Meow?

It is not uncommon for our kids to chase each other around the house acting like puppies, cats or lions. Yesterday morning, I witnessed Cora pointing to one of her dolls on the floor and telling Cole: "look. food!" and they both crawled over to the doll and bent their heads down pretending to gobble doll entrails. These are learned responses, so I blame/praise myself for somehow imparting this on them.

But that is not what I am trying to get across in this post because----

--wait, I have to share this. I just heard Mary exclaim: "No! yucky! We do not put noodles between our toes!"

As I was saying. Pretending to be an animal is not abnormal and we even encourage it. The kids and I are often howling or roaring depending on the time of day. What I do find interesting is Cora's recent use of the word 'Meow'. Lately, this has become her word of choice for expressing herself.

'Meee-yow' - I love you.
'Myow?' - I just spilled my drink on the floor. What do we do about this?
'Meow!' - Your request is noted and denied.
'Meyow.' Thank you. I am very happy about the chocolate you have just handed me.
'Meow.' - Yes. I will happily accept your piggy back ride offer.
'Myowwww?' - Can I sit on your lap?

The list goes on, but I have run out of ways to spell the various ways of inflection she places on her pronunciation of the word.

As with most things that Cora stymies me with, I take the "If you can't beat them, join them." approach. I think most conversations can be reduced to a simple: Meow. Try it. You won't be disappointed.