Boo-Yeah

So I haven't posted anything in a few weeks and I decided I better do something.  I thought I could share another one of my favorite memories of Ethne.

Ethne Exploring at my grandparent's home.  Not related to the story, but a good picture.

From the time she was starting to sit up and be aware of things, like all dads, I was trying to teach her how to slap five.  She wasn't to interested at first, so I decided I would try to do something to make at more exciting, that way she would be more interested.  I decided that since she loved to talk, I needed something to shout after ever 5 she gave me.  The problem was, what to shout?

I had her give me a 5 and said the first thing that came to my mind - "Boo-Yeah!"  (I think we had recently watched The Emperor's New Groove).  So that became the catch phrase I started using.  She caught on very quick and started yelling "Boo-Yeah!"  every time she gave somebody a 5.  We were so excited when she started saying it all of the time that we had everybody giving her 5s so they could hear her yell "Boo-Yeah!"

"Daddy's Peeow"

One specific time I remember of giving each other a lot of 5's and both of us yelling "Boo-Yeah" was shortly before the accident.   Probably not even a month before.  I would usually pick her up on my way home from work, from her grandmother's, because I would get home about an hour or so before Melissa.  Melissa's instructions to me were that as soon as we got home, Ethne needed to go down for a nap.  She didn't want to go down for a nap; and she, being the spoiled princess that she was, and dad, being the soft pushover that he is, decided to come up with a compromise. A few months previous we discovered that she loved to go into our room, take my pillow and go lay down on the couch while she watched a movie.  It was a good way of keeping her occupied for a while if we needed to get something done.  So, what we agreed upon was that as soon as we got in, she could go get Daddy's pillow and lay down on the couch.  If she fell asleep before Mommy got home she could stay, but if she was still awake she had to go to bed (Mommy wasn't as easy to push over as Daddy).  Watching her come running down the hall with my pillow was hilarious.  She would run as fast as she could, but the pillow was just a bit bigger than her, so she would eventually fall over.  maybe even 2 or 3 times in our short hallway.  But, she never got discouraged or cried.  She was so happy to have Daddy lay her down on the couch with the blanket and cover her up with a pillow, falling along the way was not going to stop her, and could barely slow her down.


With this particular memory I remember turning on a game on our Wii, and doing really well at it.  I would occasionally turn on a game until Melissa came home while Ethne would watch and try to go to sleep.  Usually she wouldn't fall asleep, but it was fun to try.  Every time something good or exciting would happen in this game I would yell "Boo-Yeah!" go give Ethne a 5, and she would follow it up with another "Boo-Yeah!"  It was a golfing game that I usually played so she would sometimes even cheer and clap with the audience on the TV.  She would occasionally even start putting up her hand to give me 5 before I would go over to her.  She would get so excited to cheer for me and participate.  It may have just been because she didn't want to go to sleep , but she was the best cheering section I ever had (sorry Mom and Dad).

This was her Boo-Yeah! face

Now, I still say "Boo-Yeah!" whenever I give my son a 5.  In fact, that is how I've been teaching him to give me 5.  One day, in the store, a few of months ago I wanted him to give me a 5.  I held up my hand, and he held his up to mine.  I slapped it and yelled "Boo-Yeah!"  He continued to give 5's almost nonstop the rest of the time we were in the store, and kept on giggling every time.

-Lawrence