Spelling Bee

I don't think Nate and I were prepared for how quickly we would need to brush up on our spelling skills in order to outsmart our toddler. But we have been spelling for a solid 3 months or so.

 I have to say that while I LOVED the spelling bee as a child (I'm sure you are so surprised), I am glad we aren't having to spell any long words day in and day out right now. Because I'm not sure my accuracy would be up to snuff under the current sleep conditions.


Here are the top 5 words that we pretty much spell every day:


1) P-A-R-K
Matilda LOVES the park, and will shout "YAYAYAY!" if we even mention it not in context of playing (as in "park the car") and she goes wild. Wants the slide, the swing, and the whole kit and caboodle. With the weather we have been having the last two weeks (seriously, now can it even just be in the FORTIES consistently?) we aren't really all the excited about hanging at the park. And so we spell.

2) O-U-T
Similar to the park, Matilda loves to just go outside. And once the weather shapes up, that is exactly where we will be. Matilda will often hang at the door or window, grab her coat and say "outside". It is really only problematic when it is raining, snowing, 5:30AM, or freezing cold.

3) S-N-A-C-K
Pretty much any act of eating is considered a snack in Matilda's book. So even if it is dinner she will  call it a "nack". And the 'request' to eat usually comes in the form of this statement: "I need nack". So when we discuss if Tillie will get a little post-daycare snack, we have to spell it. And I would be lying if her pronunciation of it without the 's' isn't tripping me up in the spelling bee every now and then.

4) C-H-E-E-S-E
Matilda loves cheese. End of story.

5) B-A-T-H
This is a recent addition since Matilda is now starting to not want to get into the bathtub. We have always done a bath every night because she loves it and it is part of the bedtime routine. For whatever reason, Matilda acts like we are marching her to her death bed when we try to put her in the bath now, but once she is in she is fine. It is weird. And so we spell bath on the nights we know we aren't giving her a choice so as to delay the freak-out.

I'll be curious to see what we are spelling in a few years from now, or rather when Matilda will look at us and say "i know you just spelled some cheese, now give me my snack..." because my guess is those moments will come sooner than we are ready for too!