Belbows and Lellow

Days gone by.

And nearly forgotten.

Therefore worth retelling.

Kids say the darndest things.  One of mine called pizza "pee-pee" early on.  She also had "pig's feet" whenever we went out to eat.  Yup, she'd look the waiter in the eye and proclaim "I'd like the pig's feet please." And we would discreetly translate it for him. . .chicken tenders.  She ate "chicken butter" too.  I know.  How gross, right?  But no, chicken butter was her name for chicken salad. 

Fast forward a few years and another little one with funny names entered our world.  She had a thing for "belbows."  That's what she called elbows.  Not because they were fat.  Just because she was a little girl.  For years I had to wear shirts/sweaters that she could slip her little hands up my sleeves to feel my elbows.  She preferred mine to daddy's but she love love loved my mom's.  We never were able to get a real explanation of why it made her feel better but it clearly comforted her.  We didn't have to do anything but make sure she would be able to feel our elbows.  When she couldn't, she'd ask for them--"Belbows???!!!"

Lellow.  Certainly not unique to my kids.  But one of those kidspeak classics that always makes me smile.  This morning we were reminiscing about belbows and pigs feet when I remembered "lellow." The girls all told me that they learned to stop saying "lellow" when they went to preschool.  They had the same preschool teacher and she was the one who taught them to say "yellow" instead of "lellow."

These days they don't have nearly the kidspeak that they used to have.  One of them rarely even calls me Mommy; now I'm "Moommm."  Even the youngest has all but abandoned "mama" to call me "Mommy."

Sometimes I miss the old days when I was Mama and the biggest problem the day held was making sure that my sweater sleeves were loose enough for for her to reach my elbows.