Saturday, February 09, 2008

He has spikey WHA?!!

I have a set of twin preschool boys that see me for speech twice a week. Cute but definitely hard to understand. Don't get me wrong... they are getting better and we've been able to interpret MOST of what they are expressing. On Wednesday, Twin A comes in for his speech time and proceeds to tell my para and me that his family "dot a new hedzhod." (Interpretation: They "got a new hedgehog.") I add to the conversation, telling him that I, too, once had a hedgehog and that I thought he was very "stinky", and I scrunched up my nose to emphasize my point. He giggles and agrees, stating, "Him poops a wot!" ("He poops a lot!") Nice. I'm already laughing. Funny kid... loves to giggle with me. I ask him what his hedgehog's name is... "Pikey" ("Spikey". BTW...I'll fill you in that both brothers leave off beginning "s" sounds in /s/ clusters.) "Pikey" is all I recall him telling me, even though I remember he said another name with it that didn't register in my memory banks. We finish our session with Twin A and then Twin B comes in. Twin B's speech is slightly harder to understand than Twin A. "I hear from your brother that you got a new hedgehog," I say. He beams with pride, "Yep! Him tool!" ("Yep! He's cool!") I add, "Pretty stinky though, huh?" Twin B smiles and says, "Yep. Him poops a wot!" I smile (laughing internally), "So I've been told." My para is trying to contain her laughter at this point. "What's his name?" (I figured it's polite to give brother B a chance to chime in, even though I'd already heard this answer before.) I'm writing a note and nonchalantly listening to his response as, like I said, I "knew" the answer as he announces, "Pikey Nipples!" My para lurches backwards in mid-reach of game prep, her eyes huge as it is getting harder for her to successfully reign back her physical NEED to laugh at this point. She's near snorting. Her movement and noise make me look up suddenly. As his answer sinks quickly into the now-alert receptive area of my brain, I look up, also wide-eyed and reply dryly (and mostly toward my para), "Now there's a vivid image." She BURSTS out laughing, backing away from the table. The hilarity of her dam-releasing laughter reaction causes me to spew with laughter. I QUICKLY lose the last vistage of allowable wait-time for my overly full bladder and quickly get up, letting her know, "I'll be back in a few..." She knew where I was going. I hear her laughter all the way down the hallway, as I giggle with tears in my eyes and still try to hold my water. Upon leaving the teacher's lounge, I took a few extra minutes to share "Spikey Nipple's" name with his teacher, the school secretary, and the nurse's assistant (who also almost lost bladder control as she bent over laughing.) I sent a note home with Twin B to their mom asking for the name of our spikey-nippled friend (note to my mother... I did NOT really write those words in that note). I know this parent well enough that I AM tempted to call her and tell her the story though. So, on Friday, Twins A & B came into speech together. I decided to ask Twin A to tell me the name of the hedgehog again... "Niffoos Pikey" (??? My para and I were still not sure.) Twin A sees our confused looks and says, " 'NIFFOOS' "... [puts his sleeve to his nose] "Him neezes a wot." OOOOOH!.... "SNIFFLES! He SNEEZES a lot!!" Note to self: Twin B needs help with the /f/ sound. Stat.

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