Lily's taken a new direction these days: giving direction.

At the dinner table, I'm discussing the day with my lovely wife (for those of you who haven't clued in now, Pamela hasn't gone to the other side, it's Mike doing his once-a-year duties). Lily will pipe up: "Mom, Dad, you no talk now."

"But we'd like to talk to each other, dear."

"No. You no talk, Mommy no talk."

Or at bedtime, we've gotten into a bit of a routine where Lily tells Pamela how she'd like to be left alone. We give her the choice of leaving the door open or closed, and Pamela will lie down with her for a minute or two. And then recently, she got a: "Mommy, you go downstairs now."

Then there was the clincher tonight at supper. It was again around the whole "you no talk now" routine, which is pretty funny on most days, but today was about giving turns. "Daddy, you no talk now, Mommy talk. Go ahead, Mommy."

The concepts she understands these days are just phenomenal, aren't they?

And for those who aren't Facebookers, I've got to share the story about a new book we picked up at a bazaar this weekend, entitled "My Name is Bert." I was reading it to Lily last night, and Bert's telling us all about him, and we get to the page where he's talking about his favourite number, which is 4, because there are 4 letters in his name, and there are four seasons: spring, summer, fall and winter, and he likes them all. I stop reading, I look up at Pamela, and I say, "This is wrong. Bert's favourite number is 6. 'Cos five is your fingers and your toes, and two's your eyes and one's your nose, but 6... my favourite number is 6..."

And the look on Pamela's face is somewhere in between "Where the f*^@ did I find this guy?" and "I love you so much it hurts." Truly one of the most incredible expressions I've ever come across.

And so to prove it to her, I had to find it on YouTube and show her, and we revelled in Bert's glory. See it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKfY6kapyBY

And so I pledge to never read the offensive material again to my daughter. Somebody dropped the ball there bad.

MS