What's that you say?

About a week ago Mark and I were discussing something our daughter had said and I very sternly told him, "Honey, don't you dare correct that."

I wasn't referring to a behavioral issue, I was referring to the word she had used.

It absolutely delights me to hear the things our children come up with.

When Ella was two, she ended every word with the "eee" sound. If something was broken she would bring it to me, saying, "Brotee!" She said "opee" instead of open. She called her brother Isaac "Izee" and her little buddy Aidan "Aidee".

The other cute thing was her use of the word "my" in place of I. She would say things like, "My did it!" Or "My hap you?" (I help you?)

One of my favorites was when she'd finish painting or eating and would ask, "You keen my funders, mommy?" :)

The following year she'd say "bay" in place of boy, so she'd tell me what a "good bay" Isaac was, or talk about those "bays and girls".

At this stage of her life, she says nearly everything correctly, but occasionally she'll slip in the wrong word (like when she complained of having a "canker chip" in her mouth at dinner one night. We're thinking she is confusing the words canker and poker). And I think she still refers to the exersaucer as the "applesaucer", but it is such a cute mistake that I really want her to keep saying it that way.

And then there's my Isaac. When he used to say sorry, he'd say, "Saw saw". So he'd tell his big sister, "Saw saw bonk." (Sorry for the bonk).

Instead of ice cream, he'd say "i peem", and that word began to stand in for any and all desserts or treats.

He used to sing, "Pickle, Pickle, Little Star". Ella was emphatic that he sang it correctly, and reminded him constantly that it was actually "Twinkle, Twinkle..." but he insisted it was "Pickle, Pickle..." and sang it that way for months.

He adds the "bee" sound to the beginning of a lot of his words. Vanilla is actually pronounced "Beenilla"; and his cousin Josiah, "Beesiah".

When we hopped around on Michelle's trampoline this past summer he kept calling it a "Vasaline".

Recently he said, "I had to cover my mouth so the bless-you wouldn't come out!" (So far he doesn't know it's actually called a sneeze, and I'm certainly not pointing it out to him!)

But hands down my favorite thing is this: my three-year old Isaac still says, "I want to hold you, mommy", which of course means that he wants me to hold him.