What she says. . .

I was ecstatic when I was sure I heard Xyla's first word. I tried not to get a big head and think that it was a status report but it's hard not to when that first word is "happy". It reminds me of a joke about a horse. Ask me, I will tell you sometime.

So much of language is about mimicking words and then learning what those words mean - or vice versa. There is a theory in philosophy that centers entirely on the concept of how we learn what we learn. I won't bore you with the details but it was a fascinating class no matter what grade I got.

I was puttering around the house and trying to do something that resembles cleaning when Xyla looked me dead in the face, extended her arm with her first finger straight up in the air (palm facing me and her other fingers balled in a fist). She shook the finger back and forth and says with all seriousness, "no, no, no, no, no." I laughed. I laughed almost as hard as when I found out she was trying to undress herself. I have never done that to her so I know she didn't get it at home. She didn't pick it up from her grandma's house. I figured it was probably something she'd learned at daycare.

We went to a birthday party on Saturday where all the daycare workers attended and I brought it up with the owner. I told her Xyla does this all the time now. She says, "we haven't ever had to tell her no. But sometimes Bob (who's party it was) is a little rough with her so we have to tell him "no, no".

Let this be my lesson that any and every thing I say can be locked in that little mind and come spilling out, whenever.