Umm...Excuse Me?

For a while now, the girls have been relentless in repeating nearly everything we say. It started innocently enough; we just had to watch what we said. For the past six months or so, though, I’ve had the opportunity, on occasion, to hear what I must sound like to them because they’ve taken to repeating a selection of my commonly-used phrases.

The first time I overheard one of them say, “You’re driving me nuts!” while they played, I just about couldn’t stop laughing. It’s not uncommon, too, to hear one of them scolding their dolls, “I told you, no!” or “Go sit in the corner!” Sometimes I wonder if I’m more of a tyrant than I thought I was! On the other hand, they both are awfully sweet when they baby their dolls, so I must be doing something right.

Their most recent phrase of choice is, “Umm…Excuse me?” It’s something I’ve been saying to them a lot in recent weeks, and I’ve continued to say it because it works. If one of them is doing something they know they shouldn’t, all I have to do is say, “Excuse me?” and I have their attention immediately. I guess I didn’t realize how frequently I was saying it, though, because I was completely caught off guard the first time one of the girls repeated it. Now, they say it ALL THE TIME. If someone – anyone – is doing something they aren’t supposed to be doing, you can bet Cadie, Maddie, or both of them will call them on it. The most ridiculous part of it all is I can’t seem to stop myself from continuing to say it!