Regulator

Olivia is sweet and gentle. In public she is usually very quiet and reserved. But she also knows how to regulate. When she maketh a demand it shall be heeded. Excuses shall not be. Here are Olivia's 3 most commonly used commands:

DAW KITTY

When she was littler this seemed more like a timid request. It had the connotation of, "pardon me...but my name is little Oliver Twist, and I was wondering, if it wouldn't be too much trouble, perhaps you could draw a kitty for me? I would be ever so grateful, seeing as my motor skills are quite lacking . . . and well . . . I'm quite fond of kitties, sir. Would you mind, sir? It could be any color you want, I'm not particular."
Now that she's older, that timid request has turned into:
DAW KITTY! DAW DOLPHIN! DAW BABY BELUGA! DAW DADDY BABY BELUGA! DAW A YELLOW KITTY! DAW A ORANGE KIIIIITY!!
It is now unmistakably a command, usually a very specific command, with colors and names being assigned more often than not.

SING IT

This command is most often given while we are reading to Olivia. She will decide, usually toward the beginning of the book, but not always, that the book needs to be sung and not just read. Anything that comes out of your mouth from that point on had better sound like a song. Olivia will do you the honor of listening to your excuses, but she will invariably respond with two words: SING IT.

ME: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you see? I see a--
OLIVIA: SING IT.
ME: Olivia, I don't want to sing right now.
OLIVIA: SING IT.
ME: Olivia, you want me to sing this?
OLIVIA: Okay.
ME: But there is no song for this book. Daddy doesn't know the song.
OLIVIA: SING IT.

However, there is a way out. If you persist in claiming that you just don't know the song and ask Olivia to sing it herself, she will make up her own song for the words. Pretty cute.

I'M SORRY

Nope. This is not Olivia apologizing to you. This is Olivia telling you to apologize to her or to someone else. Once, Olivia was bringing me a book to read and since I was in the middle of something Liz valiantly grabbed the book out of my hands and offered to read to Olivia instead. Olivia's response: "NO MOMMY GRAB FROM DADDY. I'M SORRY MOMMY. I'M SORRY MOMMY." which of course means: Don't grab from daddy. Tell him you're sorry. Olivia was not appeased until Liz apologized to me.
This morning Olivia almost broke my heart with a less aggressive version of this. She looked up at me as I was getting ready to leave, frowned a pitiful frown and said, with tears welling up in her eyes, "No Daddy go to work. I'm sorry daddy." Translation: I don't want you to go to work. Tell me you're sorry. Ouch. That one still burns a little.