Phonics lesson…

…from a 3-year-old.

This morning Monkey asked me how to spell "whale." "W-H-A-L-E," I told him.

Pause.

"Mommy, I don't think you heard me right. How do you spell 'WHALE'?"

So I told him again.

"No, Mommy," he patiently explains, "'Whale' ends with 'l'. Listen: 'Whallllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllle.'"

At this point, I was impressed that my educationally-neglected-3-year-old had figured this out on his own. But I explained to him that it ended with the 'LLL' sound but actually had a silent 'e' on the end.

So then he asked, "What sound does a regular 'E' make?"

"E says 'eh'," I said, "like 'elephant.'"

Another pause.

A big sigh.

An eyeroll.

"Mommy." Another sigh. "'Elephant' starts with 'LLLLLL' too!"