Lemontimes

What is it about the speech of little children that causes grown adults to talk like babies? I used to give my dad the hardest time for holding on to the words my brothers and I used for everyday items as young children. At 60 years old, he still refers to the basement as the "basebip," ice cream as "ice beam," napkins as "nahkims." My mom is equally as guilty. I know she still asks if anyone wants "Carter Sauce" for their fish. However, the older I get, the more children I have, the more I refer to things by their "kid names." And my husband, who only joined this parenting game less than 2 years ago, is even worse than I am!

We eat dinner at the "tamo"  and put things away in the "cavinet." We eat such things as "cucummers," "lemontimes," and "pahnatoes." We tell the kids to "Sneeze in your Elmo!" and refer to the character from Toy Story as "A Buzz Light." Caleb is the girls' little "brudder." Long after the kids have learned the proper name for such items, mom and dad are still hanging on the little kid version and using them in daily conversation. Why is that?

My husband and I, and my parents as well, are intelligent and well-schooled adults. We have multiple degrees and can hold conversations about complex topics. Why then, do we insist on calling it "Shakey Cheese" or asking the kids if they want "whapples" for breakfast? Is it some sort of attempt to hold on to our youth? Make our kids seem younger? I do notice an increase in the adult usage of these terms the older the kids become.

Lily is nearly 3, and Faith is 4, and they still supply us with new words and phrases regularly. Our new favorite is "Abbymeal," which started as "Appymeal," which Lily insists is the name of oatmeal. Caleb, at 7 months, has yet to say more than "babababa," so I'm sure he'll be providing us with some doozies as he learns to talk. As for myself, I will have to learn to create a filter, so that I can still speak like an intelligent adult when I am away from home.

As a side note, I find it hilarious that when I do spell check, the only things highlighted are all the words my children have made up.



Faith is peeling her own "lemontime."