As my daughter has gotten older (she's now 2-1/2), she's developed her own unique vocabulary. It's been interesting to watch, as the process seems to be totally different than what I witnessed with my son. She's been speaking in near-complete sentences almost since she started talking, and never had any of those unique made-up "baby words" that her brother did. What she has started, recently, is coming up with colorful names to call people when she's not happy with them. I know I should probably try to get her to stop, but, honestly, it's pretty funny, even when it's directed, as it is often, at me.

The first word she started flinging at people was "kook". I don't know where she picked it up, as "kook" isn't exactly a word that we use around the home all that much. In fact, I don't think it bears any relation to the actual English-language word kook, which the dictionary defines as "A crazy or eccentric person, probably derived from cuckoo." Regardless of it's origin, in her vocabulary it apparently means something pretty bad. Once while visiting her grandparents for the day, she called my dad a kook. He asked her if it was a good thing or a bad thing to be called that. She answered, deadpan (as always): "It's a bad thing." Then there was the time she was upset at me and fired of a "You kook" to me. I turned and looked at her, and said, "I'm not a kook. You're a kook!" Bad idea. Her lower lip started quivering, she turned red, and the tears started rolling down her cheeks. She looked at me and screamed "I'M NOT A KOOK!"

Since then, her vocabulary has expanded. Various insults heard lately include "trash can", "bamby", "bammy fishy", and more. (All transliterations are approximate.) At this point, we realize this probably isn't socially acceptible, so we've been trying to get her to stop. I know that that's sending mixed messages, which probably is Bad Parenting, but it really was funny, for a while.

Incidentally, when I left for work this morning, I heard a small voice say, "Bye bye, garbage can!"