A Way With Words

While we love to watch our boys grow and develop and master new skills, sometimes we wish they would hold on to their imperfections a little longer. For example, David John used to say "strawbaberries" instead of  just strawberries. We loved it and were actually pretty sad when he learned to pronounce the word correctly. I wanted to preserve some of the other things our boys say that I will miss when they're older.

1. "intersting" - this does not describe an internal insect sting i.e. a bee in your ear canal; no this is how our boys pronounce interesting. Maybe they are just trying to save time by eliminating one syllable.

2. "badgers" - nope, not an animal but more of a patch. They called Uncle Sam (my brother, not the political cartoon character) to ask him how many Scout badgers he has. They were impressed by his answer of 48.

3. "inside this out" - this is a request to turn something right side out, i.e. they hand us an inside-out shirt and say "inside this out please".

4. "gatoraders" - I know this made you think of reptilian mercenaries or perhaps Floridian frat boys but, in fact, this is the plural form of Gatorade. Our boys got to drink quite a bit of "gatoraders" when they had the stomach flu earlier this month.

5. "hummus bird" - it sounds like something exotic from the middle east, but it's really just a humming bird. It makes me happy that our boys even know the word hummus so they can make the mistake. Also, the state bird of Ohio is not the cardinal but the "carpet bird". I have no idea how it got it's new name.

6. "Easter Egg Bunny" - this one is self explanatory. I just think it's cute that they added the word "egg" to his name. David John loves the Easter Egg Bunny, although this year he was distraught when he opened the markers that were in his Easter basket. They were Color Wonder markers from Crayola. They have clear tips and only color on Color Wonder paper. When David John saw the clear tips he assumed the markers were useless and exclaimed, "Oh man! The Easter Egg Bunny left us dumb markers!"

7. "Barber Ann" - you've probably guessed that this is the title character from the Beach Boys' song "Barbara Ann". Elijah likes the song and requests it some evenings for bedtime. After I sang it he asked me, "Why did you sing 'take my hand'?" "Because that's how the song goes." "Oh. Why does he want to hold hands with his barber?"

8. "beanstalk" - not the kind you can grow in a garden. This is actually a word used to describe what Santa may fill with presents. David John informed me, "I hope Santa leaves me a minion toy and some fruit snacks in my beanstalk at Christmas time."

9. "stickernoodles" - pasta shaped embellishments? Nope. These are cinnamon-sugar cookies, aka snickerdoodles. I think this word might be preserved in our family vocabulary. It's just too cute to let go of. I love our boys' ways with words.