I believe the children are our future...

...of karaoke.

When she's not entertaining us with a scintillating mashup of Row Your Boat and Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, Harlow is using her words.

Here are a few of Harlow's that make me excited:

applejuice (used mostly in context, sometimes confused with the sauce variety, but hey, kid's not even 2.)
Mama - it is her second* favorite word
boots, as in I need to wear these red cowboy boots with these lime green tights NOW
Nice - always drawn out, like Niiiice. There's a vague Ricardo Montalban inflection.
syrup - as opposed to SUR-up and helps waffles and avocado and turkey go down better.

Here are some of the words that don't get me excited:

baby - it's totally cute how she says it. The problem is that it is immediately followed by her thrusting a pen and piece of paper (or bill or magazine or whatever is handy) into my hand and demanding that I draw her a baby. I blame her father for starting her down this path, he of the art school persuasion who can handily sketch a baby or a dog or Parisian street scene. My baby looks like an elderly woman suffering from porphyria regardless of how many dozens of times I have drawn a baby on command. I just can't do it, and I hate proving this fact about 17 times daily.

And now we come to her favorite* word of all.

Elmo

It was her first word, so I suppose it would make sense she clings to it like those bitter people do their guns and religion. It is the first word out of mouth in the morning. It is a verb. It is a mantra. It completes the holy trinity of mama and daddy and she just won't let it go. She is madly in love with Elmo, so its going to be a very dark day when her parents sit her down with a TV crew from A&E and explain to her that we are there because we love her but that the Elmo has to go.