The title of this post goes back to a program that a man named Art Linkletter used to host on TV. There was a part of his show where he had a panel of four children--probably 4 or 5-year-olds--who would answer his questions. Pretty funny stuff!
Well...anyone with young children in the family can get lots of chuckles from the verbal exploits of their babes. I really, really wish I had kept a log of all of the cute things I heard as a result of family young'uns...starting with my brother who, at the age of about 3...yelled "Happy New Year!" as the rest of us were waving good-bye to our grandparents as they left after a visit during the summer.
Unfortunately, I was too busy being a mom during my daughter's childhood to remember too much...but I do know that she coined two phrases all on her own. The first was "knee pit". That is the space at the back of the knees. You have an armpit, right? Then why not a knee pit? The second was truly original. Megan was used to giving her father "Eskimo kisses"--rubbing noses--and "high fives"--slapping palms in victory. Well...one day, she smacked her father on the nose with her hand. I said, "Poor Daddy!" Her response was, "I was just giving him an Eskimo Five." It made perfect sense to her, and after I thought about it, it made sense to me, too!
Grandchildren can be a rich source of cute things. Robin was slower to speak than I thought she should be, but she used an economy of words. Sharp as a tack, she ruled the roost before her brother was born. They came for a visit one day when she was merely a toddler. I asked if she wanted something to eat. She didn't really respond and continued on about her toddler busy-ness...but I kept hearing her say "Pea butt swence." Over and over. "Pea butt swence." In a moment of clarity it hit me. Stupid Grandma! The child is asking for a peanut butter sandwich!
Ryan was very verbal, very early in life. He had a huge vocabulary--and still does. At the ripe old age of two or less, he was asked what he thought of how my early-morning hair looked. He said, "Noodly!" What was fascinating about that to me, a teacher of language, was that this child--very new to language development--knew how to make a noun into an adjective. My gray hair looked like noodles to him. (It did.) But he already knew how to make it fit into sentence structure. My big boy!
Ry has also offered some other moments of amusement. I took him to do some shopping with me once when he was probably two. He told me I needed to buy new jelly because what I had was "misgusting". And once, he asked for a tool. He needed a "goofdryer". (Screwdriver to the rest of us.) And then there was the time that we were going to Illinois, just the two of us, to visit his great-aunt Shari and family. As we pulled out of the drive, he said, "Hit the road, Toad!" Such good memories!
Ry still extends his vocab, but now that he can read, he gets confused. A few months ago, he was talking about something he had read about a boat that had been hit with a "rouge wave". I had to explain that he had read it wrong. It was a ROGUE wave. But still, how many third graders would even recognize the difference in those two words??
Oh how I love the little moments of understanding that come from listening to kids...saying the darnedest things!
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