Do as I Say...

The Little One has been picking up a few of my phrases recently, which is more than a little cute.

The first one she started parroting back at me was, 'Thank you though'. You see, she likes to offer me all sorts of things, most of which I don't want. 'You have porridge?' she'll say, or 'You go to loo?' or 'You go outside?' etc. etc. For ages, I was replying, 'No, I'm alright, but thank you though.' So, then, one day, I just said, 'No, I'm alright.' There was a pause, she looked at me blankly, then smiled and chirped, 'thank you though!'

The second one was a little more embarrassing. There have been a few times when things have gotten tough with her elder sister, and I've used the phrase, 'I'm begging you.' So, one day a couple of weeks ago, the little one wanted me to play with her. I had to do a few things before I was ready to play with her, though, so I explained this and then went and started doing my chores. The little one kept calling out, 'Jenny? Jenny?' and I would answer back that I needed to finish some things before I could play. Finally, I came out of her room, ready to come downstairs and play with her, and she was standing on the bottom step, hands on hips, saying over and over, 'I'm begging you', with a little shake of the head.

The final one was the best though. Both she and her sister can be very stubborn... well, I'm sure most kids can be. But, anyway, I always try to correct them if they say something that is factually incorrect. I don't know if other people would care so much, but I feel like I should be educating them. Anyway, a lot of the time, they will insist, despite further explanation, that they are right and I am wrong, at which point, I decide I can't be bothered arguing anymore with children, it seems too pathetic, and so I say, 'Ok, ok, if you say so!' Last week, I went upstairs with the little one. She was pulling books off the shelves, so I said, 'Shall we read a book?' to which she replied, 'That's not a book!' to which, of course, I replied, 'Yes it is!' She said, 'No, its not.' I said, 'Of course it is!' To which she sighed, shook her head, rolled her eyes and said with perfect intonation, 'If you say so!'