Thursday, September 25, 2008

I Will Make-a Da Toast, So Help Me

I don't know if it's being a younger child or her personality, but Pebbles is growing up with the most delightful self-interested aggression. If Nutmeg is getting something, by God, Pebbles will get that thing too. If Nutmeg is doing it, you are not going to hold those 18 and a half pounds back from joining her. It's like raising a miniature bulldog with a topknot.

She also likes to tell you about all the things she's getting and doing. Like, if Nutmeg is at the counter with me on a stepstool, Pebbles is pushing her little wooden stool across the kitchen floor and chanting, "debdool, debdool." If Nutmeg is chasing her school friends on the church lawn, Pebbles is trailing behind them, muttering, "bay dag." ("Play tag.") Yesterday when we arrived a little early at Nutmeg's Spanish class (it's more like Spanish funtime and she adores it), Pebbles was so intent on joining the class that she tried to push a little chair from the corner of the room into the circle where the 4-year-olds were sitting.

Then there's the way you'll hear her transform from bulldog to sweet little thing while pursuing the object of her desires: "Mine. Mine! Mine! Miiiiiiiiiiiiiine!!!!! ... Denk-u."

She's also picked up one of the nuances of grown-up speech: the word "the." But she can't seem to say it right after ending the last word. She has to add an "a" between the two words, making her sound like one of the Italian restaurateurs in "Lady and the Tramp."

So when she heard Epu take Nutmeg downstairs one morning to make toast, she slid down the stairs behind them as fast as she could, proclaiming, "Make-a da toast!"

And last night, when she wanted to show us that she could do just as Nutmeg does, she proudly announced: "Pick-a da nose!"


Bert said...

That photo is PRICELESS!

Anonymous said...

can you say "future black mail photo"? I'm sure her first boyfriend would love to see that one! :)

Becky said...

This made me laugh!