The Catbird Seat

FROG.

Not a hard word, really.

But for Elizabeth, who is phonetically-challenged, “frog” sounds a whole lot like the more notorious “F” word…you know the one.

How did I come to discover this knowledge?

Well, some time ago, Paul bought the girls plastic frogs and turtles to play with in the bath. There are all different kinds of both (and all about the size of a pecan); the frogs, in particular, are very colorful like the one pictured above.

The girls love them.

And Elizabeth especially loves the frogs, I’ve noticed.

While Paul has been away on a Mission Trip to NC, I have become the primary bathe-er. Which means, among the other normal bathtime tasks, I get to play with the girls playing with the frogs and turtles. So fun.

I was flipping the turtles and frogs off into the bathtub from the edge, saying something like, “Here comes a turtle…he’s gonna hop on you!” each time I flipped one of them into the tub. The girls squealed with delight.

Until I made a mistake.

“Here comes a turtle…”

“F—.” said Elizabeth very seriously.

I stopped, not sure of what I heard.

“F—.” she said again, this time looking directly into my eyes.

Reaching into the bath water she retrieved another of the frogs, set it in front of me on the edge of the bathtub, and repeated the word slowly as if I were really, really dumb and needed it put more plainly in order to understand.

“Oh! [finally getting it] FROG!” I said, enthusiastically.

She was quite pleased with herself. So much so that she said her version of “frog” at least 3 more times.

It was only then that I realized that the “turtle” that I had just thumped into the water was not a turtle, but in fact, a frog.

Smart girl.

A week later, I find myself praying that she will not see, hear, or even think of a frog, and thus share her wonderful pronunciation of it with everyone in earshot.

And, of course, that prayer is especially funny considering that I am exceptionally proud of every other word in her vocabulary (since they have been so long in coming) and prompt her to repeat them all as often as I think she will comply.

Frog.

Four-letter word, indeed.

Filed under: Catbird, Random Thoughts, Elizabeth on June 14th, 2007