You are legit the coolest young man I know.
Your use of "legit" is high volume these days. You legit want a certain Pokémon card. A friend at school has a legit crush on a girl. You legit don’t like music class.
I get the legitimacy of your word choice. The way you adopt slang at your age is so funny. It’s fast, and you shift keywords frequently. Sometimes you parrot my phrasing, but a lot of it comes from the bus and the older kids (up to 5th grade) you come across on the playground. You’re practicing your phrasing and tone, which happens to be a lifelong pursuit.
The other day, we were watching old videos from before you and Eliza were born, and your mom had a higher voice. I have claimed this before, but I don’t think she believed me until she watched them. I’m not sure if you kids wore out the sweetness of her higher pitch or if it just happens with age—likely both. As for diction, I have certainly adopted business phrases and jargon at work and probably cleaned up a lot of my casual slang for the sake of professionalism. Your mom and I read more than ever (and watch less TV), so I’d like to think we have more words at our disposal, or at least sharper minds to process them. Your vocabulary is growing because of reading and classroom time, too.
Now, if only you had enough words to process your big emotions. They still come and go, especially before bedtime or when you’re hungry. Or worse, both. You resort to slamming doors, throwing nearby objects, or stomping to express your anger or frustrations. It’s hard to cut through to you sometimes to let you know that we want to help or to reinforce how you did something wrong. Even our adult words fail us in those parenting moments.
Of course, this is just a phase, and the more you grow inside, the more you’ll find the words to let us know what’s wrong or how to make it better. Otherwise, and most of the time, you’re legit just having fun and enjoying the ride.
Love, Dad