Wurrd Gurrl

Little A: Hey Mom! Do you know what an IMBECILE is?
Me: Uh....what?
Little A: It's an idiot. Big E is an IMBECILE sometimes.

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Little A: I know what FUTILE means.
Me: Oh? What?
Little A: Attacks don't wurrk.

The exchanges go on. We've had a vocabulary explosion here in the Bubble house, thanks to Word Girl. Timid. Vegetarian. Hullaballoo. Flabbergasted. What I like best about these words are his literal acceptance of the definitions. Hullaballoo=Noisy Excitement. Flabbergasted=Can't think or talk because of surprise. And how he works them into conversation. Like as I was sitting down to eat dinner tonight, apparently on the quiet side since I wasn't screeching Hurry up and eat or Stop tipping your chair back or Take that noodle out of your nose, and he asked if I was feeling Flabbergasted. Is that caring or what?

Some things still don't quite click though. A few days after a viewing of Spiderman he asked me if I knew what a bike messenger was. I, of course, said in my sweet mommy voice that I Did Not, Would He Please Enlighten Me, at which time he explained that bike messengers are the little throwing blades that the Green Goblin throws. Hmmm, I think. Where did this information come from? Then! I remembered the scene where Peter Parker joins Aunt May, MJ, Harry and Mr. Osbourne for Thanksgiving dinner. He's just come from an altercation between himself (as Spiderman) and The Goblin where his forearm is cut by a throwing blade thingy. When he sits down for dinner someone asks Peter why his arm is bleeding and Peter replies "Bike Messenger". Mr. Osbourne makes the connection and then The Goblin attacks Aunt May to get at Peter/Spiderman proving that no one or nothing Peter ever loves will be safe from his enemies....but I guess I'm getting off topic here. The point is that Little A is learning vocabulary all the time and it's really cool that he's such a sponge, but a little scary too. He still doesn't believe me when I explained what a bike messenger really is. I can just imagine him going into some shop where they sell those kind of things (there must be ninja stores somewhere, right?) and he'll ask the scary store clerk guy for a set of bike messengers and just get a very confused, condescending look back and I will know that I have failed. I wonder if Word Girl takes requests.