We have a lot of fun goofing around with words at our house, and Finny is not only a willing participant, he’s often the instigator of new phrases and word games. Utterly out of the blue, he renamed himself Chinny Jipasaurus while we were horsing around one afternoon. The name has stuck, and Chinny Jipasaurus has come out to play several times over the last few weeks. He even named his brother Hinny Jipasaurus!
Other personas and characters are often adopted by Finny. Lately he’s been a quail, running around ululating behind us, or from under tables or behind furniture. His favorite game right now goes like this:
— F: “Can you say ‘Where did that quail go’ Dad-o?”
— Dad-o: “Hmm…I seem to recall there being a quail running around here. Have you seen him, Finny? Where did he go? I haven’t heard him in a while.”
— F: (a little bit put out) “I’m the quail! doodle-oodle-oodle-oodle-oodle!”
— Henry: (getting in on the act with a fainter, higher-pitched tone) “doodle-oodle-oodle-oodle-oodle!”
— Dad-o: “Hey! There’s the baby quail, too!”
(repeat)
He’s been downing a lot of unusual “birdseed” as well: square birdseed (mini-wheat cereal), meat birdseed (self-explanatory), and round birdseed (Cheerios).
One last bit of language fun: Yesterday, when John and Grandpa Liggett took the boys to a big aquarium, they saw sharks, stingrays, crabs, turtles, otters, and beavers. When John asked Finny what he liked best about their visit, Finny replied “I liked the stingraisins!”