01 May
Garbage
Jack is a talker. If he’s awake, it’s almost a certainty that he is talking. I used to wonder if he verbalizes ever single thought because he talks THAT MUCH. Jack has pretty much always been a pretty good talker. It seemed like almost as soon as he started talking everyone could understand what he said. He catches on to new language concepts fairly well. If he uses the wrong tense, we correct him and he usually gets it right. He gets tripped up by the goofy English language every once in a while and an argument will ensue. He’ll say “I heared Daddy.” I’ll correct him and say “It’s heard. You should say I heard Daddy.” He will argue with me but eventually he gets it. Then he spend the next five minutes testing out the word. “I heard the wind; I heard Xander cry; I heard a birdie.”
He’s never really had any issues with word pronunciation. If he pronounces a word wrong, we correct him and he never gets it wrong again. Except for that one word. I’m sure every kid has that one word. The one word that the ALWAYS mispronounce. That word for Jack is garbage. He has always pronounced it “gargabe”. I used to try and correct him but then I decided that it was too cute. I knew that one day he would start saying it correctly. I didn’t anticipate actually witnessing it happen.
A few days ago, the boys were playing in my closet. I had gathered some worn out shoes that needed to go in the garbage. I explained as much to Jack. Like any good preschooler, he repeated what I said about 47 times. “Mommy, these shoes have to go in the gargabe.” Yes Jack. Then Daddy walked by and like any good preshcooler, he had to tell Daddy about the shoes. “Daddy, these shoes have to go in the garbage.” Me: “WHAT DID YOU SAY?” Jack: “These shoes need to go in the garbage.”
And just like that, the child learned to say garbage correctly. I’m not gonna lie, I shed a tear for gargabe.
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