Are we there yet?

Chris and sparkle have a remarkably bright daughter. She is truly a delightful child: generally amiable, definitely opinionated, and always up for fun. In the last few months, however, she has developed the unfortunate habit of actually paying attention to adult conversations. And repeating what she hears.

I discovered this new phase in her development rather by accident, during a long car trip where I jokingly whined from the backseat to Chris (the driver), "Are we there yet?" The princess picked up on the question and has apparently taken to asking it. Sometimes ad nauseum, as sparkle can attest. So although I did not specifically teach the child to say it, I have been given credit for introducing it into her vocabulary.

And just as sparkle threatened, she did in fact give me 56 swats* with their rubber paddle last weekend when they visited. They weren't ridiculously hard, but 56 swats with anything rubber leaves a definite sensation. In this case, it was a warm, glowy, tingly sensation that had me pleasantly flying. M and Chris were an appreciative and mostly well-behaved audience (though one of them did keep asking sparkle if we were there yet).

And I can't be quite sure, but I think sparkle enjoyed herself too. :-D

*The original 50 swats, plus 6 more for the 6 times she said it on the car drive to our house that weekend. Sigh.