Somewhere between 3 1/2 and 5 I've noticed, based upon the rearing of my own kids, that London based privately educated sprogs become incredibly polite in their first attempt at getting something they want.
Pleases and thank yous, delivered in a little lord Fauntleroy accent, they've deduced are incredibly effective at convincing adults to do their bidding. The combination of crisp enunciation in a pre-pubescent innocent voice with angelic politeness make it almost impossible to resist their demands. Of course, eventually, resist you must - and that's when it all goes to pot.
But the initial request is both heart-wrenching and gorgeous.
It doesn't last. Shortly after the first refusal, the impulse control mechanism kicks in, which unfortunately in 3 year olds doesn't even remotely exist until they're 5.
This is an age when conversation can be strange. This morning I awoke next to Loki and the first thing he said to me was 'Daddy, what do you taste like?'
I'm hoping that if you looked this sentence up on the web, the first hits you got back weren't profiles of Ted Bundy or Jeffrey Dahmer.
Nonetheless, he enunciated his vowels very well. So that's good.
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