Out of the Mouths of Babes

What makes changing diapers, chauffeuring kids and dealing with bedtime antics worth it? Getting to be the first to hear all of the crazy and entertaining things that these little people say all day long.

First it's the mixed-up words... like Molly's persistent use of "Oakwey, dokwey," instead of "Okey, dokey." And then there's her ice cream order... "grenilla" instead of vanilla. I love the way she tilts her head quizzically to the side, and proffers her opinion, always beginning with, "Ashually," instead of "Actually." Sometimes her sentences are completely lucid and perfect, and other times, they're a train wreck, like this one from last week:  "Will you did go to Oakwood last year again, Mommy?" She also coined Joey's longstanding nickname in the house: "Jofus." Oh, how he loves that one! ;)

Meanwhile, Clara continues to mix up certain words that my heart just won't let me correct. For years now, she's referred to exercise as "extra-cise," bracelets are "brace-slips," and she's always called the go-to cereal in our house "Smart Smart," instead of Smart Start. She persists in confusing our front door and back door, understandable since we so rarely use our front door for our comings and goings! And I love that she still refers to any tummy troubles as having a "stomach-eck" instead of a "stomach-ache." She also coined the phrase "best sleeper-inner" (much to my delight) and usually wins this title, since she likes to stumble out of bed between 9 and 10 a.m.

Even our most linguistically mature kid in the house isn't immune to some of his own amusing slip-ups. Even though he's watched approximately a billion hours of miscellaneous sports coverage over the past two years, he still calls announcers "pronouncers" and refers to his own swim and baseball workouts as "praftis," even spelling the word exactly that way multiple times for first grade writing assignments.

But the mixed-up words pale in comparison to the crazy lens through which they view the world. Last week, this gem was offered up to me from the "way back" of the car as I was driving:

"Mommy, I know how you get earrings! You go looking in the forest for a really sharp stick, and you kind of stab the end of the stick in your ear. And then you have earrings, right??"

Yes, this was Clara... thankfully, she hasn't tried this yet.