Sometimes, even though I live with her, Hayley’s vocabulary startles me. People compliment me all the time about it but really, I didn’t go out of my way to teach her to be well-spoken. All I did was avoid any form of baby talk. She never had owies or boo-boos, I always called them cuts and scrapes. As a tiny baby I always called her body parts by their proper names so that she knew she had a vagina and not a hoo-ha, wazoo, or any other name for it. Beyond that, I never did anything special. I didn’t sit her down with flash cards, drilling her for hours a day. I guess she just inherited her mother’s love of words and natural verbosity.

That said, there really are times when she says things and I wonder where she got them from because I don’t necessarily remember teaching them to her. Other times, I know the origins of the words, expressions, or sentences but they still take me by surprise when I hear them come out of her mouth.

Some recent Hayley-isms:

(To George’s sister) “I’m so happy to play with you because I don’t always get the opportunity to see you.” Opportunity?!

“Look Mommy! There’s dinosaur bones under this bench! Oh. It’s not dinosaur bones, just a stick. I thought it was a pterodactyl.”

“We have to say grace before we eat because it’s important to be grateful for our food. Some people don’t have any food.” (Trust me, she doesn’t get the grace thing from this heathen-filled household!)

“Oh, this is too difficult.”

“Cricket! Get out of the bathroom IMMEDIATELY!” (She totally gets “immediately” from me and all the times I’ve said it to her, but it’s still funny to hear.)

She turns four in less than two weeks and I can hardly believe the time has flown so fast.