Matthew-isms

Matthew, bless his sweet and loving soul, gets creative when it comes to speaking. I'm not sure if he actually has a hearing problem or if he's just too busy to be bothered with tiny details like pronunciation. (Actually, he passed a hearing test a few months ago so I think it's the second issue.)

He doesn't have a speech impediment, exactly, he just says words in his own way--and he keeps saying them that way until you physically hold him still while repeating the word slowly and carefully several times in his face. Sometimes he remembers, sometimes he just prefers his own version.

The funny thing is, he talks so much and repeats everything he says so often that we hear these words over and over and over until they become part of the family vernacular.

I've already mentioned how Matthew kept trying to find someone to play "fuzzball" [foosball] with--that one stuck. And lately, he's been trying to drum up some players for a game of "Buh-nopoly" [Monopoly].

The other night we passed a refinery with all its lights twinkling (I always think they look like fairyland) and Matthew started going on about "electrikity".

But the most famous Matthew word, of course, was his take on "ice cream". He had my sisters and brother in hysterics last year every time he told them he was having "ass cream" for his treat. And of course they had to keep asking him what he was eating...