Telling Evangeline that no, she can NOT kiss her own elbow. Oh, how she tried to prove me wrong! "Maybe if I do this. Maybe if I do that. Maybe if you help me. Hold it so I can kiss it!"

LOL. I'm mean, aren't I. (Well, she laughed too, so maybe not.)

Evangeline, for whatever reason, rarely cries or acts upset when she tumbles, even if it's actually what I would think of as a bad fall. (She also rarely falls in the expected way. For over a year she NEVER fell while standing on a chair, no matter how often well-meaning people would ask her to sit down, but she'd fall while sitting perfectly still at a rate of two or three times a month. Thankfully, she's outgrown this.) Today she slipped on the stairs, and plopped on her butt. Didn't fall or hurt herself, but I asked if she was all right, because that's what you do when people fall down. "I'm okay, Connie. I didn't hurt myself. Don't worry about it!"

I love hearing grown-up phrases and words coming out of little kids' mouths.

Actually is another one. I know I said that a lot as a kid. I know because I got teased for it, and made a concerted effort to stop. I don't think I succeeded, because both Ana and Evangeline were using this word by the age of three. My favorite from Eva? "Actually, Connie, it's called boogers, not just snot. You call it snot, but Granma says boogers."

A note on Ana's spelling: She doesn't really get the long and short vowel distinction. Banana today came out as "bnanu". She also has trouble with consonants before stops. Sounding out "held" runs huh... aitch. Eh, eh... ee. Duh, duh... dee! Or sometimes she'll go huh, el, duh and get hld instead. Hands might just as easily become hads. And of course any vowel + r combination is likely to end up with the vowel dropped, so hamper may become hapr. She'll outgrow it.

She was in a perfectly terrible mood today, and I'm irked because I even took her to the playground to celebrate the balmy weather and I left my book there (!!!!!) and honestly, with the length of the bus ride, I wouldn't've bothered if I'd known she'd grouch at me the whole time. Plus, her boots and her sister's are worthless. Neither of them keeps out damp very well, and Evangeline's don't even have decent traction :(

Tags: 'cdotes, daily stuff, language
I'm feeling: cheerful