In Honor of Sariah

I was missing Sariah so much that on my first solo afternoon in NYC, I decided to pay tribute to her love of quackies by taking a NYC Duck Bus-Boat Tour. Crazy, I know. I'm certainly not a very refined tourist. Bob's work friends think I could have at least picked a Screamer, whatever that is. But no, the quacker it is for Tracy. It started out as a bus, but then became a boat. The middle of the tour was the Aqua-Theater, where they showed us a little film about NYC while they washed off the bottom of the bus, so it could be an environmentally safe boat (the company got sued by some environmentalists a few years back for putting nasty city buses unwashed into the Hudson River; I did think the guide's point that when it rains all the nasty city bus stuff washes into the Hudson River anyway was a valid point, too).
I think my tour guide felt sorry for me because I was apparently all alone in NYC. Of course, I wasn't. Bob was just at work. And I kind of liked wandering around without anybody to get in the way of all my harebrained ideas. Anyhow, the tour guide really liked having me pose for pictures. It was worse than going to a professional photographer.

I was especially impressed when the guide sang "Oklahoma" for me (that was the only line he knew), and then nicknamed me Oklahoma, and then let me drive the Duck Bus-Boat. I even got a certificate for being a Jr. Captain, appropriately made out to "Oklahoma."

Souvenir

We all know how much Sariah cherishes her beloved quackies. So, instead of bringing her back a t-shirt or some other souvenir from NYC, we brought her back this crazy, giant, polka-dotted rubber ducky from F.A.O. Schwartz. It was ridiculously overpriced, but the store was great fun, and we knew Sariah would love this best of all. And she does. But not as much as her specially colored handpicked M&Ms. Which is why she was taking a bath.

Family Traditions

"Quacks, quacks!"
"Yes, Sariah, ducks say 'Quack!'"

"QUACKS!! QUACKS!!"
"No. Ducks."

"No. Quacks, Mommy."

And here the most important detail comes out:
"Mine. Mine, Mommy."

I love this stage in Sariah's development. She's really learning how to talk, how to converse, and she's trying to start labeling things for herself. It's great fun. All of our kids have had something, and it is fascinating to me how it becomes a permanent part of the family vernacular. As we drove past the duck pond the other day, I heard myself saying, "Look at the quacks, Sariah!"

When Hannah was a baby, she always asked for "mac-mac & cheese." Elisabeth always needed "lonely time" for herself without Hannah or Caleb or Mom around. Caleb's catch-all phrase was "Stuck!!" whenever he needed help, even if he wasn't stuck. And Rex? Rex always celebrated "Zee-pa!" at dinner time gleefully--you have to imagine it with a My Big Fat Greek Wedding kind of inflection to get the full effect. We still call it zee-pa these days; even Sariah says it occasionally.

It goes to show how much difference one person can make. Who knows? Maybe when Sariah's all grown up, everyone will wonder why old people call quacks ducks. LOL