Tenley Says (Part One)

Dalin and I really want to be able to remember the funny little phrases Tenley says as she learns to talk. At 20+ months, she can speak quite well--maybe not clearly, but she is intelligible to us at least. So over the next few months I am sure I will be adding sequels as funny things come up. It's highly unlikely that I'll remember them all, but I'll do my best. I hope we will look back someday and laugh at these silly things with our funny girl.

During sacrament at church, Tenley yells "AMEN!" after every prayer, hymn, and testimony. Sometimes she even says, "Amen! Amen!" It's quite loud. I think she believes the louder she is, the more righteous she will be.

She started saying, "Ow! Eyes!" (pointing to her eyes and rubbing them). "Ow, knees!" She tells us where she is hurt pretty well.

She also randomly started saying "No way!" when we ask her to do something she really doesn't want to do right then. We don't really say that so I'm not sure where she got it. Maybe her cousin who says that? I said, "Tenley, please go pick up that cereal all over the floor" and without stopping what she was doing, said: "No way." It was hilarious except I tried really hard not to laugh. Why are kids funniest when they're naughty??

"I do it!" She thinks she can do anything just as well, even better than Dalin and I can.

"Mo'!" (More) She says this for more food especially. Usually something we're eating. Usually candy or ice cream or grapefruit.

After changing a diaper once, I jokingly said to Tenley, "Hi, poop!" (I got that from Dalin...) and she immediately replied, "Hi poop!" I never said that again.

No more saying "Crap!" or "Shoot!" or "Geez!" either.

Whenever someone toots, she says in a very accusatory way: "Mama! Toooot." or "Dada! Toot." And she gets this huge smile on her face. A lot of times it'll be Declan though and she won't realize it so we'll say "No that was Declan!" and she laughs and says "Dec toot." She learned that from us because we always say, "Tenley! Did you toot?" However, it is much more funny when your one-year old calls you out on it.

"Go, Pete, go!" (thank you, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse). It sounds more like "dough! dough Pete dough!"

"I-pad/pi-pad/ice-pad" Tenley says a variation of this word for three things: the iPad (for Elmo or Mickey Mouse Clubhouse), her backpack, or an ice pack. Yes, she now asks more an ice pack when she gets hurt (mainly when she bonks her head, which is almost daily).

"ca'mere" or just "'mere!" (come here), while opening and closing her little fingers to beckon me toward her. She does this quite a bit.

"'s he otay?" I ask Tenley to check on Declan for me (I don't rely on her word though) and I'd say "Is he okay?" and now if Dec is sleeping, Tenley will poke him and then ask me all seriously: "'s he otay?" She also asks this when she sees me check on him from the doorway. It's pretty cute and hilarious.

"Hands!" She loves to wash her hands.

"Pop-pop!" Her favorite book is Dr. Seuss's "Hop on Pop." She knows what all the words in it mean because she points to each thing as I read about it (well, except Constantinople and Timbuktu).

"Potty, potty" Tenley will say this over and over until I bring her to the potty.

All she signs now are "pease!" or "mease!" (please) and "aw done" (all done) while she says them. I love how she still signs them.

We were at Target for the first time in forever, wandering the aisles of cute things and I said aloud to Tenley, "Why is there so much cute stuff here? It's killin' me!" and she replied, "It's killin' ya?" I about died laughing in the seasonal aisle.

If I pretend I'm leaving to get Tenley moving faster she says, "I'm humming! I'm humming!" (I'm coming:)

I was helping Tenley on the potty and rolled the back of her onesie up so it wouldn't be hanging in the toilet and she said, "Heyyy!" and reached behind her to unroll her onesie.

Whenever I tell Tenley she's going to time-out, she immediately signs and says, "I'm sorry, mama." Her little "sorry" is too cute and it's so hard to punish her after that! Especially because she sounds so sincere!

I've had to start saying "sit down" to her instead of just "sit" because she repeats after me only it sounds like a swear coming out of her little mouth.

Tenley has started saying, "He's sleeping" about Declan when she sees him sleeping somewhere.

She asks for "mo'" (more) horsey rides, more tickles, more tickles for Declan, more of my singing to her "mo' song!", and lots of other things.

She tries getting out of stuff now by saying "my dada! I want my dada!" ....

I ate something yucky and spit it out in the sink and Tenley saw and asked, "Was it gross?" I laughed and said "Yes. It was ewww," then she said, "Was it 'isgusting?" hahaha. "Disgusting" is my favorite word that she says right now.

She calls candy "minties"--a mix between candy and mints. She always asks for minties when we get in the car (where she knows about our stash of orange tic-tacs to use on her in emergency tantrum situations mainly) and she asks for "choc-it" (chocolate) after she goes potty, which is multiple times a day now. It's awesome!

If we eat candy in front of her or something that sounds like candy and try to hide it, she runs at you and says, "Mo' this! Mo' this!" She doesn't know what we are eating, but she knows she wants it.

I just adore our smart little girl. I can't BELIEVE she'll be two years old in less than two months. Are you serious? Or as Dalin taught Ten to say, "Are you ser-ous?"