Conversations with my daughter, part V.

[rivka]

Scene: Reading Babies on the Go, one of our favorite library books. It's about how animals carry their babies. We're on the snow monkey page.
Me: 'Perched upon a mother's hip,' ...look, it's snowy where they are.
Alex: They need rainbowcoats.[1]
Me: They should wear their rainbowcoats to keep warm in the snow?
Alex: Snowy. Need hat and gloves.


Scene: Alex is holding a small plastic figurine of a (male) farmer.
Alex: This the vulva.
Me: That's his bottom.
Alex: Alex find the vulva. rotates figure for further inspection.
Me: Um. He doesn't have one.
Alex: mercifully moving on. Little guy go in the barn.


Scene: At the park, playing in a big empty fountain.
Alex: Soccer ball!
Me: Honey, we didn't bring the soccer ball. That's too bad.
Alex: in exaggeratedly tragic voice. Awww, Alex v. sad.[2]
Me: equally exaggerated voice. Awww, Mama will hug you.
Alex: V. sad, Mama hug you. happily runs away to play.


Scene: Still at the park, hanging out.
Alex: Alex see a little crescent - a letter C.
Me: I don't see a crescent. Where is it?
Alex: Hide and seek! Mama play hide and seek. runs over to a tree and leans her face against it. One, two, three, four, five... Mama hide. points to the other side of the tree. Mama hide right there.


Scene: hanging out in the living room.
Alex: Mama sing the ME song!
Me: to the tune of "It's Raining, It's Pouring." My name is Alex Wald, this is my address: [## which includes 8] Park Avenue, Baltimore Maryland.
Alex: singing, but not to any recognizable tune. I Alex Wald, this my red dress! Eight... Park... Diapermore, Maryland.
Me: falls over laughing.


Scene: At dinner.
Alex: pointing. Mama glass of wine, Papa glass of wine. Alex like a glass of wine.
Me: No, wine is just for Mamas and Papas. Is Alex a Mama?
Alex: Noooo!
Me: Is Alex a Papa?
Alex: Noooo!
Me: Is Alex a little girl?
Alex: Noooo!
Me: surprised. What is Alex?
Alex: Alex is a pumpkinhead.[3]



[1] This is her pronunciation of "raincoat." She also says "rainbrella." She does also know the word "snowsuit," but we've had such a mild winter that she's used to wearing her fleece-lined raincoat outside.

[2] Yes, she said "v." Not "very," "v." - pronounced "vee." She picked it up from Michael and me, who picked it up from cassieclaire's Very Secret Diaries, which (obviously) picked it up from Bridget Jones' Diary. Yes, we are a little embarrassed about this.

[3] Can't argue with that.

Comments

[kip-w.livejournal.com]

Alex is v. funny!

Sarah sings to fill the empty seconds too. We knew what we were doing when we started talking to her all the time, and filling her up with words. At least we thought we did.

Does Alex imitate you at an interval of about one second? I mean if I'm with Sarah and I cross my arms, she'll cross hers. If I stand on one foot, she'll do the same. It's like she thinks I know what I'm doing! (And anything I say to her, I'll hear back, so I've learned to be careful and very specific in arguments, or any general 'tactic' will come winging its way right back at me.)

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Sarah sings to fill the empty seconds too. We knew what we were doing when we started talking to her all the time, and filling her up with words. At least we thought we did.

I'll be so happy when she learns more songs. Right now it's the Alphabet Song, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and the first two lines of See Saw Scaradown. (http://www.zelo.com/family/nursery/sacradown.asp)

[wcg.livejournal.com]

I think she might be ready for Little Bunny Fu Fu...

[rivka.livejournal.com]

The icon says it all.

[kip-w.livejournal.com]

Sarah makes it up as she goes along, changing tunes, melodies, scales, modes, tonalities, and everything else. The words are the interesting part.

[papersky.livejournal.com]

I remember when Z could sing "Jingle Bells". Just "Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle bells" -- he was very resistant to going on to "jingle all the way". It reminded me of the scene in Perelandra where the devil keeps saying "Ransom?" and when he asks "What?" he says "Nothing." "Ransom" "Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle bells..."

Oh god, and he's sixteen now!

[shadopanther.livejournal.com]

My nephew sometimes imitates us. He's been photographed imitating his grandad. Granddad was standing against the wall, arms crossed, so the nephew had to move something out of the way so he could stand beside Granddad, leaning against the fridge, arms crossed. The nephew isn't singing much yet, but I think he will. His current singing is mostly vowels. No full words yet.

[kip-w.livejournal.com]

Sarah follows her cousin's lead. (April, 2004)