L’s vocabulary has been expanding exponentially in recent weeks; we estimate she’s adding six to 10 new words each day.

Perhaps her favorite new word: “No.”

At first, this concerned us significantly. Kids going through the Terrible Twos are notorious for talking back in this fashion, and Powergirl and I feared that L had evolved into the phase a bit early. Then, during breakfast the other morning at our favorite Greasy Spoon, it hit us: The kid has no idea what “No” actually means.

The scene was sheer comedy. We were out at breakfast, trying to feed L some pancakes, when she decided she’d had enough. She waved her arms at us, shook her head, and firmly stated, “No.” Then she proceeded to reach out, pull the pancake from my hand and eat it.

The process has replayed itself numerous times since then. She stands on ceremony, protests with repeated declarations of “No,” then proceeds to do what we ask her every time.

Sure, it’s cute. But of course Powergirl and I now are asking ourselves a) where she learned to say “No” like that and b) whether she’ll ever actually understand the true meaning of the word. After consulting a number of experts (other parents) we believe the answers to our questions are a) by listening to us and b) absolutely.

Of course the $10 million question at this point is: When will she snap out of this? I sure hope it’s sooner rather than later; “No” isn’t really an effective means of discipline when all your child does is mimic.