Nimpadoodee, Pope-ee-dope, and other randomness

Wow! First, thanks for all the comments, sympathy, and encouragement from that last post. I know it sounded like I was practically BEGGING for some comments... well, thanks for coming out of the woodwork (or off your i-phones), to show your support. Along the lines of a "report" -- I DID indeed try to go to sleep early the night I wrote that post. But then there were lots of "interruptions" all night... wind, Spencer, Brian, Spencer again, more wind, etc. Sigh. Not all nights are as restorative as I might wish, eh?

Anyway, on to the title of this post: Nimpadoodee.
This is Spencer's own made-up word. I'm not exactly sure when it became a favorite -- maybe sometime this past fall? Well, he says it every day, many times a day, and it really has no meaning it all. He uses it to torment poor Samantha. In a soft little sing-song voice, he walks by Sammie and sings, "Nimpadooooo-dee!" -- holds onto the "dooooo" for emphasis.

Her reaction is hilarious, and somewhat over-the-top, I think. She first starts running away from him; then covers her ears as he follows her with his chant; then yells, "STOP THAT NIMPADOODEE!!"; then finally resorts to dramatic tears of frustration.

I feel kind of funny ordering Spencer, "No more nimpadoodee right now, okay?" But what else am I to do? I mean, it's a made-up word, but its soul purpose seems to be irritating his poor sister. Oh, the woes of siblinghood!

I have reminded Samantha that she also has a made-up word of her own:
Pope-ee-dope. (Not sure how one would really spell that one, so I'm just going with the phonetic pronunciation for ya.) Yep. Pope-ee-dope was her own creation way back in London. And its use was somewhat similar to Nimpadoodee -- she would say it when she got a little bit frustrated with us -- "Daddy! Don't be a Pope-ee-dope!" And we thought it was hilarious then, still do even now.

But unfortunately, it does not have the same antagonizing effect on Spencer... Spencer starts in with Nimpadoodee, and so Samantha smugly turns around and says "Pope-ee-dope" right back to him. He only smiles, and continues with his little sing-song, "Nimpadooooo-dee!" She tries another "Pope-ee-dope" but he seems completely unphased by her attempts. So then, she eventually resorts to running away, screaming at him, then crying... Poor Samantha.

Maybe I'm not properly mothering on this one. I mean, after all, Nimpadoodee and Pope-ee-dope could be considered by some to be name-calling -- which I try not to allow. (No "stupid," or "dumb-dumb face" or anything like that, ya know?) But well... Nimpa-doooooodee-- c'mon. It's a tiny bit funny, isn't it? I don't let it get too out of hand, and when she's really bothered, I do make him stop... time-out usually does the trick. Sigh. Always the referee, I am.

Samantha's best reactions have been, one evening, just before dinner, she yelled out from the living room: " SPENCER!!!!! I HAVE HAD ENOUGH NIMPADOODEE!!!!!"

And on her birthday, as they were laying in bed ready to go to sleep, he started his chant and she sniffled out: "You're making me have a BAD BIRTHDAY, with all your NIMPADOODEE!!!" -- I made him stop, that time. I mean, it was her birthday, after all, right?

Well, here's our Nimpadoodee man, himself, looking a little bit sly, hehehe...

He's going in for a minor surgery on Monday... he was born with a hernia (on his little boy parts, ahem). Weird, huh? It's an outpatient surgery, and the doctors have assured us that he should be "back to normal" within a week. But still, it's a big deal to the Mommy to have my Baby Boy go through this. Send us some prayers, please!

And while you're praying... might as well add a prayer for my mom, too. She's going in for a surgery on her rotator cuff (shoulder) this afternoon. It's been on my mind a lot lately. She had major back surgery back in November, and has been waiting to be well enough to do this surgery (which actually needed to be done before the back surgery, but the back surgery was more pressing.)

As you can imagine, it's hard being so very far away from her when these "big" events are happening for her. I feel a little helpless and distant -- wish there was more I could do for her. But I do believe in the power of prayer, and feel a lot of comfort there. I'll try to put up an update, in a few days... on both Spencer and my mom. Kay?

Bye for now... Nimpadoooooo-dee!