Word Boy

 There aren't really any pictures documenting his ability to use words cleverly, so I just thought I'd use the most recent picture I had of him to show just how adorable (ahem), I mean, grown-up he is.

Yeah. Yeah. The PBS show is actually called, "Word Girl," but around here, it's a little boy that appears to have inherited his mother's love for words and a good ear for language. It really comes as no surprise to me that we hear only good reports from his teachers about how easily he is picking up a second language. Ever since he was little, Bo has had an impressive vocabulary (his Grandma Rita was always commenting on how she couldn't believe he even knew certain words) and he's been able to make connections and jokes with words that were actually pretty sophisticated considering his age.

My favorite story with him is actually a mistake that kids pretty commonly make when they think they hear a familiar name in a common word or phrase. With Bo, it happened when he was two and he and Leah were playing dress up. Leah was wearing a leotard and Bo turned to me in all seriousness and asked, "Where my Botard go?" He kept hearing us say the word leotard and thought we were talking about a Leahtard, so naturally, he wondered where he could find a Botard.

I don't think it will ever be possible for Bo to top that one in the cuteness department, but the one that comes in a close second involves spaghetti dinners and Parmesan cheese. For the life of me, I could never figure out why he kept calling Parmesan cheese, "parmage." Honestly, it drove me batty until the night we were all sitting at the table and he requested, "parmage on" his spaghetti and I realized that the way Bill and I say the word, Bo always thought we were asking him if he wanted, "parmage on." I'm still giggling thinking about it!

Most recently, we were driving in the car and we were talking about a video game that Leah likes to play on the computer. It's a game called, "Animal Jam," and she is actually no longer allowed to play it because it always seems to freeze our computer up. That's the word we usually use too- freeze. But Bo, in the driest manner, asked me that day, "Why is it even called, 'Animal Jam'? The only thing it jams is our computer." At the time, I was concentrating on the road, but after I'd made my left turn, it occurred to me that it really was a pretty clever play of words for a six year old to use so casually.

This mama is definitely looking forward to games of Balderdash and Boggle and Scrabble in the years to come!