Elocution

My five year old has developed a second, separate voice used only for conveying what he considers important information. The fact that he does this in an almost lecturing style, then quickly turns it off once his point is made, and resumes speaking like a child is nothing short of amazing. Note to Raymond-I think the kiddo is after your job, or he at least has a future doing voice-overs.

One evening, I mentioned that I wasn't feeling well. Danny straightened his shoulders, loudly cleared his throat and in a really deep (for a five year old) authoritative voice asked:

"Do you have swellings beneath your armpits? Do you suffer night sweats, and fearful tossing and turning?"

After a moment of awkward silence, and doing our best not to crack-up, Mr. ETB finally asked Danny what he was getting at.

"I was reading about bubonic plague. It doesn't sound like you're suffering from plague."


Then, he relaxed his shoulders, turned to his father and asked what we were having for dessert-in the normal high-pitched voice of a child.

Similarly, Danny seems able to turn this voice on when reciting poetry, reading aloud (even something being read for the first time) and really whenever he thinks his observations merit the attention of others. We should hire the kid out to give elocution lessons to the governor (god knows, he could use them) or at the very least, start preserving recordings of this for future audition tapes.

Now I know where to turn with my questions about plague.