emones

The other morning Elizabeth had a minor freak out. I want emones. Where are the emones? EMONES! (pronounced like anemones, with the a-nem changed to just em: em-o-knees!!!!)

I tried asking - what do you want? EMONES! In increasing decibels, force, and enunciation of each nonsensical syllable.

I tried the whole, I don't understand you, what do you mean? No luck.

She's actually pretty verbally adept, so it sometimes work if we say, describe what you mean. She gained a measure of control and thought for a second - remember, I dropped them yesterday?

Oh! Right! M&Ms! She found a bag of M&Ms I had bought after Halloween and spilled part of the bag the day before (and scored some M&Ms). And now was demanding more. For breakfast, no less.

I gave her 5 emones today - she proceeded to lie them up with the imprinted M turned sideways and said, look mommy, all e's. All E's for Elizabeth.

So tell me, do you make a new family word out of cute toddler pronunciation, or do you teach the right word?

Or, better yet, maybe I stop buying day after holiday cheap candy. My weakness!