Sugar and Spice

The other day, my Dad said Sarah-Grace was, "sugar and spice and everything nice, with a little bit of puppy tails thrown in".  I think that's about accurate.

I'm enjoying being a big sister to a little sister.  In many ways she's a perfect match for the boys- she's rambunctious and playful and a bit on the wild side.  But, she definitely has her sugar-and-spice side too.  The other weekend we went to the drive-in and didn't get back until 11.  Sarah-Grace was NOT sleepy.  So, as we lay in bed, we played a game that went something like this:

Sarah-Grace: A-n-n-i-e   What?

me: Annie

Sarah-Grace: A-n-n  What?

me: Ann

Sarah-Grace: I - l-o-v-e-y-o-u    What?

Me: I love you!  

Sarah- Grace: Your turn!

Me:  I-l-o-v-e-y-o-u-S-a-r-a-h-G-r-a-c-e

Sarah-Grace: What?

me: I love you Sarah-Grace.

She kept it up for quite awhile.  It was so cute.  Eventually though, I was ready to sleep so I started spelling things like b-e-d-t-i-m-e  and g-o-o-d-n-i-g-h-t.    She ignored my not-so-subtle hints and kept spelling other things back at me.  I finally had to tell her what time it was.  Apparently she had no idea, because once I turned on the light and gave her her watch to look at so she would believe me, she quieted right down and went to sleep.

She thinks I speak Chinese.  It's so funny.  She actually told her English teachers I spoke Chinese, which was quite a compliment.  When I'm around and she's confused, she looks at me and demands, "Chinese!".  So, I stumble through some sort of approximation in my super-limited vocabulary and horrid pronunciation. (As in, my Chinese equivalent of "When Daniel is done vacuuming, you can vacuum the kitchen" became"you can, in the kitchen, with the thing Daniel has.  Daniel first, you second" but hey, it got the idea across.  And she was excited!  Who would have guessed it. She can vacuum whenever she wants. . .)  She kept asking for translations during the movie they were watching the other day.  That was a challenge.  When you have a vocabulary of roughly 300 words, how on earth do you explain that Davy Crocket was mad because another senator tried to get him out of town so they could vote on the Indian Act without his opposition?  It didn't help that Daniel and Kai weren't sure what was going on at that point either and kept asking for the simplified English version.