What Do You Call Them And Do You Have One?

Annika has a fascination with belly buttons. She loves hers. She loves other people's buttons. She wants to see them. When, per chance, she catches a glimpse of someone's she giggles and says in a husky voice, "Ho, ho. I see ____________'s belly butt."

That's right. It's not a belly button, it's a belly butt. This started when she was about 16 months and she couldn't say button. But it's stuck and we all have belly butt's now.

Annika's second fascination is about tails. When I had Beck and my mom was watching Annika all the time they would play a little game. I guess you'd call it, "Does ____________ have a tail?"

My mom would begin with, "Does Annika have a tail?" This was followed by obligatory looking. When Annika had verified the facts she would say, "NOOOOOOOOO." She does this in a voice so husky it's almost guttural. We have to go around the whole family making sure that Mom, Dad, Emma, Anson, Nathan and Beck are all tail free.

She loves this game so much she often starts it. She'll say, "Does Beck have tail?" Which requires me repeating, "Does Beck have a tail?" Then she can answer, "NOOOO," with a lot of head shaking and complete amusement at the ridiculousness of the thought.

Wendell and I try to throw her off and we'll mention, "Does Sneeze* have a tail?" She doesn't even miss a beat, "YEA!" she squeaks out.

*Sneeze is our cat. He's been the family pet for more than a year. Sneeze and I have a love-hate relationship. Mostly, we try to ignore each other.

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Other cute things Annika's said recently.

Beck's fuzzy hair soft....

(Pointing to a razor) That sharp. That dane-jus (dangerous).