Time Flies...

I could make up a bunch of excuses as to why I haven't blogged in months, but I'll save myself the embarrassment. I just got busy. Anyway, time sure flies, doesn't it?

Just the other day I was listening to Evangeline's sweet little lisping voice, thinking...I need to record that. I'll miss that some day, because before long, she won't sound like that, and I don't ever want to forget the way she says "Yesssss."

Harrisen always said, "Yeah." or "Yep". Like a little grown man in a baby boy's body. Evangeline, since the beginning of her verbal stage, has answered in the affirmative with a polite, proper and succinct, "Yesssss." She often punctuates her one word affirmation with a curt little nod, and big wide eyes, to prove she is sincere. It's so stinkin' adorable I can hardly stand it. I didn't even insist of "yesssssss....ma'am" because it was so HER.

Soooo....as fleeting time would have it, the very DAY after I made a mental note of the probability of the transitive nature of her signature phrase, she answers me with an almost teen-sounding, "Yeah." Dull. Flat. Almost petulant. Boo Hiss. I tried to correct her.

"Evangeline, it's Yessssss".
"No, Mommy."
"Can you say, Yessssss?"
"No, Mommy."
"Fine. Then you have to say, 'Yes, Ma'am' ".

So there. Like I really won that one, huh? *sigh*

There are other things she does when she speaks that are memorable to me, and very much "signature" phrases. For example, she punctuates her conversations by tacking your name on the end of each sentence. "
"No, no milk, Daddy."
"Watch Street, Mommy."
"Sit down, Hessin."

I really like her compliant side. She can be very penitant if you are lecturing her...and make you believe it. She does it with a simple, "Ok".

"Evangeline, you cannot bite your brother. It's not nice. Teeth are for chewing food."
*ducks head and musters up tears in her eyes...*
"Ok, mommy..." except it sounds like "eehhhkaaay, mawmeee.." and man, do I feel like the big bad wolf. But I can't seem to shake the feeling that she just might be manipulating me with those long lashes and big eyes.

She is also a big fan of "Hee go."

Find trash on the floor? "Hee-go, Mommy".
Sharing with brother? "Hee-go, Hessin".
Wanting wait-service for her half-finished dinner plate? She just lifts it up and says "Hee-go!" to anyone nearby. It's so dismissive. Kinda like, "Well, I'm all done with this...someone please take it away. Be gone." What a diva. Wonder where she gets that?

She really is poised on the edge of a language explosion. I'm not ready for it. I'm not ready for my baby to grow up. I'm not ready to know everything going on in her head...spilled out like closed captioning, underscoring our lives. I like her mystery. I like trying to figure her out. I'm trying to savor every last minute of it, because I know that before long, the day will come when I beg her to stop talking....BEG her for a moment of peace from the constant questions and running narrative that are so familiar to me, being the mom of an almost-four-year-old.

"You're gonna miss this...."