Children Say the Cutest Things, Usually
When my son Cannaday began talking he was so cute. He was 15 months old when he said “book.” The way he puckered his lips when he spoke was as if he was kissing the air. His voice was sweet, high pitched, and melodic. By the time he was 2 years old, his vocabulary increased but he had trouble pronouncing the “tr” sound. Words with “tr” sounds, Cannaday pronounced like an “f.” If we were in the park and he noticed a tree he would point from his stroller and say, “Fee. Fee Mommy, Fee,” and I’d gently reply, “Yes baby tree; that’s a tree.” If we were watching a train pass he’d shout, “Fain! Fain, Mommy, fain” and I’d say, “Yes baby train; that’s a train.” For Cannaday, recognizing an object he could say for the first time was super exciting, like finding the prize inside a cereal box. One day. I was pushing Cannaday in a shopping cart towards the checkout lanes in K-Mart. It was a week day afternoon but the store was crowded. Every lane had at least 5 people in line. ...