Mostly Language Miscellany

I've fallen into the old trap of not posting in awhile and having lots of unrelated snippets to relay. Finn's linguistic mastery is still advancing by leaps and bounds. However, he still calls me "Nenny" even though he can manage "Janey" just fine. On the other hand, I guess it's a step up from the "Ninny" I once was. Larkin has taken to calling me Jen which amuses me a great deal for some reason, especially since no one in our daily life does.

We're not sure if he picked it up from a particular book or movie, or just from imaginative play with Larkin, but Finn has started talking about things being "too dangerous." In play, it's usually used as a reason that he should face threats alone, but it has also been his reason for not wanting his teeth brushed. It's not entirely clear if he has a deep understanding of what danger really is.

This evening, Larkin was demonstrating how a princess takes a drink of water. Finn then asked her to demonstrate how a king takes a drink of water. The result was very similar, with perhaps slightly louder slurping noises. After a brief pause, Finn asked how a king saddles a horse (everything is still very quickly related to horses in Finn's world). Emile piped in with, "He says, 'Footman! Saddle my horse!'" So now that cry precedes every leap onto his multitudinous imaginary steeds.

I think I posted about Larkin's malapropism: "Whoever gets there first gets a rotten egg!" Emile and I generally said we were perfectly happy to let her win so she would get the rotten egg. So last night she called out a modified version while racing to the living room: "Whoever gets there first is an exceptionally clean egg!"

A recent impulse purchase in the craft aisle was a set of plastic "fusible" beads. They come with pegged patterns and you can put a bead on each peg, then iron them to fuse it into more permanent art. Larkin hardly waited for an explanation before she was off and beading. Two hours later, this result:

I have no idea where the pattern idea came from or why the center row is all one color when everything else is alternating, but it's a perfectly consistent pattern. I was particularly intrigued that she made such a regular pattern when her tendency with necklaces is to group all beads of one size/shape/color together. I think I will get her one of those jewelry making trays that allow you to lay out a pattern before stringing it... I have a feeling we might see a lot more transient patterns and fewer completed necklaces.