SEGMENTAL DETAIL IN EARLY LEXICAL REPRESENTATION

Emmy had the cutest little speech impediment until she was 6. She couldn't pronounce her "th's" and "r's" and used n's in place of her l's. This caused a little confusion in her church class when she told her teacher that she was thankful for her "Knife" when, of course, she meant her Life. Her teacher quickly consulted us to ensure that Emmy didn't have an arsenal at her personal disposal. She began speech therapy in kindergarten and too quickly, was talking like an adult. Now I find that she is the first one to correct me if I mispronounce something or heaven forbid, round up a number. If something is $3.99, it is $3.99. Don't you dare round up to $4.00. If it is 3:59 pm, it is 3:59 pm. Don't even consider that it is 4:00 pm. I understand that she has grasped on to perceptual concepts and must follow them rigidly at this point in her life. It is a normal stage of intellectual growth and moral reasoning. But in my more immature moments, I must grit my teeth in order to endure being corrected by an 8 year old. These kids grow up so mind-spinningly (I know that Spinningly is not a word and I don't care) fast.

Ansel, on the other hand, is still wrestling with his own lexical representation. I always want to have a 4 yr old in my immediate vicinity. Attempting to compartmentalize the world is a magical experience. I want to document his paradigm at this point in his life, so in a few quick moments, when he is 8 years old and rolling his eyes at my naivety, I can look back and remember that he didn't always have it all together.

Smarshmallows......Marshmallows

Compuger......Computer

Lets go back to We're house.....Lets go back to our house

Scabetti.......Spaghetti

Halicornia....California


I want to take a haircut...He LOVES haircuts

A Rock Or Bomba (Barack Obama)......a non-partisan mistake


I am having a Dairy Good Day. (A very good day)


Azagna....Lasagna


I can do it by my own......I can do it by myself


Do you have a secret for me?....(this means he wants me to tell him I love him)
We saw man with a patch on his eye one day in the store. Ansel yelled LOUDLY, “Look, there is a real pirate!”

We were listening to the radio and we heard "Eye of the Tiger." I said, “This is an old song”. Ansel asked, “Is it going to die?”

Ansel walked in the house with a bit of a bloody nose. I asked him, "Where did you get your bloody nose Ansel?" He replied, "Duh, Mom. On my nose".

The reality is that, even as adults, most of us are far from attaining a realistic and objective view of the world. Our communication with others is bursting with misunderstanding and

subjective interpretation full of error and erratic response. The only difference is that when we are adults, it is no longer very cute.