Help, Help!
“Help, help, Dada Owl! Help!”
Ess uses precisely the same tone of voice when peril is imagined or real. It is a perfect mimc of the higher-register you would use if you were reading a book to a two-year-old and conveying that someone is in trouble, but ultimately will be just fine. You know, low-budget playacting. Also:
“Help, help, Mama Meow! Help!”
These are the names Ess has for us. They’re also our Halloween costumes she has picked out for us. She is thinking of Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, where Katerina Kitty Cat is a dancing cat who wears a tutu, her mom is a cat too, and X the Owl is O the Owl’s uncle.
So, imagined or real peril. If Ess is climbing the piano (no) and reaching for something out of reach (no), and can’t quite do it and might fall (nonono), you’ll hear her go “Help, help, Dada Owl! Help!” And it is crazy, because the inflection is PRECISELY the same she uses when she takes her tiny Essie-sized fork and perches it precariously on the edge of her high chair tray, and then plays from the perspective of the fork: “Help, help, Mama Fork! Help!” If you close your eyes, they sound exactly the same.
So, if I hear Ess go “Help, help, Dada Owl! Help!”, you better bet I’m running as fast as I can to get in there before someone sustains an injury, real or imaginary.
Comments
Mykala
Also: “Baby need-a mama meow paw!” when she takes my hand to bring me into the living room.
It’s all together too much sweetness to be contained by such a tiny little body. It defies science.