Yesternight

As my children grow, one of the things that always amazes me is how they acquire language. From the little coos and tentative "mamas" to understanding and wielding words just for the sake of talking, their journey is one which allows them to engage with others in discovering the world.

Perhaps one of the funnest sources of discovery is when they start to understand idioms.  One of my favorite stories of discovery has, interestingly, been the same with every child.  We often say we are going to "jump in the shower," especially when we are running behind and in need of moving on to the next activity for the day.  However, with each of our daughters, this particular phrase has resulted in first a puzzled expression, followed by laughter.  "You can't jump in the shower, mommy.  You'll fall down and get hurt."

We have had quite a few laughs over the expressions that we use and take for granted will be understood.  But it never ceases to amaze me about the ease with which these children start picking up the meaning behind what you are saying. It seems as if overnight they get to understand what you mean when you say "I'm going to run to the store" or "I'll be back in a flash."

However, what gets me most is when my kids can't find just the right word.  Then they resort to making up their own words.  My favorite of these words is yesternight - a word used to describe something that happened yesterday, but during the night.  What a perfect new word! And what skill and finesse all three of them have displayed when using this new word.  It is one we now all use easily to describe what happened last night!