Talking to herself in bed

Nora is two-and-a-half now, and she talks a lot.  I've been reading East of Eden, and in it, a character named Sam says something like "My son, Will says that I'll talk to the trees if I can't find a human vegetable."  Well, that's Nora.  She talks to the trees, the flowers, and her toys. She talks to animals and babies as if they understand her.  I'd like to think that in a way they do.  Sometimes she talks to herself for a good hour or more before she'll go to sleep for the night, or for her nap.  Last fall, I heard her talking to her baby doll when she was in bed and then answer for the baby doll in a very high-pitched voice.

A couple nights ago, I was half-listening to her chatter when suddenly she said very dramatically, "I love you, Mommy!  I always have!"  30 seconds later she said, "I love you Daddy, I always have!"  I laughed and was then a little sad to recognize it as a half-quote from one of her favorite movies, Madagascar 2, in which she substituted the word mommy/daddy for the word Gloria.  I was a little sad because I tend to think things are funnier if they're a little wacky and you have no idea where they're coming from.  I guess that's why I laugh so hard at Tracy Morgan's character on 30 Rock.  His humor is so often coming from who-knows-where.  

Tonight, she's up there re-writing one of her preschool prayer songs.  It's to the tune of Frere Jacques, and the one she sings at school goes "God our Father, God our Father, we thank You, we thank You, for our many blessings, for our many blessings, Amen, Amen."  Instead, I just heard her singing, "God we thank you, God we thank you, for our Mommy, for our Mommy, and we're very grateful, and we're very grateful, Amen, Amen."  Then she sang it with the word daddy substituted for mommy.  She sang some version also about her sister Lyda being very beautiful, but sadly, she sang it only once and I've already forgotten the words.  Or as Nora says "I can't know the words!"