Word of the Week?

I’m really not trying to toot my own horn here, but I guess that’s what I’m doing. Please forgive. But I will continue anyway.

Ever since my boys were born, I would talk to them as if

1. they always understood what I was saying, and
2. as though they were adults with extensive vocabularies.

The result is that, for the most part, I have children with repertoires of words and phrases many adults do not have. And even if they hear a word with which they are not familiar, they can usually discern the meaning based on context clues.

However some words have been a prominent part of their vocabulary for quite a while and can sometimes take others aback when they hear the PBA make use of them. Case in point:

Last night, the 9yo and I were riding with a friend of mine in her car. The 9yo was talking about something (kind of having a one-sided conversation, as I recall) and he said something about, “You’re so insolent.”

To which I replied, “Insolent? I’m not being insolent!”

“No, mom, that’s what YOU are supposed to say to me. I was being insolent.”

“Oh, ok. You’re so insolent.”

My friend, who’d been listening to the conversation (how could she help but listen as we were all sitting within two feet of one another) and was seemingly impressed with the word choice, asked, “Insolent…is that the word of the week?”

And my 9yo, without hesitation (or, ironically, insolence), replied, “Insolent is the word of my life.”

What can I say? The child speaks truth.

This is not a current picture; this is his 4yo pictures. But it embodies his ability to manipulate me, simply with cuteness.
 The problem is I know he's insolent, but he's so stinkin' cute that it gets him out of most situations.