I Say We Keep ‘Em.

London’s speaking abilities are really coming along lately. It seems like just in the past few weeks her vocabulary and pronunciation have mushroomed to a pretty impressive level.

That being said, however, there are still a few…”stragglers” in her word repertoire.

And they’re stinking cute.

Here are my favorite 3:

• Banana: “Ba-nahh”
• Zebra: “Zee-bee”
• Naked: “Nay-kee”

Jennifer and I have never been big on encouraging baby talk. But come on—I don’t think I can part with these three gems. It’s going to be a sad day for me when London actually says them right.

Am I a bad dad if I just say those words that way for the next couple of years?

Stories

My 2-yr-old, London, is loving some stories lately. She’s loved books for a while, but lately she’s really been into custom-made stories I’ll tell her before bed. Usually, the setup goes something like this:

Me: “Hey, London—how about I tell you a story?
London: “Yeah, sure!”
Me: “Okay—what should it be about?”
London: “Umm….ummm….ummmm…London.”
Me: “Okay; who else?”
London: “Redick.” (Her best friend)
Me: “Anything else?”
London: “Ummm, a horsey. And a lion. And a elephant.”
Me: “Alright. One day there was a girl named London….”

These stories can last up to 20 minutes, and London is on the edge of her seat through the whole thing. Totally engaged. Like I said, she likes books, but she’s really loving these stories—it’s a new level of interest.

The obvious reason? They’re about her.

She can’t wait to hear what happens to her; to see how she reacts when the lion comes out from behind a bush; to find out how her story’s going to end and everything’s going to be resolved.

I get it.

This is one of the reasons I love the Bible. It’s a great story, and it’s about me. I see myself throughout it, and I can’t help but be interested in what’s going to happen, how God says I’m going to react to various stimuli, and how things are going to end.

It’s as if I can sit on my Father’s lap and say, “Tell me a story about…me. And love. And hope. And danger. And rescue. And truth.”

And that’s exactly what I get.

I keep coming back to the Bible, not just because it’s true. But because it’s about me.

My Daughter—Master of Walking The Fine Line Between Inappropriate and Hilarious

Two nights ago, our family went to the Opryland Hotel to check out the incredible light displays. While we were walking through the atrium, we stopped to let London (our just barely 2-year-old) play at a fountain. Before long, a few kids had come up to play in the same spot, and one of them was a little Hispanic girl.

London looked at her and immediately shouted, “Dora! Dora! Dora!”

London then began running from an imaginary Swiper the fox, yelling “Swiper, no swiping! Swiper no swiping!”

I think the girl was confused.

…Not sure if all of this was adorable, mildly racist, or some strange combination of the two. But I’m counting it as a celebrity sighting at Opryland.