My Nap-O-Tee

My five year old girl is hilarious. There is not a day that passes without her saying or doing something that makes me laugh out loud, or smile so big that my cheeks sting. The other day, she swore to me that she heard a herd of spiders. I asked her what they sounded like. She said "Sssst ssst sssst ssst-like that."

One of my favorites was when she asked for a pet "hump-a-denia" after watching Animal Planet one day. I almost never figured that one out. She kept telling me "Hump...A.....deeeen...ya" very slowly, as if that would help me suddenly know. Finally, after becoming very frustrated with me, her eyes lit up. "I forgot! It's a laughing hump-a-denia!" I probably sounded like one for the next ten minutes.

This morning we returned from church and as we entered the door she paused, closed her eyes and sniffed deeply. She turned around, smiled at me and said "Ahhhhhhhh....the sweet, sweet smell of home!"

Moments ago, we were in the kitchen making macaroni, or as she calls it, Macanonri. We added all the "gredients" and stirred with our separate spoons as she chattered away. She got a spoonfull of macanonri, but as she started to raise it, my spoon bumped her spoon, and all the macanonri fell off.

She gave me a stern look and said "Hey! You made me lose my nap-o-tee!"

I laughed and said "Your what?"

"My nap-o-tee! You made me lose my nap-o-tee!"

I searched my mind for a possible related word but came up with nothing, so I finally asked "what is a nap-o-tee?"

In a very serious voice she said "You know, it's something chefs say when they start to eat their food. My nap-o-teeeee."

I laughed until I hurt.