This may be terrible parenting, but there are simply some things my kids say that I refuse to correct, because I’m not ready for them to stop saying it their way yet.

For instance:

Elijah: Mom, do we have eggs?
Me: Yes, but we are almost out of them.
Elijah: But we are still in of them?

Or, when they are in disagreement and say, “No I amn’t.” Think about it – it really makes pretty good sense: can not is can’t, will not is won’t, are not is aren’t, so why is not (isn’t) “am not” said like “amn’t?” I get that the consonants look a little bumbly, but I love it.

I still adore the protracted fee-oo-dee-er Ian says for “theater.” Or how Isaac calls paper money “tickets” (He is good, however at budgeting himself, for a 5-year-old, and summed up the money game when he walked into the dollar store saying, “I love you money! Goodbye!”)

I think it also makes incredible sense that they figure the opposite of inside-out is “inside-in.”

One I have tried to correct, to no avail, is them drawing a jagged yellow “thunder.”

We are struggling to keep Ian’s interest in learning to play the “pinano.”

If I spent a day or three listening in, I would encounter more great examples that I can’t remember now. Hopefully I’ll do a better job documenting them so I will never forget! But for now, I have laundry to do, as Ian kindly observed the “pile is getting pretty high,” which is what happens when we are busy making memories. And now the laundry mountain, too, can be memorable.