Killer Vocabulary

Okay Julie, here's an anecdote for you:

Matt has been working with Addy (almost 5 and learning to read and write) on playing hangman. Yesterday she comes out with a piece of paper with a game all set up and the blank lines for a word ready to be filled in.

She and Matt sit on the couch and he starts guessing letters. It appears that she has rigged the game so that he will guess incorrectly so she can draw more of the hangman and he's getting a bit confused.

Finally they are down to all but one letter. The paper reads CU_T. He shoots me a bemused look and guesses L for cult. Nope. He starts running through every letter of the alphabet and starts to look a little panicked. He gets to M and Addy tells him, "Nope! But you're close!" So he, prudently skips N and says "O?" "No, Dad! It sounds like "M!" Finally, he looks a little afraid and says, "N?" Addy's eyes light up, "You guessed it!!" Now more afraid than ever, Matt asks her, "and what word is that?" "Conut, Dad! It's COnut!! I invented it so you could guess it!!"

That's a page for her scrap book that ought to amuse her in about 15 years...