Words

Some words need to be tried out a few times before they're used properly.

The other day, Colsen was banging furiously on the bathroom door, which I had closed between us. I told him I would be out in a minute, but he protested,

"But... but... I have to tell you somethin' expensive!"

Then a couple days later when I was working on the computer with Strider, I said, "This is not a good web site."

Colsen, listening nearby, said, "Don't say 'This is not a good web site! That's a little bit expensive.'"

I asked him, "Honey, do you know what expensive means?"

"Yes," he said. "It means rude."

Then, just this afternoon, Colsen walked into the kitchen where I was baking and said, "I smell something. It smells expensive. Is it a cookie??"

He's getting closer!

And some words are just nice to hear.

Colsen was outside playing and when I came out, he said, "Look, Mom, I'm digging and making a house. I'm making a house for the people in Haiti because they're sad because they don't have a house. But now they're gonna be happy because I made them this house!"

Strider, listening to all this, said, "I think Colsen is an angel. He's too nice to be a person. And sometimes I try to get him to fight with me or something, and he just tells me that it's rude to fight."

(Judging from the amount of destruction the Cole man leaves in his wake, and the number of times he's been disobedient just today alone, I'm pretty sure Strider's theory is not correct. But I will be happy to remind him of it someday if they're mad at each other!)