dynamic elf

For all that she is a wildly creative and clever kid, Natalie has never had a particular love for naming things. Some time last year, she did start to name her stuffed animals. The dolphin was "Dolphiny". The leopard was "Leopardy". The panther was "Panthery". We knew she was committed to this scheme when she wound up with a new elephant and named it "Elephanty". Doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, that one. You have to LOOOOVE consistency and precise articulation to embrace the name Elephanty.

At some point this winter, though, the winds changed: she now has "Beary Bear", and an old fluffy dog has become "Doggy Dog". (Animals named last year appear to retain their old names.) I was waiting to see how long this new scheme would last: was the problem just that "Beary" sounds like "berry", and "doggy" was already a word? Or, if I bought her a stuffed snail, would it become Snaily Snail? Did she even know that she had HAD a system to shift? Only time could tell.

...but not a lot of time. Apparently it was a conscious exploration, because yesterday she asked D if he had noticed that she had changed the way she names things, pointing out both the old scheme and the new. "I change the way I name things every year," she reported, quite seriously.

Personally, I can't wait to be called "mommy mom" and "daddy dad", but D says no. :)