Word Whammer

Alyssa is sleeping so Robbie and I got to spend some quality time together. My little intellectual wanted to spell words with our time. So, I pulled out his Word Whammer that we haven't used in at least half a year. I had forgotten we had it and just saw it the other day when the nanny's kids brought it out.

So, here's how it went... we did this for about half an hour, so this is only a sample of my little creative being.

He put "J", "A", "N" into the Word Whammer. He sounds it out and says "Jan". Unfortunately the Word Whammer won't recognize names, so it just sounds it out for him.

Mom: "Jan is a very nice name"

Robbie: "Ya, it's the name of one of my manners. It's a girl name. My manner's name is Jan and she has curly hair. See, she's right there behind Robbie" (pointing to the linoleum in the kitchen. Of course, I look, smile and wave to Jan).

Next her put in "H", "O", "G" and sounds out hog. I ask him if he knows what hog is?

Robbie: "It's a type of spoon you use to mix soup if it's hot"

Mom: "It's a pig"

Robbie: "It's kind of like that too"

Then my little genius starts replacing just the first letter. He starts with "L" and tells me that log is "a branch of a tree that's fallen down"

Then he replaces "L" with "R". I ask him what rog means.

Robbie: "when something is ruined and somebody fix it. That's a rog"

He replaces "R" with "J"

He sounds it out and says "job". I ask him what a job is.

Robbie: "my job is to keep sister safe. What is your job?"

Mom: "my job is to keep you and sister and daddy all safe"

Robbie: "and what else?"

Mom (a little perplexed since we only talk about my one job of keeping him safe): "to keep the house clean?" (I only said this because he often gives me a hard time about the house being a mess and that I need to clean it)

Robbie: "No, what else?"

By now, I figure out he's fishing for something, so I give in.

Mom: "I don't know, you tell me what my job is"

Robbie: "to do something when I sleep and then I come down."

Mom (a bit confused): "what do I do?"

Robbie: "like I come down and have a dinosaur party or a new book or you build a track or decorate the house just for me. That's your job."

I enjoy these moments of clarification. It's nice to know what he actually expects from me. Makes me wonder what Alyssa thinks my job is.