Moom

Brian and I kind of played a mean trick on Ashlynn.

And we've been doing it for years.

The fact is, we weren't trying to be mean. We were actually being a little selfish.

You see, for years now, Ashlynn has thought the word "Baptize" is pronounced "Bathtize". Years and years. It makes sense, right? The act is performed in a giant bathtub, so it is easy to see where the confusion originated. Brian and I always thought it was cute, so we never corrected her.

Mean?

We figured when she got a little older she would figure out her mistake.

Not the case.

When she started reading, we told ourselves, "Now she'll figure it out." She didn't. And I don't really blame her. Anyone who is at all familiar with the English language and lovely words like "receipt" or "colonel" can understand.

Then when she turned eight and was going to get baptized, we considered correcting her, but by that point it was just too cute (and perhaps a little too late...)

Today at church she came to me nearly in tears. "Mom! I'm going to kill Dad. He just told me the other day that the correct word is 'bathtize' and my teachers were laughing at me because I kept saying 'bathtize'!" (for the record, she doesn't have mean teachers, she has mean parents. Her teachers have known her all her life and love her like she is part of their family. Thank you Steele family!)

So maybe that is where we messed up. We tried to milk the cute factor too much.

As we were discussing it after church, there were all sorts of dramatic "How Could You!" accusation flying around. We explained that we thought it was sweet and cute. She came back with, "Mom! I'm almost ten years old! I should know the correct pronunciation of the word 'baptize! Next time you should correct me!!!"

We said fair enough.

Then I added, "Since we are on the subject, it is pronounced 'Moom' not 'Mom'".

Even though her back was turned to us, I could see she was smiling!