One of my favorite sounds is overhearing Xander and Elodie playing when they don't realize I'm listening. This is a frequent occurence and I just love it. One conversation sounded like it was getting a bit heated, but when I came in to see what was wrong, they already had it worked out. Elodie informed me, "I'm not going to say 'beautiful.'" I reassured her that there was nothing wrong with that word, but she told me, "I'm going to say, 'cool.' That's a cool truck." Apparently Xander took issue with her when she described the passing truck as a "beautiful truck." This led to their heated debate about what words can be used to describe boy stuff. I guess it sunk in--I noticed that today, when Elodie got Xander to play "The Bag Game" as she dubbed it, although she called her pink flower bag "beautiful," she was careful to call Xander's bucket "handsome, handsome, handsome" as she handed it to him.
As Uncle Milan (AKA Brat Child) will attest, it's pretty fun to hear Elodie play the mom, too. She really seemed to relish the chance to discipline her doll Erika the other day. "Erika, I have to put hot pepper on your tongue!" Then Elodie turned to me, nodding her head, "she said S-T-U-..." Hmm, guess what had happened just that morning when Elodie shouted at Xander, "You're stupid and I don't like you!" Yowza, that girl knows how to use her words! Now we're working on word choice and tone of voice! She toned it down a bit later that day when she was mad at Xander again, "You are mean and selfish!" On the bright side, at least she didn't say S-T-U again. And at least she had said "don't like" rather than "hate." And at least she's getting plenty of chances to learn the words to great songs like the Builder song "to speak with kindness in my home," and "Jesus said love everyone, treat them kindly, too," and "I'm trying to be like Jesus, I'm following in His ways."
Speaking of Elodie singing, she just loves to sing her own made up songs. They go on and on, occasionally incorporating phrases from "real" songs, but mostly, they're just her ramblings. Tonight, she whipped out a new one at family prayer. She was saying the prayer, and in the middle, she just started to sing it like one of her Elodie originals. "I'm so, so, so graaaatefullll that I have a mooom and a daaaad!" Oh, my little Elodie! What's not to love?
