Ig·ven·chr
Noun: an unusual and exciting, typically hazardous, experience or activity.
"kindergarten is full of igvenchrs"
Verb: to engage in hazardous and exciting activity, especially the exploration of unknown territory. "they igvenchred together"
In english: adventure
Origin: Lucy's kindergarten artwork
Ar·cave
Noun: an indoor area containing coin-operated video games.
In english: arcade
Origin: Henryism, family slang for the Avalon nickel arcade
Lan·ter·in
Noun: a lamp with a transparent case protecting the flame or electric bulb, and typically having a handle by which it can be carried or hung.
In english: lantern
Origin: Henry-ism, Lucy-ism
Pat·ter·in
Noun: a repeated decorative design.
In english: pattern
Origin: Henry-ism, Lucy-ism
Paus·er
Noun: material used to mark one's place in a book
In english: bookmark
Origin: adapted from movie technology
Bag of beau·ty
Noun: a container for cosmetics
In english: makeup bag
Origin: Lucy-ism
Bur·ger·bills
Noun: supreme destination for burgers and fries
In english: Burgerville
Origin: Henry-ism, family slang for our favorite burger place
Hot·cocks
Noun: word-ghost that haunts your mom's brain at any occurrence that includes frankfurters
In english: hot dogs
Origin: Lucy's one-time mispronunciation
Lo·vie foot
Noun: game where child sits on parents foot, hugs the connected leg, and asks to be walked around
In english: n/a, similar to ball and chain restraint device. But much louder.
Origin: Henry game
Ques·tions
Noun: game where children who are ready to leave can earn candy or points by answering trivia questions
In english: n/a, invented to catapult friends after playdates
Origin: Mom strategy
Haunt·o·nyms
Noun: words that are pronounced the same but are "haunted" by different meanings.
In english: homonym
Origin: Henry-ism
Trip·le dog
Noun: virgin cocktail comprised of Sprite, Rootbeer, and Orange sodas.
In english: gross
Origin: drink plan hatched by Lucy and Henry at one of our many visits to Pepino's Taco Tuesday
Bigs
Noun: people that are not 'littles.' As in "Those are for the littles, drinks for the bigs are in the fridge."
In english: adult
Origin: Aunt Millie
Spe·cials
Noun: something of particular treasure. As in "Put your specials away if you don't want to share."
In english: treasure
Origin: Aunt Millie
You sho' you share
important rule of the house. One of several expressions used often enough to be programmed into any future pull-toy version of mom (along with "come on guys, it's time to go," "where are your shoes?" "marble!" and "Aw, I sure love you to miss/mister!")
In english: no hoarding
Origin: universal law
Mar·ble!
Expletive: announcement that something good had happened earning a marble in the jar or happy points.
In english: Yay! I saw you make a good choice and I am really happy about it! I am not a complete failure as a parent and everything is going to be ok. Please do that many more times in the future so you don't have a cranky mom and we can all get a long and do something fun. (Talk about a useful word reduction!)
Origin: marble jar at home
Mom·my tax
Noun: bite of anything tasty that mom is entitled to take if and when she so chooses.
In english: portion of treat, sampling of something that children of the household lucked into. As in "Oooo - pumpkin ice cream, I better have a mommy tax." Or later, as you became better trained, "Here mom. We got some chocolate and this is your mommy tax."
Origin: as decreed by the household monarchy (aka, me)
Mal·i·fi·nous
Noun: fairytale character
In english: Maleficent
Origin: Lucy-ism
Up·a·high
Noun: shiny thing in the sky
In english: star
Origin: Lucy-ism, from Twinkle Twinkle song
In english: star
Origin: Lucy-ism, from Twinkle Twinkle song
Wa·wee
Noun: that wet stuff
In english: water
Origin: Lucy-ism, one of her first words
Binks
Noun: string of beloved pieces of plastic. See "specials."
In english: some extremely well-used binkies
Origin: Mom-ism
That's cur·i·ous
Saying: useful all the time.
In english: Useful phrase to replace "That's interesting," or "Hmm," or "Get that thing away, or "I have no idea what you just said."
Origin: Dad-ism, when is this phrase not useful?
Ban·dits
Noun: robber
In english: One should always set booby traps for potential bandits.
Origin: Henry-ism, may he never learn more typical words
Fluf·fy
Noun: pet
In english: Universal default pet name for all life forms such as beetles, worms, and potato bugs.
Origin: Henry-ism
Knuc·kles
Noun: pet
In english: All-time, best name for pet spider. Ever.
Origin: Henry-ism
Chew·bec·ca
Noun: name
In english: Name of female wookie.
Origin: Lucy-ism, from her book "Chewbacca and Chewbecca: A Star Wars Love Story"
