Sure, Madame

Lucia’s language has gotten both precocious and hilarious lately as she tries out new words and phrases, not always correctly. Some highlights:

Andrew, bleary-eyed, stumbled into Lucia’s room one morning this week. She’d been calling for me in her usual way: “Mama…Where ARE you….Maaamaaa….Where ARE you…..Maaamaaa…” When she saw Andrew in the doorway, she said, “First of all, I was calling Mama.”

This week I asked Lucia to carry her water to the table for lunch. “Sure, Madame,” she responded with a little smile. She brings out “madame” at random times. “Lucia, are you ready for breakfast?” “Yes, Madame.” “Lucia, here are your Kix.” “Thank you, Madame.” The funniest thing is that she has no idea what it means; I always call her madame when we have tea parties, which is where she learned it, but she also calls Andrew “madame.” We’ve tried to explain that Daddy is “sir,” but it has yet to stick.

Sometimes, when Lucia is traipsing around the house babbling to herself, I hear her just keep saying “Actually” and “No problem” to link together random thoughts.

She is refining her likes and dislikes. Today we were listening to a Music Together song that goes “Ding dong / I’ve got the rhythm in my head / Ding dong ding dong ding dong HOT DOG!” She’d been playing instruments and singing along, but when she got to the exclamation of “hot dog!”, she stopped. “I don’t like hot dogs,” she announced. “But I like buns.” Then she went back to playing her instruments.

Each time I pick Lucia up from preschool, I ask her what she had for snack, and what she drank. Whoever the helping mom is always brings juice for the kids, and Lucia hates juice, always has. “What did you have to drink?” I ask. “I DIDN’T have juice,” she always responds haughtily. “I had water. I don’t LIKE juice.”