Tonight I think I will start with the punchline, then elaborate from there.  During her bedtime prayers tonight my older daughter (who will be the big 0-4 next month) felt compelled to tell her Lord that she loved "everyone in the whole wide world-- except the Yeti.  Because he is stinky.  And primitive.  In Jesus' Name, Amen".
    Now, I should start off by reminding everyone that we are weird people in my house and have harbored a minor Yeti obsession for a good many years-- long before we became parents.  My husband and I can even claim to have met 'The Yeti' and know for a fact that he is quite fond of pancakes.  We sometimes talk about the Yeti because we enjoy our own brand of humor.  Apparently we are not the only people on earth who find this kind of thing humorous, though.  If you want entertainment, check out www.yetisports.org.  I guess this has spilled over onto our daughter, who has almost certainly heard me talk of my belief that God has a fantastic sense of humor (platypus, anyone?).  I'm actually very proud that God is so personal to her that she would share that with Him.
    So, really, the only thing that caught me off guard was that she knew the word primitive.  She has a pretty impressive vocabulary for her age, but occasionally she throws a curveball out there that even I am not prepared for.  It helps to solidify my position that language shouldn't be dumbed down quite so much for children.  Most of the time I believe we're just underestimating them.  They can really do a lot with context.  After all, isn't early childhood the time in our lives when our brain is most ripe for attaining language skills?  But, yeah.  'Primitive' might even outdo the time she told my uncle that something she had eaten was 'delectable'.  
    I love her so very much.  But not the Yeti.  He is stinky.  And primitive.  And he eats all the pancakes.

CL