TA-DAA!!!

Recently Ada was enjoying her dinner and, clearly impressed with her own ability to successfully shovel at least some of the food on her plate into her mouth, raised her arms victoriously over her head and exclaimed "Ta-daa!!!". Sitting on the stool in front of her, I provided what seemed to be the appropriate response by raising my arms in kind and returning the ta-daa.

Ada was delighted by this exchange and followed it with the logic of any 2 year old - if something is funny once, it should be repeated ad nauseum. I played along, mirroring her ta-daas dutifully. After what seemed like the 30th go-round of ta-daas, I decided to inject some variety into my end of the performance by responding with clapping and a hearty "yeah Ada!". Ada pondered this response for a moment then raised her arms up for another ta-daa. I again responded with clapping and "yeah Ada!". After a short pause and a confused frown, Ada addressed me with the restrained frustration of someone explaining an obvious concept to a not-so-swift student. "No daddy," she said slowly, "not yeah Ada. Ta-daa." while raising her arms instructively. Thus chastened, I returned to the proper response and Ada was happily ta-daa-ing again.