For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for December 17, 2021

April knows more than she is letting on. She can’t say the “th” in Elizabeth and calls her Nizbeff, but she is fully capable of saying, “Mithmath” with not one, but two “th” sounds. Very sneaky that one.

Fast learner when silencing people.

You deserved that Elly

In those two seconds she looked away at April, is when Elizabeth was shown on the TV.

If I recall that child psychologists say that by the age of two the baby brain is creating brain pathways to recognize words in their first spoken language and this stays with them for a lifetime as compared to adults learning new languages. So when the parents start each sentence with “Shhh”, April won’t forget it, and you can just picture April in Grade 1 class and the teacher asks her what 2 plus 2 is and April answers, "Shhh-four.

My older daughter’s first theatre movie was “Cars”; she went with her dad. While she loved the movie (she loves motorsports; even at 19 now) HE liked it so much that he said that “she” wanted me to take her to see it again just so that he could talk to me about the movie. We were watching it (she was born knowing how to behave in theatres; she didn’t move or make hardly a sound) and the scene where the song “Life is a Highway” came on. I started just slightly rocking to the beat when she turned to me & whispered, “Mommy…don’t sing!”

They’re singing a few lesser-known Canadian Christmas carols… “Jingle Treacle”, “Deck The Butter Tarts”, “Oh Come All Ye For Poutine”, and “Frosty The Hockey Man”.

Rule for one, Rule for all. What is good for the goose is good for the gander.

That’s adorable. ;-)

It’s fun to shush the shusher. Wait until she gets to go to the movie theaters.

April’s developing her personality.

Anybody got a roll of duct tape???

I admit to talking during the movie. No one likes to go with me because of my bad habit.

I hope they’re recording this. They’ll want Elizabeth and the grandparents to see it.

They’re always watching and learning from us!

They really are little mimics. You have to be SO careful what you say and do around them because they will come up with something they heard at the worst possible moment!

my mom used to do this, say shh then talk

I wonder how old April was in this strip.

What was so loud that April said “shhh”? Elly farted again!

Perfect chorus song:

I wish that I was picking cotton

Old times they are not forgotten

Look away, look away

Look away, Dixie Land!

In Dixie Land where I was born in

Early on one frosty morning

Look away, look away

Look away, Dixie Land!

Then I wish I was in Dixie

Away, away

To Dixie’s land I’ll take my stand

To live and die in Dixie

Away, away, away down South in Dixie!

What goes around comes back. The baby is fast learner alright.