Deep in Conversation

Puzzle pieces easily double as phones.

I hang-a da branch!

This is Italian-mafia / rasta-Roan speech for, "I want to go hang from that branch" (btw, a ritual, if unsatisfied, leads to shrieking, crying, protest, and mayhem on route between the apartment and the car). He is trying to incorporate articles of speech into his Tarzan English, such as "the." He is also trying out past tense. Listening to him put the two together is sometimes hilarious.

"I drop-a da paci [pacifier]" turned into:

"I drop-id-id da paci."

So very...

We love Roan's use of adjectives these days (see previous posts re: "beautiful," "disgusting," and "terrible"). He is now using the word "so" in his fragmented Tarzan English to express himself. One night Roan enthusiastically declared to the universe, "broccolis SO good!!"

Squeezing his stuffed puppies with delight: "Doggies so sweet!"

Looking at a wallet photo of himself: "so cute."

Unlike very, as explained by The American Heritage® Book of English Usage, the use of so "presumes the listener will be sympathetic with the speaker’s evaluation of the situation, or invites the reader to take a similar point view."

So far, we agree!

p.s. Amma's homemade bibs (as seen here) are so great!

A Belated Memorial Day Sentiment

This morning, we arrived early for a preschool tour at a Presbyterian church, so as we sat parked in front of the church's cemetery, Casey said to Roan, just to drum up some small talk, "look at all the dead people, Roan."

"Oh, wow," Roan said. "It's beautiful" ("bootifool"). And then, "wook, Dada, big sky."

Roan can also say, "that's terrible," and, "that's disgusting," and the context in which he says these phrases is usually amusing, as he hasn't quite gotten the full meaning. When the woods caught on fire in Bambi, he said, "that's disgusting." Another day in the car, Roan asked Casey to draw a "big crane" (as in John Deer) on his etch a sketch. When Casey passed his artwork to Ro in the backseat, Roan said, "oh, that's terrible. That's disgusting."