The Wrong Wray

The boy has discovered the humour in spoonerisms and mispronunciations. I know that sometimes if I talk to fast the words come out in the wrong order, or I combine two sentences in my head but only one comes out. Yesterdays was, “No, it's the grey paint we need in the hallway, it's the white one” I was thinking, “ No, it's the grey paint we need in the hallway, that's the right one, we've already used the white one”. But of course, to a toddler, saying the grey paint is the white one is hilarious (apparently).

Not only do I mix up words, but of course, there are sometimes mispronunciations when I mix up letters, like we went the “wong wray” This means that not only does he run around repeating the 'funny' things I've said, he tries to create his own. Which is a funny task for anyone, but for a nearly three year old, it's even more fun. His favourite one at the moment is “the white one.” After he's said it, and then laughed, he has to reassure me that “I just said the wrong thing Mummy, I meant to say 'the right one'.” This is then followed by even more giggles. Which is the best part of the whole thing.

I love that he feels the need to explain to me that he knows what he wanted to say, he just got confused or mixed up. It means that he really is, most of the time, just playing, and doing it on purpose. Which is a great step on his way to learning the language, and developing a sense of humour., both of which are so important in life. Especially since his sense of humour needs some work at the moment – he likes to keep telling this joke, “knock knock, (who's there?) him”. Cue maniacal toddler laughter. Yeah, I don't get it either.

Playing around with language is a great thing, and when he gets older, I'm hoping he'll share my love of groan-inducing bad puns (much to hubby's dismay), and our family's slightly off-beat, slightly dry sense of humour. For now, I'll go with the 'accidental' word slip ups and weird knock knock jokes, and just enjoy the sound of his laughter.