Backfire Story of the Day: About Fajitas, or Something

About a year ago, I wrote about the funniest words my daughter couldn’t pronounce properly. Since that post went up, Thumper’s vocabulary has changed quite a bit.

She can correctly say all five words mentioned in my original post and not only speaks in full sentences, but full soliloquies. She continually proves that she does, in fact, listen when I talk by later repeating what I’ve said, either to the cat or in song. Just the other day, she made up a song all about how Mommy says we shouldn’t play with the curtains because the curtain rod might fall down on us.* Later on, I overheard her ask the cat, “What’s with the stink-eye?”** You also already know that she is constantly asking ‘why,’ which requires me to constantly remind myself that she legitimately doesn’t know the answers to the inane questions she asks, as well as endlessly try to figure out what she’s really asking. It turns out that once kids figure out that asking ‘why’ will get them an answer, they will ask it even when they really mean is ‘what’ or ‘how.’

*I’m not crazy. This has happened in our house.

**The Juno fan in me secretly loves hearing her say “stink-eye.”

But the funniest conversation she’s had since the evolution of her language skills was by far one that she had with my husband a few weeks ago in the grocery store. It went something like this:

I may look sweet,
but I know what a vagina is.

Thumper: Daddy, where’s your fagina?

Dawson: (in shock) Um, do you mean fajita?

Thumper: No, FAGINA.

Dawson: Are you trying to say... (in a whisper) vagina?

Thumper: Yeah! Fagina. Where’s yours?

Dawson: I don’t have one.

Thumper: Why?

Dawson: Because I’m a boy, and boys don’t have vaginas.

(Pause)

Thumper: You don’t have any faginas?

Again, let me remind you that not only did this conversation actually take place, but it happened in the grocery store at a very audible volume.

I guess I forgot to tell Dawson that Thumper asked me what that area was called and that I actually told her. I should also mention that she cried when I told her it was called a vagina and said she didn’t want one. She just wanted to have a bum. Clearly, she’s gotten over that. Also, she can pronounce vagina correctly now.

Oh, and one more thing. After her conversation with Dawson, she began to very loudly sing a song she made up. That only consisted of the word fagina. While still in the grocery store.

-Alice