Addie has always said “lello” for yellow. When I was here before school started, I worked with her. Say “yes”. She could say “yes”. Now, say “yellow”. Lello! She would get frustrated with me because she was sure she was saying it right. I videoed it on my cell phone and played it back for her. She still thought she was saying it right.
When I got here this time, I figured .. she’s been in school for about two months, she’ll be saying it correctly. She was not. I didn’t say anything to her.
Yesterday, we were in the grocery store and she saw a yellow unicorn. It was in one of those $1 bins. She said “Granny, there’s a yellow unicorn there. Can I get it?” I said “WHAT DID YOU SAY?” She repeated it. She knew exactly what she had done. I said “When did you start saying yellow correctly?” and she said “just now!” I asked her if someone at school talked to her or helped her say it and she said no . . she just got it on her own. I guess hearing everyone else says it correctly.
Just last night we were working on color words and she was saying “lello”. I told her that I was really proud of her but she’s growing up too fast and so from now on, she can say “yellow” but I’m going to say “lello”! She thought that was pretty funny and kept asking me “what color is this?” and showing me yellow items. I kept saying “lello” and she was loving it.
Carolyn says
I can hear her telling the teacher that Granny says “lello”. Maybe her next a assignment will be to help Granny say it correctly. Most kiddos say lello and just like Addie did they get it right.
Joyce says
My family used to tell the story (long after she was an adult) about one of the children that said “ud-o” (pronounced like the “ud” sound in “bud” and a long “o”) instead of yellow. One of her cousins said it correctly, though. The girl went running up to her mother and said, “I say ud-o, but when she says ud-o, she says ud-o”. She was so excited and knew there was a difference, but it just wouldn’t come out right.
Rebecca in SoCal says
That;s cute, saying that YOU’RE going to say “lello.” It’s a much gentler way to encourage her pronunciation.
I remember my family laughing at the way I said wolf for a long time. Apparently it took me a while to pronounce the L.
Talk of how you hear something: I thought Japanese people were hopeless with the L sound (they don’t have one in their alphabet), thinking they were saying it right when I could hear the R. Then a Japanese man coached my on pronunciation of his name (with a “ts” sound). I thought I was saying it right, but he kept correcting me! Lesson learned.
dezertsuz says
Oh, all these little steps in growing up! I’m glad she got that sound, though. It does come down to being able to hear it. No speech therapy for Addie! =)
Nelle Coursey says
How cute! Alicia couldn’t say catsup when she was little so it was ching ching!! LOL
Sherry says
My mom, Mary, used to babysit a lot. Some of the kids couldn’t say Mary so she became Myrnie. When my brothers and I were little, we couldn’t say spaghetti or cinnamon. They came out as pisgetti and cimminon. So funny.