definitions: unmail / irun

it's double-definition tuesday!

unmail - verb, to open an envelope, especially an envelope that doesn't belong to you.

usage:

L: Mommy, can I have thomthing to unmail?
M: Unmail?
L: Yeah. Pleeth?
M: Like what, L?
L (holding up an envelope from the bank): Like thith thing.
M: Oh, like something from the mail?
L: Yeah. Pleeth?
M: Ok, yes.
L: Thith thing?
M: Let me see it. Sure, yup, you can unmail that.
L (starting to tear open the envelope): Becauth I need to unmail it becauth I need to.


irun - noun: a device for turning individual beads (colour (?) beads) into a single, integral decorative unit. (Rumored to also be used for pressing wrinkles out of clothing, but this has not been verified.)

usage:

K (climbing into the car at school): Mommy, look what I made at Art Camp!
L (from the "way back" car seat): K, what you made at Art Camp?
M: Wow. That's pretty.
K: Yeah, I know. I tried to pick... to pick... colorful beads.
L: What you made K?
M: You did a good job.
K: Yeah. But this part broke.
L : It bwoke? K, it bwoke? What bwoke? Can I thee it?
M: How do you make those?
K: Uh, you put the beads on the thing and then put paper over it and then use an i-run, except the teachers have to do that part because it really hot.
L: It really hot?
M: An iron?
K: Yeah. But it hot.
M: And you put paper over the beads?
K: Yeah. Some kind of....
M: Wax paper?
K: Yeah, yeah. That's it!
L: Waxth paper?
M: We can do that. Maybe we can fix it K.
K: But we don't have a i-run.
M: Yes we do.
L: We have i-run?
M: Yes. Remember, I ironed those shirts once.
K: No.
M: I did.
L (laughing): Noooooooooo....

family: ... sitting and wondering....

here's a conversation snippet that accurately captures certain aspects of our household at the moment:

(preparing to have some neighbors to dinner)

me (calling upstairs): Hey M, where's the mop? Is it downstairs?
M: I don't think we have one any more.
me: Really?
M: We got rid of it... 2 years ago? It was old and awful.
me: Ah...
K: What 'mop?'
L: What mbop?
M: I used a rag that last time I cleaned the floor.
me: A rag?
K: It like vacuuming?
me (looking at her): Ah...
M (laughing): Yeah, K. Kind of like that.