Vocabulary Building

A conversation that recently took place in our house....

Mommy: My goodness Lily, your piggies are dishevelled.
Lily: (touches her hair, nods in agreement, runs to Mommy to have piggies fixed)
Piano Student: What's "dishevelled" mean?

In addition to an attentive piano student, several other people have commented about the way I talk to Lily. Several times I've been met with comments like the following: "Did she actually understand what you just said to her?" and "Do you always talk to your daughter like that?"

So, my question: how should I talk to Lily? I talk to her just like I would talk to anyone else, and she seems to understand me just fine. I'm careful not to use and words that I wouldn't want her to repeat and I try to avoid using any sarcasm when I talk to her, but I don't otherwise alter my vocabulary or style of speech when I'm talking to Lily. Am I going to end up with a daughter with a well-rounded vocabulary or a kid who is incapable of talking to children her own age because she doesn't know the words to use?

The Grocery Game, Round I

Jimmy and I have created a new game at our house. In need of both groceries and entertainment, we decided to make a little game out of shopping. The rules for our little game were as follows:

1. You can spend no more than $10 (pre-tax amount).
2. You can purchase any items that the grocery store (groceries, sundries, etc.).
3. All items purchased must be items you will use in your household.
4. You can use any type of coupons or discounts that the store accepts.
5. The person with the greatest percent savings at the end of the shopping trip wins.

We each took a shopping cart (and I took my little assistant), and we ended up spending about an hour in the grocery store wandering the aisles, looking for sales, and browsing our stacks of coupons. The moment of truth came at the checkout line: Jimmy spent $7.89 ($6.64 before taxes), with a savings of 76%. I spent $11.83 ($9.86 before taxes), with a savings of 78%. While I won Round 1, we both did a pretty amazing job with our shopping. Together we spent $19.72 (after taxes), saved $22.09 with in-store sales, and saved another $36.30 with coupons from newspapers and the internet. We purchased a total of 27 items, 12 of which we ended up getting for free.

We're planning on keeping the game going, though we may change the rules a bit. Anyone else interested in joining us in our little game?

Chairs and Apples

Lily made two new discoveries recently. First, chairs come in her size. Second, you can eat apples without having Mommy cut and slice them first.

"Reading..."

Lily is beginning to read, in the absolute loosest sense of the word.... She can identify some of her letters, but she associates quite a number of them with the pictures that accompany them on her ABC puzzle. Yesterday, for example, she was reading the sweatshirt I was wearing. As she pointed to the letters, she very excitedly read: "Keys, Apple, Nest, Socks, Apple, Socks, Socks, Tie, Apple, Tie, Egg!" (Translation: Kansas State.) She's so close, but the associations just aren't quite right yet....