Of course

I can't recall where I picked this little phrase up but I've been using it to very good effect recently. It might have come from mummy, in fact it probably does come from her. I'd used another of her expressions - "sure you can" - for some while, but then along comes, "of course" which, I don't know, somehow seems more affirmative, re-assuring and positive. So whereas before, when mummy would say, "come, let me wipe your face" and I'd respond with, "sure you can", these days I say "of course".

I use "of course" a lot. When daddy says, "would you like to watch Winnie The Pooh?" I respond with "of course". (I mean, "doh!" Why wouldn't I want to watch Winnie the Pooh?) And when he says, "would you like some banana?" I say "of course" again. In fact I can get through life pretty easily just using those two little words and with the number of questions my parents throw at me, it's so much more economical to say "of course" rather than, "sure you can" (which, if I have to admit it, also sounds a little bit too American for my tastes).

Don't get me wrong though, I don't say "of course" to everything. There are occasions - and usually those occasions are bath-times, meal-times and bed-times - when mummy and daddy would like to hear me say "of course" a little more regularly than I do. I'm not playing that game though, not as long as tantrums and violent objections are so much fun. If they thought that I would transform over-night as soon as I said goodbye to the "terrible twos" and became a mature three year-old, well they can just think again.