Katemelia Bedelia

Remember Amelia Bedelia, the housekeeper of children's literature fame who takes everything literally? They're such funny books because they tap into this difficult shift children must make in learning turns of phrase that don't mean how they sound!

Kate has demonstrated this literal-mindedness a few times, quite preciously. Consider the following:

Me: "Kate, hang on a minute. I need to hop in the shower real quick."
Kate: "No! You WALK in a shower!"

Similarly,
Me: "I need to run back upstairs real quick."
Kate, seeing me walking: "That's not running. Mommy, THIS is how you run!"

Me: "This song is called 'Lean On Me.'"
Kate: "That's not a good idea. Somebody could get hurt."

Me: "That car is broken down."
Kate: "It's broken? Can they fix it with tape?"
Me: "Looks like the battery is dead."
Kate: "Cars have batteries? Can they put in new batteries?"
Me: "They'll just jump it."
Kate: "Oh. So after they jump on the car, the battery will work again?"

Finally, today on the drive home from church, Kate started singing that kids Bible song, "Be careful little eyes what you see / ears what you hear / feet where you go," etc. I asked her what that song meant, but she didn't know. So I told her, with the example of "Be careful little mouth what you say," how when bad things come out of your mouth, they can hurt people and you can't take them back.
Me: "What sort of bad things can come out of your mouth?"
Kate: "SPIT!"