Ingrid is fascinated with words and expressions right now. She likes using big, complicated words and idioms. Things are not bad, they’re “katastrof!”. Things are not good, they are “fabulous” (yes, in English).
Du har min eviga tacksamhet (“you have my eternal gratitude”), o grymma värld (“oh cruel world”), ingen är den andre lik (“not one like the other”) etc.
Sometimes she gets them wrong, especially with words that sound similar or seem interchangeable. Kan du beslagta den här (instead of ta); godta utmaningen (instead of anta).
She pays attention to idiomatic expressions when we read, and proverbs too – and uses them when she can. Övning ger färdighet. Var sak på sin plats. She doesn’t really live by them, though!
She likes speaking English with a strong fake Swedish accent. She is shockingly good at English.
Speaking of speaking, we’re working on her habit of being negative and contrarian. In conversation she often finds something to disagree with, almost automatically, out of habit. If someone says something that is not 100% factually correct, she feels like she must correct it. And if she disagrees with someone’s opinion, she must express it. It gets really tiresome.
But now she’s working on thinking before talking, which does not come easily to her, and especially thinking about whether it’s worth saying what she’s about to say. What she’s about to say may be correct, but does it actually benefit anybody?
She has discovered and understood the concept of bets. It took her a bit of time to understand what works and what doesn’t, to understand that a bet needs to be balanced and be acceptable to both parties. Now we have a bet going on: she bet me 30 kronor that she can be without sweets for two weeks. She’s on her way to win.
The highlight of Ingrid’s life right now is this weekend’s upcoming scout hike, and then the “spring hike” at the end of May, and then summer camp in August. They’re all overnight hikes/camps and she is excited by them all. Scouting is the perfect activity for her. There are activities, there are other kids, and there are exciting weekend events.
She likes receiving mail, and Kalle Anka day is the best day of the week. And Saturday is best because it’s weekend, and Friday is good as well. But she’s not so fond of Sundays because that means the weekend is almost over. She’s always living in the future, worrying about it or looking forward to it…
In the evenings, she plays Minecraft with her friend M while talking to her on Skype. And at night, after Adrian has gone to bed, she and I have been playing The Room together. We just finished part two, so maybe we’ll find some other game to take its place.
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