three year old conversations.

Last story about ugh, forever - I promise - unless of course something else funny happens.

Yesterday, we had lunch with Elisabeth's friend Sam and Sam's mom, Melissa. Sam (of the "whatever" fame) and Elisabeth had an entire conversation about the proper usage of the word "whatever." It turns out "whatever" is a naughty word, never to be used, especially by your parents lest they want to be called out on it by their preschoolers. It went kind of like this:

E: Sam, you said "ugh, forever" when you been at my house.
S: NO I DID NOT! That is a naughty word. We don't use that word. Geema said that word. It is naughty.
E: You said it at my house.
S: No, I did NOT.
E: yes, you said "Ugh forever."
S: No. it is a naughty word.

Finally we intervened because clearly this wasn't leading to a resolution. That would require ambassadors, a fancy spa location, and millions in tax dollars. Within 30 seconds, the naughty, naughty word came out of Melissa's mouth. I believe she said "we do whatever we are asked to do," or something innocuous like that. Well, that did not fly under the preschooler naughty word radar and so now when we're with our girls we must use more words than necessary to explain our point. "We do those actions that have not yet been defined when we are asked" is approximately how Melissa had to rephrase her statement. The girls are like those buzzers in Taboo. Seriously, I think Elisabeth might have a career ahead of her as a buzzer operator.

Case in point, on the phone with Doug today I said "its ok, whatever," in relation to a situation yesterday that didn't exactly please me (but was also in no way anyone's fault) - a perfectly valid usage of the word "whatever." We were in the car, she was having a snack and singing along loudly to Redneck Girl. Yet that word apparently registered on her radar. Elisabeth scolded me. Oh the shame.

It is so funny that something like "ugh forever" has become so interesting to her. She's definitely toying with saying it when she's angry at me, but instantly switches to "sweet Elisabeth voice" (which is a whole post in and of itself) after she says it. It is almost like she's realized that when people are angry, they express those feelings verbally. This is shocking if she is just discovering it now, considering I am not exactly the type of mother who expresses her displeasure with her kids by sweet, gentle words.

Charlotte is increasingly mobile. She moves mostly backwards. But she's apparently quite good at rolling over, even though I still haven't actually seen her do it. I've found her on her belly after leaving her on her back many times now. She's so cute, though, she just loves her toys. Elisabeth always needed one of us to play with her whereas Charlotte would rather sit on the floor and play with her toys. Elisabeth still needs one of us to play with her.