Where Did She Learn That?

Most of the time when our daughter says something, I know where she got it from (Mc and me, a favorite movie, etc.).  Tonight our daughter said the most random thing.  We're just sitting at the table eating dinner and this is how the conversation went:

Baby Girl: "Computer, status report."
Mc: "... where did she get that from??"
Me: "Star Trek."

Mc watches Star Trek: The Next Generation on Tuesday nights when I leave for my cooking class, and apparently Baby Girl has picked up a phrase or two.  It'll be funny to see what else she's picked up from there.  Probably Counselor Troy saying, "He's hiding something, Captain."

Two weeks ago she came up to me and said, "I don't know how to write my letters."  I don't know where she got that from-- probably church-- but she's known her alphabet for over a year and a half, and I feel like I'm failing her because she's been ready to learn to read since she was about 2 years old.  I'm not exaggerating-- she really is that bright and she's that interested in books.  So for the past couple of weeks we've been teaching her how to write her letters, and she's picking it up quickly.

A couple of days ago I was sitting with Baby Girl while she fixed one of her puzzles, and out of the blue she asked me, "Mommy, why are you important?"  I don't know where she learned that question, but my answer to her was, "Well, because I love you, and I give you food, and play with you, and read books to you."  Two weeks ago my answer wouldn't have even been that.  I went through a serious depression, and there's a lot to it that I won't go into.  But now I'm just focusing on the people who are important to me and to whom I'm important, and I'm trying to be happy.

Little One still isn't talking, but he says a couple of words and he knows his alphabet: he recognizes each letter and he can say them, not clearly, but it's close.  He's learned that ducks say "quack", and now he says that for every animal.  So this big stuffed animal alligator that we have says "quack" also.  :)  Recently, Baby Girl has been pretending to eat things while playing pretend, and she makes an "om nom nom nom" sound, and Little One saw her do that the other day and now he says "om nom nom" when he eats his real food.

I've been teaching him lots of things for a long time but I finally found a way that seems to work for him.  Baby Girl is very much an auditory learner and she's learned all sorts of things just by hearing us say them.  I've been trying to do the same thing with Little One, and I realized a few days ago that while he has no hearing problems, he just doesn't learn that way; he needs to be taught differently.  So I hold an object up to my mouth and say the word so that he can see the object and see how I'm saying its name at the same time, and then he tries to copy my mouth movements.  It's a slow process but he's learning.

It's interesting to hear what Baby Girl says, and I hope I'll get to hear Little One say more things soon.  He'll be 2 years old next week, and I want to be able to converse with him the way I do with his sister.