Lately, Sophie has started adopting the phrase "speaking of..." into her vocabulary. Once in awhile, almost by accident, she uses it correctly. For example, I was talking about the zoo and she said, "Speaking of the zoo, can we go see the elephants when we get there?"
But usually she shortens the whole phrase and/or uses it incorrectly, yet always with this focused, thoughtful look on her face that conveys just how much she's trying to converse on an adult level. Sample exchanges from this morning:
Me: "What would you like for breakfast?"
Sophie: "Speaking of...can you read me a book?"
Me: "Clear your plate, please."
Sophie: "Speaking...it looks like it raining outside."
Me: "It's cold today, isn't it?"
Sophie: "Speaking of dat...I gotta poop!"
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Lately, Emma's robust ego seems to have taken a hit. She's doing okay in school and likes her teacher a lot, but her self-esteem isn't as healthy as usual due to a number of things - new environment, new kids, lack of old friends, harder curriculum, etc. She was scared to go to school this morning because she's convinced she'll get a zero on her reading test and the teacher will kick her out of class. The other day, she told Chris that everybody thinks her best friend is pretty and they want to be her friend, and nobody thinks Emma's pretty or wants to be her friend. It makes me so sad to hear my normally (over)confident daughter talking like this...not only because I hate hearing her unhappy, but also because I fear it is only the beginning of voluminous amounts of self-doubt to come as she grows older.
However, I was bolstered to hear her typical self-belief emerge in the car yesterday while playing with her sister. Although, per usual with Emma, she took it just a little too far.
Sophie: "I don't want to play that game."
Emma: "Yes, you DO! This is MY world and I make the rules!"
Me: "Em, what are you talking about? You don't control the whole world."
Emma: "I don't mean EVERYBODY'S world, Mom. Just YOUR world and SOPHIE'S world. Duh."
2 comments:
"Speaking of"... that's a pretty awesome phrase for Sophie to have picked up.
I love watching how little kids get hooked on a phrase. Right now D's is "oh wow", with this drawn-out emphasis on the "wow". Where did he get that from? No idea.
I miss the over-confident Emma as well. But school just started, so she might emerge!
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