Not The Jimmy
I'm going to need a rewind button on life, you guys. It's not that I want to go back and change something major or anything; it's that suddenly I might just have a clue. I'd like to apply that clue retroactively, please.
Mila has called Alexis "Lala" for a very long time. The letter "x" is a tricky one, so it's not surprising that she would find a way around it. And, yes, it's super adorable.
But, here's the thing. I didn't realize until Mila suddenly figured out that her name starts with an "M" that she refers to herself in the third person. "Lila" is not "Lala" because "Lila" is "Mila" and OMG SHE HAS BEEN TALKING ABOUT TWO DIFFERENT PEOPLE.
I figured it out when seeking dinner out one night. I asked Alexis what we should get and she was useless. She completely lacked an opinion and since I resembled that remark, I turned to Mila. "What do you want to eat, Mila?"
"Mila needs candy," she replied. She said it as clear as day and suddenly I realized that there has been a whole bunch of times when I thought we were talking about that big sister and not Little Miss Mila.
"L(M)ila go to sleep."
"L(M)ila go for a walk."
"L(M)ila need water."
I always thought we were talking about Alexis. I was wronger than wrong and then even wronger, which is probably why anything I said back was met with a fit.
Two things:
1. Is Mila actually a perfectly reasonable toddler and I've been causing her frustration because I couldn't figure out who she was talking about?
2. She is going to outgrow this thing where she talks about herself in the third person, right? RIGHT? Because I can't go through life dealing with a real life The Jimmy.
Tuesday, October 4, 2016
Reader Comments (1)
You are not alone...when the Howler was that small, she would use "derder" which we thought was just a random thing she said until one night during supper, she smacked her brother's arm and said, "Derder! Derder!" Turns out, Derder was Howlerese for Theodore-she had been talking to, or about, her brother for weeks. When he was a toddler, he called himself "Fourdoors." Amusing for us, embarrassing for him.