Lately Audrey has taken to asking me, "What, dad?" when I say something to her. And then I'll repeat what I said and she'll still often respond, "What did you say?"
The way she says the latter almost makes it sound like she heard something scandalous come out of my mouth.
So then I repeat what I said again, slowly and more loudly, often feeling like she *must* have heard me. Is she just messing with me?
Some part of me thinks she is - you know, to test me a bit. We've all responded with, "What?" to someone, after hearing them well enough, although I'm not sure why.
But I also know she's only 3 and that I may use words she's less familiar with or speak too quickly or too softly or mumble. And this morning when she finally understood what I said she thought about it and then said, "I love you, dad!"
Messing with me or not, that's worth the back-and-forth.
