That Hurts My Feelings

Dear Oma and Tante,

Guess What?!

I can count!

I’ve been able to say “onetwothreefourfivesixseveneightnineten” for a long time, what with Sabrina being around here and all.

But now it has meaning! I’m like Helen Keller at the water pump, except that instead of W-A-T-E-R, it’s O-N-E.

Needs something counted? I’m your girl.

Crackers? Yep.

Jelly beans? I can do it. Or at least I could, if Mama would ever buy some.

Cookies? Yep! But on the cookies, you might need a little subtraction too.

Lady bugs? Check.

Puppies in a picture? Check.

Kittens in the crate? Check.

Bunnies in the basket? Check Check Check Check Check Check Check Check Check Check Check Check Check Check Check Check Check Check.

I can even count to twenty, unless you need sixteen.

Who needs sixteen?

I know my colors now, too. Did I mention that Mama’s hair is orange?

I can also speak in complete sentences. I’ve been doing that for a while, as long as you didn’t need the verb “to be.” But now I’m am-are-it-ing all over the place. I can even do it backwards. Was-were. Ha! I can do infinitives and past-participles. Be! Being! Been! Ha! Ha! Ha!

I’m pretty good at most fancy words too. If I don’t know a word, I just ask Mama. Sabrina does the same thing. Then we put it to use. Except sometimes it’s confusing.

The other day Mama was trying to iron a patch on Sabrina’s jeans. She said, “I can’t find the iron.” Sabrina said, “What’s an iron?” Mama said, “Uh-oh.” I don’t think that was a very good explanation.

Mama says, “Sabrina, respect your sister’s wishes.” I say, “what does ‘respecting’ mean?” Daddy says, “Insisting that someone respect your wishes is a way to get beat up on recess.” Sabrina says “respecting her wishes” means giving her what she wants. I didn’t think either of these are very good explanations. So I tried to work it out myself.

Yesterday when Daddy did exercises for his back on the exercise ball, I told him that he’s “hurting my feelings!” That’s good, right?

Today I was mad at him so I told Mama, “Daddy is not expecting my wishes!”

He just said, “Don’t worry, Linnea. Now I’m going downstairs to hurt your feelings.”

Love,
Counting, Coloring, Speaking Me