| _____Date_____ | They Said What? |
| 1 9 9 3 | |
| Age 1 | |
| June 3, 1993 | Matt and I were dancing to the Smurff's tape and after a bit I said, "Okay, it's your turn" and he ran to DJ and wanted her to dance with him. I had meant for him to dance ALONE! |
| August 20, 1993 | Matt is the only grandchild (so far) who has put his ear to the refrigerator, washing machine, dryer, vacuum, etc so he can hear the motors running. He listens to the fence for trucks passing by. |
| November 3, 1993 | Matt climbed into Tom's chair and grabbed Tom's sweat towel and started wiping his face just like Tom does to get the sweat off. Looked soooo funny! |
| November 5, 1993 | Matt folds his hand so sweetly when sitting in the stroller or watching the "Sing Along Tapes" on the VCR. |
| 1 9 9 4 | |
| Age 2 | |
| June 21, 1994 | Matt was surprised to see the lower half of one of our kitchen walls freshly painted blue and said, "Oh, a fence!" Then, he immediatly tried to climb it! He told me the walls sure are pretty. Thank you, Matt. |
| June 21, 1994 | Matt wanted a truck from Derek and he begged and begged and then cried and begged some more. Derek finally gave it to Matt and then Matt leaned over to Derek and pointed to his cheeks and said, "See, Derek, tears!" Derek ignored him so finally Matt took Derek's finger and put it against his cheek and said again, "See, tears, Derek" (Why waste the tears, right, Matt?) |
| September 8, 1994 | Matt was excited to get pasta and said, "I'm really thirsty for pasta!" |
| September 14, 1994 | I was getting ready to hang a picture and Matt saw my hammer and asked if I was going to bang the picture. |
| September 15, 1994 | Matt saw a large photo of great, great Uncle Alfred's farm which was on the floor and leaning against a wall in the guest room. He laid down on the floor on his tummy and studied the picture. Finally he said, "Boy, there's a lot of stuff here." Amen to that!!!!! |
| September 15, 1994 | Matt asked "Where's Pawpaw?" I told him he was at the Elks Club and he asked if he was playing golf clubs. |
| October 8, 1994 | Matt saw a school gymnastics bus and said, "There goes a church bus!" |
| October 9, 1994 | The day before I returned from 25 days spent in St. Joseph, MO with a sick, sick, sick Rick who was recovering from a ruptured appendix, Matt asked his mom where Nannie lives now. |
| November 7, 1994 | Chandra and I were talking about going thru a model home and I told her I'd had to get Matt up from his nap too early and then I saw some cows and said to Matt, while still on the same sentence with Chandra, "Oh, Matt, look at the cows!" and then continued on with the subject with Chandra. I told Chandra I was going to put Matt to bed earlier tomorrow and Matt, of course, over heard and said, "No, Nannie, you're not going to put the cows to bed earlier tomorrow." Talk about cross conversations! |
| November 10, 1994 | I woke up Matt to go pick up Chandra from Teri's house and he looked up with the sweetest smile and said, "I was having so much fun riding the roller coaster." |
| November 10, 1994 | When Matt, Chandra and I were coming home from Teri's we saw a Coca Cola truck and told Matt that was a Coca Cola truck. Matt tried and tried to say Coca Cola and then enthusiastically said, "There goes a Pop truck!" |
| November 10, 1994 | Matt and I watched Matt Spencer's mom back their van into their garage next door and I said, "There goes Matt's truck" and Matt said, "My truck?" |
| November 11, 1994 | Derek was pestering Matt and finally Matt said very emphatically, "Go do your homework right now, Derek!" |
| November 12, 1994 | Chandra hurt her hand and Matt told her to go to the hospital and Chandra said she didn't have a way to go and Matt told her to go in the ambulance and Chandra asked Matt if he would drive her and he said, "Yep". |
| November 12, 1994 | Matt jumped up from playing in the playroom and came to me in the kitchen and asked, "Where's Uncle Rick?" I told him he was home and then Matt asked, "Does his tummy still hurt him?" |
| November 12, 1994 | Matt told me he had seen a hydroscoptic backhoe with Pawpaw. Mighty big word but a correct word at that. |
| November 14, 1994 | I walked in Teri's to get Matt and he saw my rain bonnet and said, "Oh, do you have a boo boo?" I told him I did not and then Matt told me to take that bandage off of my head then. |
| November 16, 1994 | The sun was shining through the top of the windshield onto my face making it look greenish and Matt told me my face was green and then he said, "Nannie, stop being green! I don't like you green!" |
| November 17, 1994 | Today after Matt wet his diapers he was so wet I told Tom he has to be broken and Matt said, "No Nannie, I'm not broke." You can say that again, Matt. |
| November 19, 1994 | Matt came out of the playroom with a wooden watermelon under each arm and told us he is the watermelon guy now. |
| December 5, 1994 | Matt ran and tackled my legs with his head and then turned around and held his hand over his forehead. Must have been quite a surprise to hit leg bones without any meat on them instead of Tom's chubby thighs. He didn't say a word but I know it hurt like the dickens. |
| December 17, 1994 | Matt was pushing the camel from the Nativity Set around and around on the coffee table. Then he started backing it up and going, "Beep, Beep" just like his favorite vehicles do. . . fire truck and trash truck. |
| 1 9 9 5 | |
| Age 3 | |
| February 2, 1995 | Matt was scratching his legs after his nap and I asked him what his problem seemed to be. He said he was caught by a spider and now his leg itched. |
| February 3, 1995 | Matt broke up bits of styrofoam to put in his little pickup truck and then he dumped the stuff on the floor and used his little toy grader to push it around. He said, "This is snow and this is my snowplow." Pretty good imagination for someone who has never seen snow yet. |
| February 4, 1995 | Matt and Tom were watching 'Sesame Street' together. There was a dog on the show and I said the dog is saying 'Woof Woof' and Matt kept saying, "That is not a wolf, Nannie, that is a dog!" I tried to explain to Matt what I meant and he said in exasperation, "Nannie, that is NOT a wolf, that is a DOG!" Okay, already. Just forget it! |
| February 6, 1995 | Matt asked about the contents of a truck parked on the
street as we drove by. I told him the truck contained
fish and chickens and the driver went to people's houses
to sell the fish and chickens to them. He merely said,
"Oh." Then I told him the chickens were dead. He
said slowly and in awe, "Dead chickens??" Then I
asked him what he thought people did with dead chickens.
He said they put them on a dead truck and took them to the
dead house. He then thought for awhile and decided it
would be better if they put them in the dog catcher's truck
cause it had cages in it. I have to add a PS to this. When I was growing up there was a dead wagon (truck) that came to our farm to collect dead animals and I believed they were sent someplace to make glue! Wish I had asked just exactly what did happen to these dead animals. Old animals were supposedly going to the glue factory, too. True or false??? Wish I knew. |
| March 8, 1995 | Matt was taking a shower with Dee, who is almost nine months pregnant with Mackenzie, and informed her she needed to exercise more cause she was getting fat. |
| March 9, 1995 | Matt and Tom were playing Cowboy and Indians while Tom was sitting in his easy chair watching TV and Matt was running around and around. Matt fell down and played like he was 'dead' while laying under two stools. Dee came by and said something to Matt who replied, "Don't talk to me cause I'm dead!" |
| March 10, 1995 | Matt talks in his sleep a lot. One night he said all of his ABC's and finished with the usual "Now I've said my ABC's, tell me what you think of me" and went right back to a sound sleep. |
| March 13, 1995 | Tim took Matt to the library to get some books and tapes and as they were getting into the car Matt said, "Thanks for picking me up from school, Dad" (I pick Derek up from the library quite often and he always has a load of books and says thanks.) Monkey see, monkey do. |
| March 14, 1995 | Matt got up at 5:30 this morning and I woke to find him picking up Tom's pillows one by one and searching for Tom who was in the other room. Matt asked me where 'Pops' was and I told him in the other room. Matt asked that I go get him and tell him that 'Matt' wants him right back in the bedroom! I told Matt that Tom would be back soon and to go back into the little bed till Pops gets here. I carried him to the crib and he went right back to sleep. |
| March 14, 1995 | I told Matt 'good night and God Bless you' and Matt corrected me by saying, "No, Nannie, you're supposed to say, "Oh, my gosh." Which is what I tell the children to say instead of using God's name in vain. |
| March 16, 1995 | Mackenzie born today and Matt already calling her 'Miss Sizie' or 'Miss Susan'. Wonder if either will stick. (It didn't, but Sissy seems to have.) |
| March 18, 1995 | Matt told me his Dad is "Uncle Dad and not his Uncle Tim and his Mom is Uncle Dee." Too many relatives and too confusing for Matt, I guess. |
| March 19, 1995 | Matt said, "Eenie, meanie, repeat and holler!" Another version, I guess. |
| April 1, 1995 | After I read the "Three Little Pigs" story to Matt he looked wide-eyed at me and said in a hushed voice, "Nannie, is this house made of brick?" |
| April 8, 1995 | Matt was being very picky about his food and only wanted applesauce and he wanted it now! I finally told him to have some patience please and he said, "No, I don't even like patience." |
| April 9, 1995 | Matt told me he is Great Uncle Matthew. Don't think so, Matt. |
| April 29, 1995 | Dee and two little ones came back for a visit from their new/rental home in San Angelo so Dee could get her 6 week check-up taken care of. We were visiting in the playroom while she was nursing the baby and Matt got up from his nap and came into the playroom. He looked at me in surprise and said in a hushed voice, "Oh, Nannie, I thought I'd never see you again!" |
| September 6, 1995 | Matt came in the kitchen and just to make conversation I said, "Well, Matt, what do you say?" He replied automatically....... "Please." |
| October 9, 1995 | Matt was helping me in the yard to scatter grass under some of the bushes and said, "Hurry, Nannie, I need a haystick!." |
| 1 9 9 6 | |
| Age 4 | |
| March 6, 1996 | Tom was going to take a nap and wanted Matt to accompany him to the bedroom and tuck him into bed, but Matt was having none of that for fear he would end up in bed, also. Tom walked off rather dejected and said, "Oh, alright." Matt looked at Dee in puzzlement and asked, "What's the MATTER with HIM?" Dee and I thought Matt's expression was very funny and laughed and laughed. Matt became very upset with us for laughing and said, "Don't laugh at my friend!" (Meaning Tom) |
| March 18, 1996 | Sarah kept telling Matt that Mackenzie is her girl and Matt insisted Mackenzie is his and Sarah still persisted in saying Mackenzie is her girl and finally Matt said in exasperation, "Mackenzie is MINE cause my mom had her for ME!" |
| March 18, 1996 | Dee used Dave's exerciser for about 8 pulls and got off puffing. Matt said very enthusiastically, "Did you lose all your fat, Mom?" Dee said yes she had and Matt asked to see so Dee pulled herself together and stretched tall while pulling her tummy tight and said, "See?" Matt looked and replied, "Yep, you sure did." |
| March 20, 1996 | Matt said grace before lunch and instead of saying, 'from thy bounty' he said, "From Uncle Brownie." |
| July 8, 1996 | Matt was upset with little Mackenzie about something and said, "I'm not going to be your 'sister' anymore!" |
| November 8, 1996 | I told Matt that Uncle David is getting married and now Nicole will be Aunt Nicole. Matt was flabbergasted that Uncle David was going to get married. Matt then said sadly, "Then Uncle David won't be my Uncle David anymore." I asked him why not and he just said, "Cause he won't." |
| November 9, 1996 | I read a book to Matt titled 'The Best Time of Day' and I used Matt's name instead of John in the book. When it came to the best part of the day, when Daddy came home from work and tossed 'Matt' high in the air, Matt said, "That's not my Daddy, that's Uncle David cause that is what he does to me!" (Matt did not even notice the characters in the book were black.). |
| November 11, 1996 | Matt saw all the leaves on the ground under the ash trees and he looked up at the limbs in awe and said, "Well, what do you know. It really is fall." |
| 1 9 9 7 | |
| January 1, 1997 | When Matt was here during the Christmas Holidays, he and Tom went out car riding and checked out machinery and so on. When they returned, Matt came to the kitchen sink to help me peel carrots. He was using the wrong side of the peeler so I said, "No, no, Matt, wrong side.". He said, "Oh," and turned the carrot to the other side!!! Then I asked him, "Where were you?" meaning where did you and Pops go. Matt replied rather impatiently, "Well, I'm right here!" |
| January 6, 1997 | Tom asked Matt where Grandma was and Matt said he didn't know any Grandma's. Leaves me out, doesn't it? |
| January 6, 1997 | In the middle of the night Tom blew his nose very loudly, like he always does, and, of course, it sounds extra loud when all is quiet. Matt awoke with a jerk and told Tom to stop making that noise! Tom kept blowing cause he did not hear Matt even talking. When he stopped blowing, Matt said very firmly, "Don't you ever do that again!" |
| Age 5 | |
| June 7, 1995 | When Matt came by with his dad I asked him what he had done all day and he looked at me very seriously and quietly said, "It's not all day yet, Nannie." True. |
| June 8, 1997 | Matt is very interested in death right now and asks lots of questions. He wanted to see a dead person so I showed him a picture of Great, Great Uncle Alfred in the coffin. Matt then asked, "Is he at the dead station?" |
| June 8, 1997 | Matt and I were watching a documentary on the Lakes up North in Canada and on the edge of one of the Lakes we saw white stones protruding from the water. Matt asked what they were and I told him I thought maybe they were buoys. Matt did not agree and said he thought they were 'die stones', as in Monuments. |
| June 18, 1997 | Matt says he's going to be a 'vampire' when he gets big and he's going to say 'Strike 1, strike 2, strike 3, you're out'! |
| June 20, 1997 | Matt brought Tom's eye glasses in from the car and said, "Here's your glasses and I didn't break them!" Tom looked at them and told Matt they were not broken and Matt assured him both glasses were cracked in the middle. (Bi-focals!) |
| June 21, 1997 | Matt loves hot sauce and wanted chips and sauce. We had no chips so he looked in the refrigerator and found carrot sticks so used the carrot sticks to dip his sauce. Ugh. |
| July 8, 1997 | Matt got his teeth cleaned by his mom and the dentist came to check Matt out and asked him if he did okay and Matt said, "Well, I wiggled some." |
| July 18, 1997 | Matt informed me he would not have a tow truck job like J.D. (Chandra's current boyfriend) cause he might get killed by that anchor that hangs off the back of the truck. |
| July 19, 1997 | I called Matt's attention to a 'Mourning Dove' that was mourning on the house top across the street. Matt looked and said, "That bird is not supposed to be making noise cause it's not morning." |
| July 19, 1997 | Matt saw Tom and I each eating a banana for breakfast and said, "Do you people always eat bananas every morning?" |
| July 19, 1997 | Matt was playing 'Batman' and told Brenna he was 'Badman'. |
| July 20, 1997 | Matt came outside with a glass of pop he had poured himself and I asked him if he had poured it on top of the cabinet and he said, "No, I poured it in the glass and I didn't spill it!" |
| July 20, 1997 | A neighbor girl who lived across the street asked Matt what special thing was going to happen to him next month (meaning kg) and Matt said, "Oh, I'm going to High School!" |
| 1 9 9 8 | |
| February 1998 | Matt heard us talking about Deb going to school and asked if Aunt Debbie is a teenager and in the same breath told us Chandra is an adult. We asked him why he would think Aunt Debbie was a teenager and he said cause she goes to school. |
| February 2, 1998 | Matt walked in the kitchen and leaned against the refrigerator door and after looking around he asked slowly, "Is this all that's left?" The big, big, crowd had suddenly vanished to do other things. |
| Age 6 | |
| January 28, 1998 | Matt asked me not to fry his bread. Took a sec to figure that one out. He meant not to toast it. |
| June 7, 1998 | This morning I was getting ready to give a teaspoon to
Matt so he could dig into the brown sugar to use on top
of his oatmeal. I looked at the spoon and said, "Oh,
Matt. This is one of my good pieces of silverware. I
raised 100 chickens and then killed them and sold them to
grocery stores so I could get enough money to buy this
silverware."
Matt looked totally amazed and said, "You killled chickens?" I assured him I sure did. Then he asked how I did it. Told him I either took the chickens head into my hand and wrung and wrung it until the head came off. (Isn't this totally gross????) Or I chopped off the heads with an ax! Matt looked shocked and said, "Well, did you at least wear one of those black masks over your face and eyes when you chopped the heads off?" He was demonstrating with his hands and completely covering his eyes! Do you suppose he thinks the pictures he has seen of masked men in the movies are wearing the masks so they can't see the victim???? Certainly might be an interesting target they hit with their eyes covered!!!! Or, an executioner from the Dark Ages. |
| March 15, 1997 | Tom had grown a beard and when we drove to San Angelo for a stop-over on our southwest trip Matt was aghast at seeing Tom with a beard. Matt told Tom in no uncertain terms to take that hair off his face and never grow his hair on his face anymore! |
| 1 9 9 9 | |
| Age 7 | |
| April 2, 1999 | Matt and I were playing tennis in the alley and Matt informed me he had to warm up first and told me to wait. So, he bends his knee backwards and hits the heel of his shoe with the tennis racket several times and then lifts the other foot and does the same thing. (Watched baseball on TV obiviously). Then he swings the tennis racket behind his back with first one hand and then the other and finally lifts the racket over his head with both hands and stretches with his arms extended behind his head and then the routine with the heels of his shoes again and finally he says he is ready. I couldn't resist asking why he has to hit his heels first and he said, "Oh, that's to stretch my feet." Isn't it amazing what kids figure out from watching things. Not always correct but in their minds they think they have it all figured out. |
| November 11, 1999 | Matt was studying about Veteran's Day today. Here are
the questions he would ask a veteran if he saw one. "Have you ever shot
someone?" Have you ever been shot and still be alive?" "Have you ever
driven a tank?"
Next came questions about foods. What does Pumpkin Bread look like? Pumpkin Bread looks like real bread. What does Pumpkin Pie look like? A little pie. What do pumpkin seeds look like? A big seed. What does Pumpkin Bread smell like? Pumpkin bread smells like a pumpkin. What does Pumpkin Pie smell like? It smells like sugar. What do pumpkin seeds smell like? It smells like a pumpkin seed. What does pumpkin bread feel like? Sordave squshey. (Sort of squeashy). What does Pumpkin Pie feel like? Like bread. What does Pumpkin seed feel like? It is hard. What does Pumpkin Bread taste like? Pumpkin bread tastes like Real Bread. What does Pumpkin Pie taste like? It tastes like Pie. What does Pumpkin Seed taste like? It tastes hard. Tom said the answers are 100% logic. Period and amen. |
| 2 0 0 0 | |
| Age 8 | |
| September 9, 2000 | Matt wants to mow and trim like his cousin Patrick. Only thing is, Pat is almost 14 and Matt is only 8 so a bit young to trust with a trimmer and a mower. However, on Friday Pat let him trim in our backyard a little bit and Matt was thrilled. The next day Matt kept after Tim to let him mow their yard. Tim let him mow some and Matt did fine, then Matt wanted to trim and Tim let him. He did very well. When Matt finished he asked his mother if he could go into the mowing business and maybe he would be able to save $10,000 for college in 9 years. Industrious right now. |
| November 12, 2000 | Well, 'honey', so I am an old lady. I have to smile cause at Grandparents Day at school last Friday one little boy in Matt's room asked me how old I was and Matt popped up before I could even answer and said, "Well, she's 70, and she sure is in good shape!" Better keep walking, hadn't I? |
| November 30,2000 | Dee, Matt, Mackenzie and I were driving up to Luby's to eat supper and Dee commented to me she was getting hoarse from yelling at the kids so much and then added, "I think I have a frog in my throat.". Matt and Mackenzie listened up real quick and Matt said, "Where did you find a frog this time of year?" and Mackenzie quickly added, "Is it alive?". Neither had heard the expression before and thought Dee was serious in her comments. Then one asked if it hurt? Dee and I were laughing a lot so very hard for us to answer the children right away. |
| Age 10 | |
| January 20, 2002 | Matt suddenly brought up the subject of me killing chickens when I lived on the farm and he told Mackenzie I cut their heads off with an axe. Actually, I told him I did not use the axe for fear I would cut my foot or hand off. I rung the heads off. Then Matt said, "And the chickens ran around and around." No, they jumped and jumped around. Mackenzie asked what I did next. I said I put them into boiling water so I could pluck the feathers off of them. Matt asked, "What next?" I said, "Then I dressed them." Matt stopped dead in his tracks and asked incredulously and quietly "You dressed them??? You dressed dead chickens!" I had to explain that further. Then what did I do next, he asked. Well, I called a grocery store in Monroe to find out how many dressed chickens they wanted me to bring to their store that day so they could sell to customers who lived in town and had no access to chickens any other way. He thought that all pretty amazing. |
| January 20, 2002 | Matt told me next Thanksgiving when he goes to the ranch where his aunt and uncle live in west Texas he gets to shoot a deer all by himself. I asked him what they do with it next and suggested maybe they dressed it??? He looked a bit skeptical and said, "No, they gut it." I asked him if he liked to eat deer meat. He said yes. Mackenzie said they had never even tasted it yet. I wondered outloud what they ate the meat with,,meaning, with mashed potatoes and gravy or what. Matt said quietly, "With a fork, of course." |
| Please send any questions, comments, or suggestions to: Tom Dierkes - tdierkes@usa.net (Revised 11/24/1999) | Dottie Dierkes HomePage | |
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