One of her favorite movies is Tinkerbell. But she calls it Cinderella. Blatantly refuses to call it Tinkerbell. If you ask her if she wants to watch Tinkerbell, she says no, Cinderella. But if she asks for Cinderella and you should, ignorantly, put in Cinderella you will not be met with happy thanks. No, you will not. I don't think you will be met with any variety of thanks, come to think of it.

But I digress again. As I'm picking up toys and she's anxiously running around looking for her screwdriver, I finally hear this "I found it. (obvious relief in her 2 year old voice) Found Abby screwdriver. Mom. Mommy?"

She comes around the couch almost as we re-created it in the photo above, with her "screwdriver" safe and secure around her wrist.

But see, I can understand why she would be confused. First, mommy owns exactly one bracelet. She only wears it occasionally and when it is worn it is called a pretty because it sparkles. Sam owns a black silly band which recently broke, but I'm not sure Abby didn't think he was just wearing a hair tie - also called a pretty - around his wrist.

But in our house, tools (and light sabers) are paramounts to existence. So, it stands to reason that something important, that should be kept near to one's person, would be called a screwdriver. Even if it's purple, plastic, and actually a bracelet. Or a ring for attaching baby toys to a baby schlepper - but let's not split hairs.

Thankfully I named her new baby doll - Sweet (or Sweetie or Sweet Baby). Otherwise, it could've been Hammer Time or something.

Sic Semper Tyrannis

So today Jake brought home a "My State Book" about Utah. It was nice. State flower, state bird, state tree, state animal, state song, state symbol. Nice.

I thought it would be cool for him to make one about Virginia. Call us crazy, but Steve and I are still in love with the homeland. Some of the stuff I already knew. State flower/tree - dogwood. State bird - cardinal. State animal - no state animal. We've got a state dog and oh, this is cool (thank you google) a state insect - the tiger swallowtail butterfly. (look it up.) State song - Carry Me Back to Old Virginny (the lyrics of which we will not be writing in the state book and it seems that state legislators have been looking to replace since the song hit emeritus status in 1997). State symbol - the great seal of Virginia (see left).

It is this great seal and the latin-eese written on it that prompt today's post. How would you explain this graphic to an interested five year old who immediately questions (especially when it is compared with the oh-so-industrious (and obvious) beehive) what is that lady doing? is that guy dead? why is she standing on him? Tyrannis? Like the dinosaur?

So, Sic Semper Tyrannis means - Thus Always with Tyrants. Which in five year old equals - Good Guys Always Beat Bad Guys. That lady is, yes, standing on that dead guy's body because she is the symbol of virtue - or the Book of Mormon word - righteousness - and he's well, dead, because he's the bad guy. Tyrannis means bad guys - kind of like Tyrannosaurus was a pretty bad dinosaur.

He's totally on board with this. Tells Sam all about it when he gets home from school. Side note: 5 year old latin is hysterical!

Then tonight during family scripture we were talking about how Alma's people (Mosiah 23) help the lost Lamanite army find their way home and then the Lamanites break their promise of freedom and set up guards around them and make this totally rotten guy Amulon the king over them. At the conclusion of the chapter - it's a cliffhanger - you don't know how this is all going to shake out. But I looked at Jake and I said, but what did we learn today about bad guys?

Good guys always beat bad guys with the Book of Mormon clarification - if and when they remember their God, keep the commandments, and say their prayers. And listen to their mom. In other words: And it came to pass - Sic Semper Tyrannis! Amen. (which incidentally the children have spontaneously decided to all say as Ah-men instead of AA-men. Not sure why.)

happy random tuesday. love, M