So Chickpea’s latest “trick” has been acting up any time we praise her baby brother as he starts to walk. And by “starts,” I mean lets go of the table for a few seconds and lifts his foot up, then falls over with a big, proud smile on his face. Yeah, he’s in no hurry. And I’m loving it.

Anyway, when either of us sit down to get Garbanzo to take a few steps, she suddenly starts acting like a baby (pretending to walk wobbily, too), says “Look at me!” as she flips somersaults, or announces that she can now jump really high, and to stop looking at her brother and watch her jump.

She’s never really been jealous of Garbanzo until now. It’s wild to witness, actually. She’s in the early stages of reading, so whenever she tries to intercept her brother’s praises, we remind her that this is his special thing he’s learning right now, and that she’s learning to read. And then we heap on the praises as she reads out two-letter blends.

But the funny phrase she’s saying right now is “What in the world?!” BUT – she says it in the wrong part of the sentence. For example:

Her dad starts a silly dance in the living room.

• CHICK: Dad, what are you doing in the world?

Garbanzo babbles and puts his bowl on his head during dinner.

• CHICK: Garbanzo, what are you doing in the world?

I’m in the kitchen starting dinner.

• CHICK: Mom, what are you making in the world?

It changes the meaning completely.

And then finally, today we were making lunch, and she was wearing her apron as she was stirring tomato soup:

• CHICK: Oops. Mom, I got a dot com on my apron.
• ME: A what?
• CHICK: A dot com. Look. (I look – there’s a tiny speck of tomato soup on her apron.)