Childhood Nicknames
Erica from America (Proud of this one - I came up with it.)
Hairy – She was born with a lot of hair
Hairy – She was born with a lot of hair
 |
| 6 Months |
Destructo – self-explanatory
Walking Disaster Area
Twinkletoes
Sparky
Walking Disaster Area
Twinkletoes
Sparky
Childhood Erica-isms
Hanna – Banana
Barbecue – Barbie
Bitos – Burritos
Nee-Nog – Egg Nog
Uncles – Ankles
Birk – Book
Gates – Dates
Skookies – Cookies
“I’m two my old.” – I’m two years old
“Stake a bath.” – Take a bath
“On Friday” – her standard answer when we asked her to do things
Jackie Fair – Her word for a homeschool geography fair we participated in.
Barbecue – Barbie
Bitos – Burritos
Nee-Nog – Egg Nog
Uncles – Ankles
Birk – Book
Gates – Dates
Skookies – Cookies
“I’m two my old.” – I’m two years old
“Stake a bath.” – Take a bath
“On Friday” – her standard answer when we asked her to do things
Jackie Fair – Her word for a homeschool geography fair we participated in.
Fun Stories
Hide and Seek – November 1993
One evening we couldn’t find
eighteen-month-old Erica. We lived in a small two-bedroom basement apartment so
there wasn’t many places she could be. Finally we found her stuck under our bed
in one of the underdrawers. We all had a good laugh while Keith figured out how
to get her out.
“I Protest” - 10/29/94
On the way home from Sam’s Club, Keith said to the children, “Stay in the car while I
take Erica (2) in and lay her down for a nap.” Erica, who had been sleeping in
her car seat, woke up and cried, “No nap!!, then cried for a bit with her eyes
closed, and fell back to sleep.
Not Hard - November,
1994
Kiah (5) stubbornly refused to eat her banana. She
held up the banana and said, “I can’t get it open.”
Erica (2) walked over, took Kiah’s banana, very easily
opened it, handed the peeled banana to Kiah, and said matter-of-factly, “There.”
Not Tired –
11/94
It was afternoon rest time and Erica (2) was up
goofing around. Kiah yelled, “Mom, why isn’t Erica resting?”
Erica yelled back, “BECAUSE, Kiah!”
A Different Perspective - December 2, 1994
I took Erica (2) to the grocery store one evening. As we walked to the car she noticed blinking
Christmas lights down the street. She said very seriously, “Mom,
the lights go off and on. Off and on.” I thought this was funny because
adults would say “On and Off” but she had it the other way around.
Comforting Words - January 11, 1995
We had all come down with
the winter crud. Erica (2 ½) was very sick and wanted comfort. I held her and
said, “Mommy loves you Erica.”
She replied, “Yes.”
Then I said, “And Daddy
loves you.”
To which she again said, “Yes.”
I finished with, “And Grandma
loves you.”
Then she sweetly and
seriously said, “And Erica is very happy.”
Imagine- August, 1995
We were visiting good friends in Colorado Springs. We had taken
three-year-old Erica to their downstairs bathroom earlier in the day. Before we
left, we took Erica to the upstairs bathroom.
Erica looked around wide-eyed and said very seriously,
“Is this a different bathroom?”
“Yes, it is,” I answered.
Then Erica said, in a voice full of wonder,
“Imagine. Two Bathrooms!”
We’ve had one bathroom for as long as she could
remember. In her mind, two bathrooms was sheer luxury.
Not Beating
Around the Bush – August 1995
We had gone over to Keith’s bosses’ house for dinner.
We also knew them from church and our children must have been feeling at home
with their family.
After dinner and been served and everything was
cleaned up, Erica (3) went up to the hostess and said, “Do you got any cake and
ice cream?”
We were embarrassed and later explained to Erica that
it wasn’t polite to ask for dessert.
Equally
Yoked – December 1995
We’d explained to our children that it’s important to
marry Christians when they grew up. We’d
gotten a Christmas letter from friends who’d shared that their seven-year-old
daughter had become a Christian that year.
Three-year-old Erica’s face brightened and she said
seriously, “Then I can marry her.”
True
Confessions – October 1995
At Faith Baptist Church one morning, Pastor Dave asked the congregation, “Do
any of you have any unconfessed sin?
Three-year-old Erica pipes up, loud and clear for
everyone to hear, “Yes!”
Good Advice – January
15, 1996
Christina (11) was out of
sorts and grumping at her siblings. Erica (3), tired of Christina’s rude
remarks, yelled at her, “Respect your elbows!”
Duh! – May
30, 1996
At lunch one day, I told Kiah
(6) that she had received some mail. When Kiah wondered who it was from, Erica
(4) said, “From the mailman.”
Big Words – August, 1996
One hot day I was checking
for cucumbers in the garden. I thought I had found them all but Erica (4) found
one more. She held up the cucumber and said, “Aha! Apparently you didn’t look
thoroughly.” We laughed, thinking “apparently” was quite a big word for a
four-year-old.
So There! – February
12, 1998
All the kids had come down
with bad colds at the same time. One night Erica (5) had a fever and was dozing
on and off. She woke up, mumbled, “I don’t care what you say, my fever hurts!”
and went back to sleep.
Ouch! - May
6, 2003 – Erica
wrote this when she was eleven-years-old.
Today we are playing with our
imagination and we wrapped tape around our ankles and
wrists and called them “Laser Beams.” We tried to shoot each other.
wrists and called them “Laser Beams.” We tried to shoot each other.
Amy got carried away and
wrapped tape all the way to her knees! Later she tried to pull it off. Her legs
were red for an hour.
Today Erica (second from left) is a proud aunt and has fun chronicling the fun antics of her favorite niece.
Love ya, Sweetie. Hope you have a great birthday. Glad that you're part of our crazy bunch.
On a more serious note, I wrote this blog post for Erica's 17th birthday.
If interested, click here to read.
