i-c-e-c-r-e-a-m

Ahh, spelling. As a parent, I do this a lot. Sometimes without thinking.

Last week I spelled "c-o-o-k-i-e" to the Quiznos employee who looked at me like I had three heads, and then said "you don't want the cookie?" Duh. I wasn't testing to see if you could spell, I didn't want the kids to know what they weren't getting!

But I kind of screwed up my spelling plan when one of the sight words I taught the Tumbleweed this week was "play". I discovered that this was a mistake today as another mom spelled "p-l-a-y-g-r-o-u-n-d" to see if we were going, and the Tumbleweed interrupted "ooh-ooh, Mommy are we going to the playground now?" Oops.

Moral of the story: don't teach your kids the words you often spell, but when they get older & hate spelling you can tell them what they will need it for when they grow up. And don't expect minimum-wage teenagers to keep your secret.