Mimic

It's amazing how Zion mimics our words, and how Liel mimics Zion's. This morning I was giving my dad a rundown of the foods available for breakfast and concluded with "but the pears aren't ripe, so I'm afraid you're out of luck there." Zion looked from me to dad and, unable to resist the chance to try out this new turn of phrase said "Grandpa, I'm afraid we do not have any ripe pears, so you are out of luck!"

We went to the zoo today and as we headed towards the Bug Carousel Zion said, very earnestly, "I want to ride a praying mantis, but I will have to see what is available for myself" (and yes, a praying mantis was available).

Liel's mimicking usually isn't quite as charming, since she latches onto peculiar madeup words of Zion's for the most part. So she will launch herself at you shouting "Unny-unny! I minnow you!" (Ok, maybe it's a little cute). Someday we hope to figure out what the hell unny-unnying is. Or means. Or something.

Perhaps it's a synonym of Uzzy-uzzy?

PS In the interst of full disclourse I must admit that Zion's mimicking isn't always cute, either. A few weeks ago we stopped by a local winery to pick up a case of their mead (let the record show that the rest of their wines are not our style at all- Jenna accuratly described several of them as "tasting like cough syrup" as she enthusiastically pushed the little plasitc tasting cup towards us. The mead, however, is outstanding). The last time we were there he'd apparently seen some chickens while out wandering the grounds with Joe. Zion was most eager to see more chickens. But luck was not with us that day, and as we headed towards the car to leave he asked, in a tone of voice usually suited to commenting on the weather, "Mama? Where the hell fuck are those chickens??"

I didn't say it wasn't funny.