Wordings

It's me again, Mr. Forty-two Roads; my initial posting met with critical acclaim (or at least immediate-family acclaim), and so I'm trying again. We walked Lara around the neighborhood today in her little car. Here she is wheelin' around:



I'm endlessly amused by how quickly she latches on to new means of communication. She's so desperate to name her world, she tends to work with whatever word sticks first. For the last week, every time we get to a street, Lara says, "mup," and points to the street, then faces me and raises her arms. Anna and I have puzzled over how on earth streets became "mups", and today, finally, we figured it out. Since Lara started walking, every time we would get to a street, we said to Lara, "ok, time to come up" to get across. She just focused on the end of that long phrase, and now calls the whole street-crossing maneuver "mup."

Another funny wordplay: poodles. Dogs, in general, get a deep, "woof, woof," as Lara barks at them. Sheep are greeted with a ferocious "BAAAAA!" (usually as loud as Lara can muster; for some reason in Lara's world farm animals are savage bloodthirsty beasts). But what to call poodles? Lara gives them a brief 'woof' followed by a short 'Baaaa!' clearly perplexed at this strange hybrid dog-sheep creature.