Slim’s dead.  

 Genevieve needs to know where everyone is.   When I picked her up from daycare last night, she was, as usual, very happy to see me, but after she got over her initial joy at seeing mom, she began to wonder about the rest of the family.   The conversation:

G:  where’s Kila?  

Me:   at home.

G:   Where’s Daddy?

Me:   Skiing

G:   Where’s Turtle?

Me:   at home.

G:   Where’s Slim?

Me:   Slim’s Dead, baby.

G: Slim’s Dead…Where’s Kila?

Maybe you see where this is going.   Eventually we got home and solved the mystery of where Kila and Turtle were, but Daddy and Slim are still open questions in G’s mind.   We hope the mystery of Daddy’s whereabouts will be solved by Sunday, but I expect a lot of discussion of the subject between now and them.   As far as Slim goes, I seriously doubt G has any idea what “dead” is, but hopefully she will soon get the idea that she won’t be torturing Slim anymore.   Turtle is certainly a poor substitute as she won’t take any of G’s bullshit.   We’ve already had several instances of Turtle letting G know she ain’t Slim in the week since Slim passed over to the great beyond.  

I have done it!   I   have successfully taught G to say I love you.   My life is complete, I am now fulfilled, and I now fully understand why a peniless 15-year-old might want to get pregnant…she can create a fully formed person that LOVES HER, even if the loser father doesn’t.   What power.  

 G is such an imitator now; she tries to repeat everything you say, and she will say things over and over and over (and over) until she is sure what the words mean.   So I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that she eventually learned “I love you”–I say it to her all the time.   The best thing about it is that she definately seems to know what it means…she says it at the right time, and it is usually accompanied by a kiss (or two or three).   Very cute.

You don’t realize the power of words until you hear something like this.   I never would have thought hearing my two year old parrot back such an incredibly overused phrase would make me so happy, but there it is.