Saturday, December 31, 2005

No, no, NO!

It took me a long time to figure out how to work with the youngest. He's headstrong. He gets it from me, and I couldn't be prouder. He also gets honey as a term of endearment from me, though he pronounces it hah-nee.

We've been working on counting to ten, and I thought it was time to introduce the Spanish words for one through ten as well. He disagreed.

"Honey, can you say uno?"

"No, I no say uno!"

"Can you say dos?"

"No, I no say dos!"

--- At this point, I'm pretty much patting myself on the back, thinking myself brilliant for wording the questions in such a way that he will do what I want in the name of not doing what I want. ---

"Honey, how about tres? Can you say tres?"

"Hah-nee, no! I no say tres, cuatro, cinco, seis, siete, ocho, nueve, diez! NO!"

Well, then. No wonder he was so contrary. He clearly considered the entire interaction

superfluous
adjective
1. Serving no useful purpose; having no excuse for being.
2. More than is needed, desired, or required.
"superfluous." WordNet 1.7.1. Princeton University, 2001. Answers.com 01 . 2006. http://www.answers.com/topic/superfluous

I still have no idea how he learned to count to ten in Spanish.