Y is for Lemon

The kids have been caroling a lot lately. And it just makes me smile.

And laugh.

Take "Little Drummer Boy," for example: "The ox and yamb kept time, pa-rum pa-pum-pum." Or "Jingle Bells" and the "one-horse open sweigh."

It's not nice of Mama and me, but we love to hear the kids to say words that include the letter "l." Because they can't say it. They say "y" instead. Most of the time in daily conversation, we don't even notice anymore--and even when we do, we never laugh or correct. But sometimes we guiltily encourage them to repeat. The pronunciation just strikes our funny bones and we giggle outrageously, on the inside. I like "yove," as in "I yove you, Mommy." Mama's favorite, from the time Sis's spotted the product in Gommie's bathroom, is "buffayo yotion."

As I've mentioned, spelling has become really important over here. The kids love to spell and talk about letters. One of their favorite games is to pick a letter--sometimes by spinning an apple and singing the ABCs until the stem snaps off, sometimes by just choosing a letter--and then name all the words that begin with that letter.

Then one night, Mama and I were in a playful mood.

"Okay, let's do 'y.' What starts with 'yeh'?"

"Yemon."

"Yights."

"Yeaves."

"Yollipop."

Of course, we know it won't last much longer. Kids usually master the "l" sound by kindergarten. And so we're embracing the childlike pronunciation, before it goes the way of other childhood things and disappears