As you can probably tell by the recent titles, Friendsgiving was all sorts of fun. We had juice boxes, and the food got high marks from little kids. You can just imagine how much laughter was involved with all of that. Still, those were mostly funny things that happened on the day of the event. Today's post involves a little bit of fun that won't be going away anytime soon.
I mentioned before that one of the munchkins was at the age where she was learning new words. She was quick about learning them, too, often repeating things that she had just heard. I know lots of friends of mine who have kids have warned me that their kids repeat anything and everything, but this was my first time seeing it play out in real time. Sure, I've seen kids at the daycare say things that I was certain came from their parents, but this was the first time I'd seen the action up close and personal.
We realized this almost immediately after she repeated the word "juice" a minute or two after she learned it, but didn't quite realize the implications. Now, just to set the stage, a minute is a long time for a munchkin. By my reckoning, that's roughly equivalent to seventeen days in adult time. Sure, you can remember things that happened that far back, but if you do, it's not an accident. You either have a very good memory, something particularly important happened, or you had some technology to help you remember. So, when a munchkin remembers something that happened minutes (as in plural) ago, you notice. We immediately knew to mind our P's and Q's, so that she wouldn't pick up any bad words.
What we didn't count on, however, was that she would also pick up terms of endearment. At some point, she heard the word "honey" used as a substitute for a name, and she repeated that, too. Not just that, but she sort of looked in that person's direction and sort of hesitantly uttered the word. It was as if she was trying the word on, to see if it fit. There was a fit of laughter immediately following this, with the loudest guffaws coming from the Mild Wife. She was actually the first to notice, and she was highly, highly amused.
The laughter inevitably died down, but the cat was out of the bag. A toddler using "honey" as a term of endearment was now a part of our shared memory, and the way she said it was now a part of our lexicon. That was not the last time that "honey" was uttered that way in our home, nor was it the last time that I giggled after it was uttered in such a fashion.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: little kids are awesome to talk to. It just so happens that I know one that speaks very sweetly.
I mentioned before that one of the munchkins was at the age where she was learning new words. She was quick about learning them, too, often repeating things that she had just heard. I know lots of friends of mine who have kids have warned me that their kids repeat anything and everything, but this was my first time seeing it play out in real time. Sure, I've seen kids at the daycare say things that I was certain came from their parents, but this was the first time I'd seen the action up close and personal.
We realized this almost immediately after she repeated the word "juice" a minute or two after she learned it, but didn't quite realize the implications. Now, just to set the stage, a minute is a long time for a munchkin. By my reckoning, that's roughly equivalent to seventeen days in adult time. Sure, you can remember things that happened that far back, but if you do, it's not an accident. You either have a very good memory, something particularly important happened, or you had some technology to help you remember. So, when a munchkin remembers something that happened minutes (as in plural) ago, you notice. We immediately knew to mind our P's and Q's, so that she wouldn't pick up any bad words.
What we didn't count on, however, was that she would also pick up terms of endearment. At some point, she heard the word "honey" used as a substitute for a name, and she repeated that, too. Not just that, but she sort of looked in that person's direction and sort of hesitantly uttered the word. It was as if she was trying the word on, to see if it fit. There was a fit of laughter immediately following this, with the loudest guffaws coming from the Mild Wife. She was actually the first to notice, and she was highly, highly amused.
The laughter inevitably died down, but the cat was out of the bag. A toddler using "honey" as a term of endearment was now a part of our shared memory, and the way she said it was now a part of our lexicon. That was not the last time that "honey" was uttered that way in our home, nor was it the last time that I giggled after it was uttered in such a fashion.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: little kids are awesome to talk to. It just so happens that I know one that speaks very sweetly.
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