Since she was little, my daughter has loved to look at books and “read” them out loud in her own interpretation. As I was making dinner this evening she embarked on this commonplace activity in the family room. All of a sudden I hear “And Farmer B*tch had some cows.” Hold on what?
I must have heard her wrong. Needless to say my attention perked up. She continued to read several pages of the book and referred to Farmer “B”, until I finally asked her if she meant “Farmer Butch.” This was the name of the farmer from a field trip that her preschool class recently took. To which she laughed and agreed that that was the correct name and continued on reading as if nothing abnormal had occurred. Now this is not language she hears at home and I am hoping that she does not hear at her church based preschool; so I pretty much have chalked it up to one of those kid phrases that has no real meaning attached.
Honestly, the whole situation made me laugh as do many of the other words that she has mispronounced over the years. Most of them I have found very endearing. Usually I just let them run their course but for obvious reasons, I need to shut this one down, especially because she is 4 and can make the correct letter sounds (I know that some younger children often cannot make a certain sound yet and thus inadvertently say a swear words. I am sure all of us have heard the work “truck” mispronounced.) Over the years though, I have complied a list of common words that Adelynn initially said incorrectly. I miss those years of early language exploration and learning how to make new sounds with age. There was quite on long length of time that I wondered if she would ever say the word “movie” instead of a “douvie” or “monkey” instead of “dunkey.” As an attentive mama, I would sometimes say the word slowly to help her hear the m- sound. One day, I’m not really sure when, it was just “movies.” And that phase had ended.
I love the process of development, teaching, growing, facilitating learning but goodness it is kind of a double edge sword because with the achievement of one accomplishment comes the end of the past treasured stage. There are very few words that Adelynn says incorrectly anymore. As most children do she naturally learned how to form different letter sounds and consonant combinations. And I love being able to have more “advanced” conversation with her but I miss the early words. So even though, Farmer “B” is not necessarily a mispronounced word so to say, I cherished this day and in fact cherished that she said it. Remembering that this innocence does not last forever and this is a time in her life when that word has no meaning; no markings of societal significance. It was merely a name she forgot as if she had said “Farmer Joe or Farmer Bob.” And there is something sweet in that.
