Linguistic Jumps

Last night, Lana was standing by the sink, washing plastic dishes. (This was after a minor fit that she threw when David refused to allow her to wash the knives and a glass bowl. Lana is a very thorough dishwasher, but, "gentle" isn't really part of her vocabulary.)

(Incidentally, Lana was feeling much better last night, after two doses of an antibiotic for her ear infection and some Ibuprofen and Tylenol running through her for the ear pain. )

Anyway, Lana was washing the dinner dishes that could neither be hurt by or hurt her, while I was putting coffee in the coffee maker for morning (you know, with the delayed-timer function) - and I said to David, "How many scoops of coffee do you think I should put in?"

Lana answered, "One." Simutaneously, David answered, "Four and a half."

What impressed me with this was not Lana's (lousy) coffee making skills (one scoop of coffee for 8 cups?? Come on!) - but rather, that she recognized that a "how many" question required a numerical answer.

Deciding to test her comprehension skills further, I said, "Lana - who likes to drink coffee?"

Lana immediately answered, "Um...BA! And...Mommy! And...um...Yi Stace!!" ("Yi Stace" is what she calls my sister, Stace.)

It's amazing to me, how much she understands, and how much she makes herself understood. (This morning, she made it very clear to David that Mommy would have let her eat fruit snacks in the car and that his refusal to let her eat fruit snacks in HIS car was a cause of immense displeasure to her.) (Sure, it sounded something like "Mommy car froooot snack eat! Wanna eat frooooot snack Ba car!! Wanna eat froooot snack now, Ba!!" But, she made herself understood - perfectly.) (It's true. I do let her eat fruit snacks in the car...does this make me public enemy number one? Or just dental enemy number one?)

LM