The Cat Who Babysat

I am watching my sister Rachel's little girl today. Erick gets along with her, most of the time. They get cabin fever I'm sure, but my pregnant belly keeps making me lazy, plus it's cold outside. Sarah can talk really well. In fact, her favorite thing to do is to narrate everything she's doing, or everything your doing, and point out objects in the room and tell you to whom they belong, even if it's yours and it has been in your possession before she was ever born. She knows all her colors, letters, and shapes. She even knows phrases that you don't think she could know, being only 2. Erick on the other hand is like a little caveman. He speaks with some sign language that I taught him-- the basics you know: eat, more, please. He also has noises associated with these signs that I understand, but the most important part of his communication is the inflection. For example, "water". "Wa'-wa-wa" means, "I need water", whether he is thinking about drinking it or his cup is just empty. "Wa-wa'-wa" means, "Could you give me some water?" And "Wa-wa-wa'" means, "Where is my water?" I have no problem knowing exactly what is going on with his water from another room, while laughing at another person who is trying to figure out what wa-wa-wa means in general, and then what to do about it. Somethings he says pretty clearly, like "bye-bye, thank you, and no", but other things he signs better than he says. Like "please", it comes out as a bbbbbbb, when your blowing air out of your mouth and letting your lips flop up and down. But I know why he does that also, because he used to only eat one thing- boo boo. He would make the sign for please and say "boo boo" by making the bbbbbb noise. Now bbbbb has become his word for please. Isn't that weird?