Stutter-utter

When Virginia was about three years old, she suffered a severe case of the stutters.  She has always had a rather roundabout storytelling style, a circuitous rambling of "I said, she said" and "well, you should have and then I would have," but when Virginia began stuttering, her stories would go on forever.  At times I would be so amazed and then amused by the longevity of her accounts, that I would excuse myself from the table to indulge in private fits of laughter.  We were always more amused than worried about her stuttering.  I have known many kids her age who quickly outgrew it without any intervention.  So, we just waited it out.  Eventually, she outgrew it.

For some odd reason, the stutters are back, and this time with a vengeance.   Virginia does not stutter all of the time or even that often.  When she does stutter though, it takes me every bit of self control to contain my amusement.  Unlike most kids who seem to involuntarily repeat the first couple syllables of a word, Virginia repeats the last syllable over and over again an an an.  

Yesterday at breakfast, Virginia was saying something about her drink, which she referred to as her "water ater ater."  Ella looked at Virginia and asked, "When you say 'water ater,' are you talking about the water of an otter?  And why are you talking about otters?"