Conjugation

Z and I walked over to the playground in the early evening yesterday. We heard a dog barking and he turned to me.

"Th' doggie arfing?"

I paused a moment to absorb his words, run them through my toddler-speak filter.

"Yes, the doggie is barking."

"Barking... barking." He repeats after me while his steel trap of a mind saves this new word for later.

What I want to know is this: when did Zander learn to conjugate verbs? Arf-ing? Nobody says "arfing" -- although we have been known to mimic a dog's sound by saying "arf, arf."

The amazement never ceases.