The following is by contributor Amanda Morgan of Not Just Cute.

I love listening to my three year-old talk.  He has a way of making the most common words sound delectably darling.  He asks if we can look something up on my “compweeter” almost every day.  He comments on our secret “packageway” when we take a new route home from his brothers’ school.  And my heart absolutely melts when I hear him half shout, half sing, “Lemolade!” while peddling summer’s favorite drink with his big brothers.

I’m not the only mother who revels in the mispronunciations commonly found in our preschoolers’ lingo.  When I shared some of my favorite boyhood bumbles on Facebook, loads of parents joined in, sharing examples like “soupcase” for suitcase and “ice cream” instead of sunscreen, that kept me chuckling for days.

As much as I would agree that these misnomers are endearing and cute, they also provide a window to the rapid pace of language and cognitive development in our little ones.

While it generally takes 18 months for a child to garner their first 50 words, soon after that point, their vocabularies begin to explode.  By age three, the average preschooler has a vocabulary of 900-1000 words!  With that much new information, it’s no wonder some of it would get jumbled in the process.

Child development theorist, Jean Piaget posited that we can learn as much (and perhaps more) about what children understand by really looking at their mistakes rather than simply measuring them by the sum of their correct answers.  Here are some ways to recognize your child’s learning in the middle of these hilarious misspeaks:
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The following is a guest post by Valarie Budayr of Jump Into a Book. The topic of kids and screen time seems like the perfect compliment to our 31 Days of Unplugged Play series and I’m looking forward to hearing what Simple Kids readers have to say about balancing screen time in the home. – Kara

Over the past few years I’ve watched the screen debate evolve as families choose between having a “screen-free” or a “screen-filled” home. In our family we’ve carefully chosen what is watched on TV, what Internet sites can be accessed, and enforced a strict “no cellphone until you can drive” policy. Of course, every on-line safety precaution has been taken as well as placing a time-tracker on the family computer.

All of this is fine and good until schools and society started encroaching on my little domestic bubble. Our schools have chosen to embrace technology in a variety of ways from turning in term papers, taking tests, research, and in-school discussions forums.

Our children’s visiting friends come over to our house with a collection of electronic gadgets, and with them come their own rules. My first reaction was to say, “my house, my rules,” but then it dawned on me that the conversation that was not being had was the one about balance.

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Written by Kara Fleck, Simple Kids editor and Rockin’ Granola mama.

Every once in a while even this simple living mama seems to need a gentle reminder that not all memories have to come from a big event or require fancy planning months ahead.

The small, unexpected things are pretty wonderful, too.

In this September frenzy of open houses, back to school, club meetings, and social occasions what I look forward to the most is the little moments:  quiet evenings at home, conversations on the porch swing, milk and cookies together after school.

My ten year old asked me if we could eat breakfast together outside last Sunday morning and it was some of the best 20 minutes of my week.  I’m glad I didn’t miss it.  I’m thankful I said “yes” when my first instinct was to try and talk her out of it.

Savor the small moments

Big picture planning is good, yes.  And I think it is important to have goals, both for yourself as a parent, and for your kids.  Think long-term and take the baby steps to get there.

But don’t get so caught up in the big picture that you don’t see the small things, the little bits of beauty right under your nose, the milestones that aren’t in the books but engrave themselves on your heart anyway.

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