Ummm...YES!

Elise's new favorite word is YES! She just figured out the concept of answering questions with yes instead of just repeating what we said. For example, if we ask her if she wants a drink, she now responds with a resounding "YES!" instead of repeating drink back to us. She is so proud of her new accomplishment. It makes me laugh every time because I always forget to expect it. Kind of like when she suddenly gets really loud when saying prayers. (It's okay; I think the Lord understands, and probably laughs a little too.) It also makes me laugh when she says this because she always has to pause for a minute to think about it first. Our conversations often follow a question-pause-YES! pattern.

So today, I guess I really should have seen this coming, but I was still surprised. Elise and I were talking about showing your muscles, as in flexing your biceps (a concept she learned from Froggy Goes to the Doctor). Lately, she likes to talk about being fast and strong and takes great pride in being a "fast runner" and lifting things she deems "heavy" (like a piggy bank). Then, kind of out of the blue, she says, "Mama big." "Mama's big?" I clarified. Pause. "YES!" was her resounding answer. As if, in the start of my third trimester, I need to be reminded of how big I am.

Another favorite response to questions, when the answer is no, is nope or not. Nope also came from the Froggy books, specifically Froggy Goes to Bed (We literally have a dozen Froggy books by Jonathan London checked out from the library right now. Elise loves them, but they're not all favorites of mine. I do like Froggy Plays Soccer, though; Elise sometimes randomly chants some version of, "Head it! Boot it! Knee it! Shoot it! But don't use your hands!") Her use of not, though, doesn't always make sense. I sometimes ask her, "Do you want this or not?" to which "not" is an appropriate answer. But now if I ask only, "Do you want this?" she sometimes still answers with "not."

One day she'll figure out this whole question thing. In the meantime, Mama grows bigger and bigger.