something lighthearted

Sometimes it is like living with parrots. Being a mom that is.

Claire is at an age where she repeats nearly everything we say, right down to our intonation. I will hear her talk to the dog, and she rarely uses her own words, instead she mimics the exact phrases that Brian or I use.

Awww, Lucky. Lucky-luck. What a good dog. What a cute doggy. Good dog, Lucky.

She will follow us around, and just say everything that we say.

Yesterday she brought over a book and asked, "Who gave this to me?" When I told her I didn't know she said, "maybe Brian." My mom (who I was on the phone with) laughed and asked who Brian was. Claire repeated, "maybe Brian gave this to me." When I asked her who Brian was she said, "Daddy!" I had no idea that she knew his first name. Particularly because we use a lot of pet names, and do not often call each other by our first names.

Now Ben has started the game of repeating things that he hears (to the best of his ability). He is only really good at making a D sound, so this morning when Claire was getting dressed, and we were saying "k k khakis" Ben chimed in with "d d daeeee". On our way to pick Claire up from school I would roar at him, and he would roar back from the backseat. Tonight as Brian got him dressed for bed and recited some of the words from Pajama Time Ben piped up, "da-aaa tiii". Lately he even seems to be trying to say thank you ("da ooo").

So be careful what you say - you may not want to hear it repeated.