Puppy.

No one will ever know that Beebz knows anything. She will grow up appearing to have no knowledge whatsoever. Why? Because she values humor above all else.

Case in point.

She calls every living thing PUPPY. When it is actually a puppy, she just says with all the baby-like cuteness she can muster (and trust me, she can muster like nobody's business). But give her a cow, a bunny, a bird.... really anything, and she will get a glint in her eye and shriek, PUPPY! at the top of her lungs and grin, waiting for the laugh. If she fails to get one, she will give herself a laugh from her bottomless supply. She loves it best if you argue with her, repeating over and over (and over) the correct word while she gives her PUPPY! responses more and more emphasis.

And then there is what animals say... you know, a cow says moo? Well, thanks to Moo Baa La La La, every living thing says LA LA LA.

Why?

Because her brother laughs the loudest when she says LA LA LA. It is not nearly as funny when a cow says BAA (Which it used to. But now she seems to be in a rut. She really needs to learn to rotate her material so it's not so darned predictable. There is totally a diminishing return on the same joke if overused.). Three months ago, she had all the animals saying, well, what they each say. But she quickly learned that a cow saying MOO is hardly funny at all, so correct animal sounds have been totally dropped. Because, after all, the bigger the laugh, the better it is.

Tell me you are not (at least sometimes) the same way.

Now, just as I was really despairing her ever pointing to a cow and saying anything as pedestrian as, oh, maybe... COW (or MOO), she spontaneously added DUCKIE to her repertoire. Amazingly enough, she says it when she sees a duck. Crazy, no? It doesn't get much of a laugh, so I am not really clear about her motivation, but at least it gives me hope that when she goes to college she will be able to relate to more than just the moronic folks who think college is just for keg parties.

And puppy tipping.