Laine is the Word Wizard in the ELC

Laine completed two years in the Early Learning Center (ELC) at Phillips Brooks.  Every so often, the children are asked to define a word, and discuss this definition with the class.  Below are two presentations she did on the words “MOMMY” and “DADDY”

Laine, Word Wizard, May 9, 2012:  “MOMMY”.  Laine sits in front of the class and describes her word, then takes questions and leads a discussion. MOMMY. Laine. The word of the day is MOMMY. This is my mom. Babies have milk from mommy’s tummy. Joshua. Sometimes Laine. Yeah, sometimes. Sometimes only Max A. Only if the babies want milk. They don’t have to drink it if they don’t want milk. Nava. Did you know that I want to get a baby in my mom’s tummy? Zenia. Dads have to take care of the mom too. Ava. Mommies have to take good are of their babies Eva. Mamas are caring and they help their children. Nick. My mommy is too old to have a baby now. Laine. That’s interesting. Peter. Why do mommies have quarts? Like what they carry their milk in their tummy? Laine. Because they need to, or else they won’t be mummies, they’ll be like daddies. Aakarsh. Why do mommies have to have milk? Laine. So they can feed their baby. Max S. Where’s the baby when the baby is in the mommy’s belly? Laine. Because the…. Max S. No, where is it? Laine. The belly is right here. Max S. But where is the baby in the belly? Laine. Right here, in the tummy. I have a question now. Do you know when my mom was little, she had baby dots in her tummy [Anna called her eggs in her ovaries “baby dots”] Zenia. Any my mommy had baby dots too. Joshua. What are the dots? Laine. Dots are like in your tummy. When you come to like my brother’s age, they stretch out their legs and the arms and their eyes. Peter. What are baby dots? Laine. Baby dots are like small tiny dots, like the dots on my pants. Zenia. Not like those. Laine. Yes they are. Joshua. The size of them. Zenia. They are littler than that. My mom’s sister is pregnant because she’s having a baby and my mom’s big sister already has a baby boy. Laine. Whoa, that’s cool! Joshua. Why do babies need moms? Laine. So they can take care of them, or else they’ll get lost and then the monster will come and eat them. Zenia. There are no monsters! Laine. I’m just pretending. Joshua. They can’t get lost. They don’t know how to walk. Zenia. Or they learn to walk, but they get scared. Laine. Yeah, they do get scared. When they see something that’s scary, they’ll go”waaahh!” Aakarsh. Why do babies cry, because they get scared, right? Zenia. Sometimes they want milk. Laine. Aakarsh, can you say that one more time? Aakarsh. I forget it. Laine. Oh, that’s ok Zenia. Babies cry because they get scared. Laine. Yeah. Babies sometimes do that Aakarsh. Max A. Moms can cry, dads can cry. Maxton. Why does the mom have to carry the baby in her tummy? Laine. Because then the mommy can have the baby, it needs to be in there. And then when it hatches, like the baby birds in our school, they’ll hatch. But they’ll hatch out of the mommy’s tummy. Do you know what? Your can get something on your back, you can get a shot on your back [Anna told Laine about epidurals]. What are they called again? Sometimes you get a shot on your back when you have a baby. Shots on your back! It won’t hurt, it won’t hurt. It won’t hurt if you get it on your back. My dad told me, and he’s a smart guy. Tahm. So how does the mommy get the baby? Laine. So God first makes the baby, then makes the baby dot, puts it in the tummy. They I think God makes the mommy, I think, I think so. Nick. We’ve been talking about babies more than mommies a little bit. Why do mommies have to be fat when they have babies? Laine. Because babies are big! Aden. Because the babies are inside. Laine. And they need to be fat when they have babies. They need to be fat. I saw a video. I really saw one. Max A. Why do moms need to have baby dots? Laine. Because because then a baby will come. If they have no dots in there, there will be no babies. Like zero babies. Zenia. Don’t forget, they also have to pray. Pray for a baby. Laine. Yeah you have to pray for a baby. You know God, God was made too. He had a dad and a mom, really really. Nick. Everybody has a dad and a mom. Max S. Even God Zenia. I disagree. Nick. Even me Laine. You know when God was a baby he was in a nest. In a nest! [manger?] Maxton. Everybody has a birthday. Peter. This is sort of interesting. They first start in heaven, then the mommy tries to think about it and then the mommy’s tummy forms and the baby comes and that’s how it’s born. Laine. Yeah, Peter. That’s really good. That’s a really good question. Ava. Babies eat baby food. Ms Masters. What else do moms do besides take care of babies Laine. They work too. Just like Nava’s mom, she works. If a mom hs to work, the dads take care of the babies. And you know what? The dad helps the mom! Nick. Funny Max S. But the mom does not help the dad. Zenia. Sometimes the dad takes care of the babies. Laine. And moms! Zenia. Of course. Max A. If there’s a baby in the mom’s belly, and the mom would have to go to work, what would happen? Nick. The baby would be in the tummy and the mom would go to work. Laine. Yeah, I saw a picture of my mom taking Matty out. Maxton. Who’s Matty? Laine. He’s my brother, OK? Eva. Moms are people that are created by another mom, all the way up to another mom. Joshua. And then all the way up to another mom, and all the way up to another mom. Eva. Until all the moms stop at when horses were alive. Joshua. Yeah. But God was still alive when dinosaurs were still alive, did you know that? Max A. Yea, people were still alive then. Nick. Cavemen! Max A. Yeah, cavemen The mom, when the mom is “pregnant”, does that mean it has baby? Laine. My mom, one time, when Fluffy was this size, my mom tried to get her in the coop, but by mom was mad! She said “Fluffy, get over there!” Aakarsh. My mom’s picking me up on Monday Laine. Oh yeah? Cool. Joshua. Mom mom mostly brings me to school. Max A. Me too. Peter. Did you know mom every morning wears her early morning glasses because she is still sleepy but that makes her not sleepy? Zenia. My mom loves me a lot, and she misses her, and I miss her too. Laine. You must be a lucky girl! A lucky girl! Maxton. Guess what, Laine? Do you know who’s picking me up? My mom, dad, Carson and Grandma and Grandpa.

Laine, Word Wizard, December 13, 2012 “DADDY”. Laine sits in front of the class and describes her word, then takes questions and leads a discussion. DADDY. A daddy is a father, and he gets married to a mommy. The mommy puts a ring on the dady and the daddy puts a ring on the mommy. Then the mommy gets a shot and the mommy squeezes out the baby. The daddy and the mommy take care of the baby, and the baby drinks milk in the bottle. When the baby gets tall, the baby doesn’t need milk anymore. Laine. My drawing is a daddy and my daddy has hair, so much hair on his body. My dad sometimes gives a piggyback ride and a chariot ride. Max S. Some dads do that. Aden. Why do they get married. Laine. Because when they grow up, they have to get married. Nick. They don’t have to. Joshua. Dads take care of kids Laine. Yeah, you’re right Max S. You know dads, they don’t have to marry. But they have to marry if they have to get a kid. Nick. Or you can adopt a kid Max S. Yeah, they can. Zenia. If they want a kid, then they will marry. Eva. Why do daddies get married? Laine. Because in their lives, if someone loves a girl then they can marry if they want to. Maxton. Sometimes dads don’t even marry, they just go get a home. Aakarsh. To see their babies. Laine. Yeah. Peter. Do dads have hair on their legs, on their back and on their bottom? Laine. Yeah, they do Owen. My dad does Nick. Yeah, my dad too. Joshua. When they get married, why do they have to wear a wedding ring. Laine. Because they have to and they need to. So they remember… Max. They’re married. Laine. Yeah. Max A. Why do dads need to have a mom. Laine. Sometimes dads get to marry dads, my mom told me that. And sometimes girls get to marry girls. My mom told me that too. Tahm. They have to get water to marry. Max S. Do they have to have a baby? Laine. Yeah, they have to. Owen. What do they wear when they get married> Laine. Wedding clothes. Boys wear uniforms, girls wear wedding dresses. And things on their head. Eva. Tiara. Joshua. There’s lots of people at weddings. Laine. Yeah, lots. So they invite them for their weddings. Nick. Why do they have to go to the hospital to have a simple baby? Laine. Because…so let me talk about this. They need to go to the hospital to get the shot [Anna had told Laine about epidurals] Max S. Yeah, I agree Peter. Where do they put the ring if they need to get a baby? What id the baby will just grow and grow inside the mommy’s tummy? Laine. Yeah Aden. What if they lost the ring? Eva. Their ring is stuck on their finger. Aden. They can’t leave it on all night! Max S. Yes, my mom does it. Ms Masters [Teacher]. I’m wondering, what do dads do? Laine. They work. Some moms work too, like Nava’s mom. Aden. Lots of moms. 100s of moms. Eva. My dad lets me watch a show Nick. My dad doesn’t let me play video games that much, but he lets me watch shows lots of times. Max S. My mom and dad let me play video games. Joshua. My dad lets me play video games too. Maxton. My dad lets me play video games. Laine. My dad doesn’t let me watch TV. It makes me dumb. Aden. What’s dumb mean. Max S. It means you don’t know anything at all and you never will. That’s what my sister told me. Laine. It means you also get tired and dizzy from all that TV. Nick. I love watching shows. Aakarsh. My dad lets me watch iPad and everything. Johsua. My dad lets me watch TV, movies, video games and iPad. Aden. My mom and dad let me watch everything. Max S. On the airplane, I get to watch movies, but my mom doesn’t let me. Owen. My mom does. Nick. Do babies have computers when they are in their mommy’s tummy? Laine. No, of course not. Peter. That’s silly. Laine. Do you know dads, they need to put a ring on so they remember they’re married. Joshua. What if they lose their rings? Laine. Sometimes they lose rings, but I don’t know how they lose their rings Aden. That’s my question Peter. Maybe they’re loose Eva. I’ll tell you what, the rings get stuck on their fingers when they marry so they never fall off. Max A. Year, they get really tight. Laine. One time Vijay got stuck on her ring, on her finger Aden. What if they’re holding it and it falls out of their hand? Laine. Then they’ll pick it up, just like in Caillou. Nick. What if they don’t know it falls off? Aden. What if they don’t see it? Laine. Then they need to get a new one. Aden. How are they going to get a new one. Laine. They’re going to buy it from the shop. They’re going to buy it. Peter. How does it get stuck on their finger. Laine. Because the ring is small and it gets tight. It squeezes on and it’s really hard to get off. Eva. Like my dads ring. He can never get it off. Nick. And I can never get my Harry Potter ring off. Laine. Any more questions? Nick. Why do they even have to get married in special clothes? Laine. Because that’s what they wear to the wedding ball. Nick. Oh. Aden Why do they need to wear a ring. Laine. Because they know they are getting married. Aakarsh Why do moms and dads when they get married, they have to eat special food? Laine. They don’t have to eat special food at the wedding. Eva. They have cake. Maxton. Sometimes the dads go on their computers and get grocery lists. Laine. Yes, they do that. Nick. And why do they ride horses after they get married? Laine. Because they need to get a horse to go buy a car. So they can gallop to the car factory so they can buy a car. Aden. What if you already have a car. Laine. Just buy it for the mom Aden. What if they both already have a car? Max S. Then they don’t have the get a horse, I would say, if I was the Word Wizard!