Holding up counting bears and having me say colors while I eat breakfast. I get up to get more tea.
B: Come here. Come here, sweetie!
Mama is impressed at the pet name and comes over and picks up B and kisses her.
B: Puh-puh. Puh-puh, Mama.
Mama: You're right, it's purple!
B: Puh-puh.
Mama: Smart girl! It's purple.
B: Smart Mama!
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Bedtime blessings, I pray for the papers we need to bring Buttercup home to America with our family forever. She is very calm and serious and asks about the papers (which I've discussed with Hibiscus many times around her) several times. Then she goes on:
B: peh-pehs.
Mama: Yes, papers.
B: peh-pehs, 'biscus.
Mama: Yes, papers for Hibiscus too.
B: peh-pehs, Eh-son.
Mama: We already have the papers for Emerson.
B: Peh-pehs, 'biscus.
Mama: Yes, papers for Hibiscus. And for Buttercup.
B: Peh-pehs, Eh-son.
Mama: And papers for Emerson.
B: 'Biscus, peh-pehs.
Mama: Yes, papers for Hibiscus.
B: Eh-son, peh-pehs.
Mama: Yes, papers for Emerson, and Hibiscus, and Buttercup.
B: 'Biscus... banana!
Mama: Yes, we can get Hibiscus a banana too!
B: (dissolves in laughter)
****************
In the Bath:
I put her in the basin while I get in the shower. She stands up and makes a whiney sound and says "I want, I want, uh uh uh..." This is an improvement over her usual upset behavior, which is simply to scream. She can say many words and can almost always express what she needs to say, but she quickly devolves into plain screaming under even the slightest frustration -- which compounds the frustration, of course. So "I want" is a little better, but still missing something important for me to actually help out!
Luckily she sees something that meets her requirements: a pair of little underwear, sitting on the floor.
First of all, she holds them over her eyes and dumps water on her head. Just like Emerson, she doesn't fail to scream in anticipation, before pouring on her own head. (Emerson truly hates the feel of water on his head and gets hysterical when it gets in his eyes, so washing his hair is always a battle and he is allowed to put a washcloth over his eyes. It amuses me how both girls have totally picked up on this behavior and need washcloths, even though they actually enjoy having water on their heads.)
When I look down a minute later, she is sitting in the tub, solemnly scrubbing. Just like Hibiscus, she doesn't fail to lift them high out of the water, although that might be because Hibiscus's long legs don't actually fit in the tub.
Next she is standing, vigorously splashing the panties up and down. Just like I wash my wraps, she doesn't fail to use big gestures like she is working with big, heavy, wet cloth.
Then she is kneeling in the tub, reaching over to swish back and forth on the floor. Just like the cleaning lady, she does not fail to then start in on the toilet.
What a versatile pair of undies!
************
Buttercup can kind of understand the way that pronouns change around, which is one of the reasons I she's closer to three than her official birth date suggests. So for instance, if I say "is the bread for you?" she's likely to reply "for me." But apparently under times of stress, this understanding distinigrates, because with the big kids around for the weekend, Buttercup seemed to spend an awful lot of it running around yelling:
"For youuuu! For YOOOOUUUUUUU!!!!!"
Which means she wants something. Exactly the same as yelling "mine!" except it's not!
****************
She came over to me, proudly wearing my sun hat. "Hat" is a word she has had trouble remembering in English, and had always called it "enkofira."
B: Me wah 'appy!
Me: You are wearing a hat!
B: Me weah. Happy!
Me: You are wearing a hat, or you feel happy?
B: Me weah. Hat!
Me: Yes, you are wearing a hat!
B: Me weah hat!
Me: You are wearing a hat.
B: Me weah hat. Me fee-ah... happy!
Me: You are wearing a hat and you feel happy!
B: Me weah...... HAPPY!
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