Hallenoonjah

¹hal·le·noon·jah 

Pronunciation: \ˌha-leh-NOON-ya\ 

Function: interjection

Date: 3/2010 though undocumented use before date noted is likely

—used to express praise, joy, or thanks

Example: "Mom said we can have the foamy soap in the bath tonight!  Hallenoonjah!"

Bath and Body Works has this wonderful soap that comes out like really thick shaving cream.  Santa left each of the girls a can in their stockings, and they just love it.  It's "shapeable," firm, foamy soap.  Hallenoonjah!

This is photographic evidence of the strange soap monster that appeared tonight in the bath. Mind you, I don't leave the whole can, I just squirt out each of them a pile then put the soap away.  An unmonitored can wouldn't last through one bath.

Hangman's Harder If You Lisp

I found a couple "Pocket Posh" puzzle books at Costco.  I bought a "hangman" one and flipped through the back to the answers, then put post-it flags on the ones the girls were more likely to understand (they have no idea who 'Justin Timberlake' is, but they know what 'strawberries' are).

Inside - well, it's easier to show than explain.  You erase the silver circle under the letter you're guessing.  If it's in the answer, erasing the silver will expose a number indicating that letter's position in the answer.

Thing 1 and 2 were working together and got really frustrated with their puzzle.  They finally asked my help.

They were missing one letter.  They had U_BRELLA.  "We already erased the N, and it's not the right answer!  We don't know what it is!!!"
Apparently I say um-bur-ell-a, and my kids are saying uN-brell-a.  I never noticed.

I was telling the story to Gravity - who suggested they must have gotten the M in Unbrella mixed up with the N in "Valentimes,"  I think he's right. 


Unrelated:  I took the dog to the vet's to look into a sedative JUST IN CASE he gets unbearable on our trip.  They weighed him in at 69.7 pounds.  I had decided he'd stop growing at 80 pounds, but at 8 months old he's still gaining ten pounds a month.  He's going to blow right by 100 and keep on going. 

Good Citizen

Each week for the past couple of months a student in Thing 2's first grade class has been chosen as the "Good Citizen," with various extraordinary privileges and fabulously important responsibilities.
Thing 2 has expressed her disappointment each week as she finds out she has not been called.  Her behavior has been exemplary, she receives high praise from the teachers, she leads the class in nearly every field; she is completely baffled as to why her teachers do not see her efforts and why she has been passed over time and again.  (I am not sure if humility is part of the equation.)
Today Thing 2 found she'll be the Good Citizen next week.  She has hardly touched down since the announcement.  There is no bad in her world because she is the Good Citizen.  She is beside herself waiting until Monday.
She pronounces it "good sitisent."

Saying it wrong

It is a problem to hear your kids mispronounce words because sometimes it's so cute and funny you just let them do it.  It would probably be easier on them to have me correct them than some college professor, but I love hearing them say things wrong. 
Thing 1 seemed to grow out of doing this earlier than Thing 2 has.


Two that quickly come to mind are how Thing 2 says "lie-berry" when she means "library"
"frigerate" for "investigate"


I had a boyfriend - it might have been Hubby - finally hassle me that I say "umbrella" incorrectly, with four syllables instead of three  - um-ber-ELL-a, instead of um-BRELL-a.  It's kind of ingrained, and people seem to know what I'm talking about, so I usually don't worry about it.  I have to consciously pronounce it correctly if I decide to.  But I have become aware of it.

Why didn't my mother correct me?   Because she says um-ber-ell-a too.