Today Jonas ran in to the room flailing a spatula and announced he was Pekinese and that he wanted to watch Dumb Nina. “ Pekinese strong!” He said. “Pekinese fight scary monster! RAAAWWR!! Want watch Dumb Nina!”

“Where is it? You can watch it if you want.”

“I lost it!” He climbed to the top of the dryer and jumped off.

“Please don’t do that.”

“Mom! I Pekinese!”

“Well, Pekinese isn’t allowed to climb on major household appliances!”

“Mom! Not Pekinese! Pekinese!

Speech therapy is going well. We have gone from a lot of yelling to a very verbal Thing That Couldn’t Shut Up. Unfortunately, it’s still difficult to understand everything he says, and I will admit that the first time he started talking about a Pekinese and Dumb Nina, Chris and I were pretty confused. It took a few days to put two and two together. Now, I completely understand how easy it would be to twist Hercules and Thumbalina into Pekinese and Dumb Nina. What I can’t understand is why I have unconsciously started saying the same thing!