Alethea has been talking more than ever lately.  And by that I mean, that she babbles as much as she ever did, but now most of it is intelligible.  Naturally, the more I understand, the more often I’m amused by what comes out of her mouth.

Just tonight when we went as a family to visit the landscaping yard, Alethea got up close and personal with a ‘bubbling boulder’ fountain.  “What do you think?” I asked her.  “Pretty cool!” was her enthusiastic response.

Sometimes the funny things she says make frustrating moments easier.  This morning I took the girls to the park.  When it was time to go, Alethea threw a fit and the screaming lasted the duration of the half-mile walk home (let me tell you, that girl has staying power).  When we got inside and calmed down, I tried talking back through what had happened to help her understand her emotions better.  After we reviewed a bit, I asked her, “Did it make you sad to leave the park?”  Her response was, “Alethea cried.  Alethea heartbroken! “

Did I mention that she can be a bit of a drama queen?

Speaking of drama queen moments, you should have heard her yesterday when she came up to me and said, “I feel sick!  Ugggg!”  (I kid you not, she said ‘uggg’.)  I responded, “Oh, no, what’s wrong?”   In her best sick voice, Alethea said, “Need medicine.  Open changing table drawer!”  I rolled my eyes.  “Nice try, kid!  No, you still aren’t allowed to open the changing table drawer.”

I’m not sure whether to be glad that she tries to trick me into things rather than just breaking the rules outright or not.  Fortunately, at this point, she’s not very good at lying.  For example, last week we had some bad weather right after the girls had gone to bed.  The sirens went off and so Peter and I went into Alethea’s room and excitedly told her, “Do you hear the sirens?  They mean that we get to go to the basement and watch TV!”

Well, Alethea thought it was quite a fun adventure and ever since then she keeps telling me, “Hear sirens!  Go watch TV?”  Then I just shake my head and say, “Hmmm, I didn’t hear anything.  I don’t think we need to turn the TV on right now.”

Do you think that since her name means ‘truth’ she’ll always be a horrible liar?  I’m hoping so…