I love playing with words; I love writing words, saying words, and using large descriptive words when a short one would suffice. I like saying things like:
and
"The word palindrome is not actually a palindrome"
and
"A pronoun is a noun that's lost its' amateur status"
I also like to say colloquial phrases such as "ass over teakettle", "take that jig jog" and "rule of thumb" I like to know the meaning of those phrases too--and if you want to know the meaning of phrases like that go to this site-thanks DIL!
Sometimes I like to
write in haiku form just 'cuz
it's super fun.
I like the way certain words feel in my mouth for example: "facetious","patronizing" and "onomatopoeia"
More than any of these things though, I love that both of my kids like to play with words. I love hearing Gabe sounding out words and then saying outloud to himself "what does that mean? am I saying that correctly?" I love when he asks the meaning of a word and then later on I hear him working that word into a sentence or two. I like when Bitsy hears me say something and repeats it, such as "You're making me very cross" or "can you turn that [radio] up a tick?"
Tonight she and I had the following conversation...
Mom: What are you doing in there? [there being the bathroom]
Bits: I'm just using the potty.
Mom: Ok, but go right back to bed when you're done. [major wishful thinking on my part. HA]
Bits: Okay Momma. I mean, MUDDER. [the "th" diphthong escapes her sometimes]
Words are simply delicious (isn't the word delicious delicious? Don't you just want to eat it? Much like the words scrumptious, delectable, and edible just sound like you could eat them)
Not only are both of the kiddos learning words to describe things and the world around them, they're learning that words have meaning. They're learning that some words give are "warm fuzzies" and others are "cold pricklies" I love when kids get to that age when they hear a word and don't quite know what it means but know that it gets a reaction out of you-I'm not just talking about swear words (though we ALL know that SarahAnne has a mouth like a sailor and I am pretty sure at this point it's not about getting a reaction, it's more that she wants to speak as colorfully aloud as she thinks-case in point: we were having a particularly tasty meal and with a mouth full of said tasty food, she sighed and said "oh momma, this is so damn delicious" and then gave another satisfied sigh. I can't fault her for saying it-though we did tell her we don't say those sorts of things at the table-because sometimes when I eat something *I* want to yell "THIS IS SO DAMN DELICIOUS")
Words like "like" "love" "dislike" and "hate" are words we are currently working on at home. We're working on other words that evoke emotions, such as "heart broken" and "ecstatic". Bits and Gabe have learned that using the word hate is strictly forbidden in our house-we simply do NOT use that word. Nor are we allowed to say that we don't love one another. As we explain it to the kids, we always love one another, even when we don't LIKE each other. It's okay not to like something that someone said or did BUT we still love them and treat them like we love them.
My hope is that Gabe and SarahAnne will grow up to love words the way I do-that before saying things they'll think about the meaning of the words they are about to say-and that in an excited moment, they won't lose the spelling bee because they spell the word "antler" incorrectly. (*sigh* the truth comes out; I once lost a spelling bee because I was completely and utterly overly self confident in my own abilities to whip everyone's asses at spelling. I started to spell antler, a rather simple word, and skipped over the letter "l" how embarrassing, to say the least!)
and just so this post has one wordless aspect to it...
No comments:
Post a Comment