#61 Mispronunciations

Taylor is now officially making it to cute things. Oh, she has always been cute, but now that she is talking (I'm using that term loosely)... She'll probably be taking over cute things soon. Now, this is probably only cute to me, because I can still hear her two-year-old, speech-impedimented little voice.

Taylor and I were in the toy room. As I was leaving, Taylor asked me if I could leave the light on... only it sounded like this:

Taylor: Wee wa wight on. K?

Me: (just encouraging correct pronunciation) Wee wa wight on?

Taylor: (thinking "slower" will solve the communication barrier) No. Wee. Wa. Wight. On.

Me: Wee wa wight on? (at this point, I was just having a little fun)

Taylor:(decides to go with the old repeat after me) No. Thay (say) Weeeeee.

Me: (mimicking her exact tone) Weeeeee.

Taylor: (long, thoughtful, seven second pause) Turn da wight on. K?

Oh, the cute, poor little girl. She realized something that day. She could not say leave the light on. Mom's probably too big a tease. I couldn't resist. But she's resilient. And just so she didn't feel like a total failure I added "Oh! did you say leave the light on?!" which was answered with peels of laughter. And, yes, I weft wa wight on.

#60 How Much Do You Love Me?

This actually took place about two years ago, and whenever I think of it, I get a little chuckle, and since I don't want to forget it... I'll jot it down here.

After I had reprimanded Brecken for something (two years is too long to remember any particulars), I wanted to be sure that she knew I still loved her. The following conversation took place in her bedroom:

Me: Brecken, you know that I love you, right?

Brecken: Yeah.

Me: Do you know how much I love you?

Brecken: Huh uh.

Me: I love you more than anything.

Brecken: (seeming unimpressed stayed silent)

Me: (realizing she's not grasping the concept of anything) I love you more than chocolate.

Brecken: (now enthused and amazed) You do?! I love you too!!! (big hug. now eager to return the compliment) I love you more than.... (looks around her room at all of her earthly possessions) more than... (still looking... aha, I can see she has settled on something) I love you more than strangers!

Wow. It was almost as though I could see her making mental notes: Let's see, more than my doll house? No. More than my stroller? No. Umm... More than my stuffed animals? No. More than my books?.... Maybe... No. Hey! I know what I love her more than! People I don't know and have never met, and therefore have no feelings for! That's a good one!

Haha, it was actually too funny to get my feelings hurt over. And she has since told me that she loves me more than movies. And that's big. So I'm good.

#59 The Smartest Girl

Knowing Brecken's vanity issues, I sometimes still make the mistake of saying "Brecken, you are just the smartest girl." Ok, it's probably a good thing to compliment your children. But sometimes it produces conversations like the following (this is between Brecken and her 5 year old cousin, Jackson):

Brecken: Jackson, guess what. I am the smartest girl in the whole world.

Jackson: Huh uh.

Brecken: Yuh huh.

Jackson: Huh uh (you have to love 5 year old comebacks).

Brecken: Yuh huh, my mom said so.

Jackson: Huh uh. Do you even know what 1 million plus 100 million is?

Brecken: (drops her jaw) No way! Do you know what it is?

Jackson: It's 2 thousand 16 hundred 3 million thousand.

Hey, I guess he figured if she didn't know... He could say whatever he wanted. Might as well make it sound good.

#58 Her Word

Brecken: Mom, can I please watch a movie?

Me: No, we already watched one today.

Brecken: Mom please, I'll be a good girl.

Me: I'm glad you'll be good, but the answer is still no.

Brecken: (solemnly) You have my word.

Me: (never hearing that from her before I can't help but chuckle out loud) I have your word that what?

Brecken: (a little frustrated) Mom. You know. You have my word.

Me: What do you think that means?

Brecken: It means, you heard my words saying that I want to watch a movie, and now you have them, so you want to do them. So now you'll let me watch a movie.

Me: (continued audible chuckling... I couldn't help it)

Boy, was that a misinterpretation! I wish we could force our will on others with only four easy words.

#57 Strange Words

While playing with a stuffed animal Brecken said to me "Mom, this is weird. One of the eyes is smooth, and the other eye is lither." She said it so matter of factly that I almost believed she knew a word I wasn't yet privy to. So I had to ask, "Smooth and what?"

"Smooth and lither." She obviously saw my confusion because she continued "You know, bumpy and... unsmooth."

Whelp. She had me there. Normally, I have a pretty good idea what the original vocabulary word is that she's revamping. When she comes running, screaming "Taylor is playing with the poop plusher!" I can connect the dots... ah! she means plunger. The gross thing we don't play with because it gets poop on it.

But lither... I'm stumped. But I think it's cute she thinks it's a word (well she did until I told her it wasn't).

#56 Bigger Than the World

While having a discussion about outer space, the stars, etc. (don't ask why)...

Brecken: (in absolute amazement) Is it bigger than the world??

Me: MmmmHmmmm.

Brecken: (in disbelief) Is it bigger than... SAINT GEORGE???!!!

Ok... maybe I was getting ahead of myself trying to teach about outer space. I think I need to get back to the basics. We'll start with our house, our street, St. George, and the world. :)

#55 States and Teachers

While putting together a puzzle of the Unites States, I would say the name of the state, Brecken would find the puzzle piece, and we would put it in together.

Me: Ok, Brecken... let's find... Mississippi.

Brecken: What?! The teacher?

Me: The teacher?

Brecken: (very matter-of-factly) Yeah, Mrs. Sippi is a teacher.

Me: You know a teacher named Mrs. Sippi?

Brecken: No, but her name is Mrs... She has to be a teacher.

5 year old logic. I don't think that thought ever crossed my head. But, yep, it makes sense to me :)

#54 The Correct Pronunciation of Teeth

This one I am borrowing from my nephew who was spending the afternoon at our house. You know those kids who could probably sell their voices because they are so adorable with all of their cute little speech impediments? He's one of them.

Jackson: Aunt Wen (trying to call me Aunt Ren here) wanna thee my tooth that I lof-th-t?

Me: (examining the new hole in his smile) Wow, Jackson! That's pretty cool. You know, Brecken hasn't ever lost any teeth.

Jackson: (in a condescending tone that would suggest "you poor, unintelligent adult") You mean... toof-ths?

Oh, what was I thinking? Did I say teeth? How could I make such a blunder?! I forgot I was conversing with a four year old.

#53 Spiders with Huge Legs

Brecken: (dramatically) ... And then, this spider with huge legs started crawling on her shoulder and we all started screaming!

Me: (a bit overboard on the dramatization myself) Oh no! was it... a daddy long leg?!

Brecken: (raises one eyebrow, obviously disgusted with my choice of wording) No mom. It was a daddy huge legs.