kinsley repeats, as most kids learning and experimenting with language do, nearly everything that we say. she's always been pretty good with her language, though, even at a very young age. she doesn't just parrot us and repeat verbatim and out-of-context, but she will take what we say and use it, sometimes in her own way, at a later time. for instance, about two years ago we saw our lovely neighbor, suzie, outside in the rain taking care of her plants. suzie is the only person i know who is out in her garden, rain or shine, tending to the tiny details of her garden, her front yard, or some project on her house. i made the comment to kinsley, "suzie is out in the rain trimming her hedges again - crazy lady!" and didn't think twice about it. about two weeks later, we were outside talking with suzie about something completely unrelated and kinsley chimed in to suzie with, "are you crazy?" at which point i had to explain the entire scenario and why my not-even-two-year-old was asking her if she's crazy. sweet suzie just laughed and patted kinsley on the back.
kinsley, dagny, and i made a good-sized trip to costco today. after unloading the car and getting everything mostly put away there were quite a few boxes strewn about - on the counter, on the floor, on the shoe-shelf. i was clearing said boxes from the counter when i bumped a coffee mug onto the floor where it shattered. luckily, the girls were in the living room so there was no danger of any shards hitting them. but i did have a few choice words that flew out as the mug was falling and then again when it hit the ground. i'm not known for my censoring of my mouth - i feel as though there are times when nothing quite does justice to an emotion like a 4-letter word - and i've let those words fly a few times around kinsley. i try not to bring attention to them (yes, i notice when i do it and no, i don't notice beforehand and still intentionally use the words - they just come out) and i try to cover it by continuing on with more appropriate language. kinsley has asked me one time why i used the word "shit", but it was more of a curious question like, "what does that word mean in that context that you just said it? why did you use that word? i've never heard it." other than that, somehow ... in all of the crazy things that she has said ... she hasn't thrown a 4-letter word out. i think it's in there somewhere, and i'm hoping that when it comes out we're at home (yeah right) so it's easy to talk about with her. but for now, i'm thankful that she hasn't picked up on it and that she doesn't repeat EVERYTHING that she hears me say.
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