Decay?

You know when you learn the definition to a new word, or you learn how to spell a word, then it seems to come up all the time?

For me, recently it's been "feral". That means wild, or wildlike. My soon to be one year old son seems to approach things in a very feral way. He is very feral.

I actually get introduced to new vocabulary words all the time because my husband is a walking dictionary and throws fancy words around in his daily speech. He's also a writer, so I guess it comes with the job. But seriously? I can't keep up.

I like it when the four year old learns new words. She will dwell on the word and try it out for several days, seeing how it fits in her world. The other thing I like about the four year old's vocabulary is that I can still keep up with it. However, by about day 3 or 4 of the new word, I'm ready to move on.

I used to be kind of an "anti-computer" teacher. Computers are good for research, but they can't "teach" anything.

I stand corrected.

I myself have gotten addicted to this website called "Time 4 Learning". I think it's a great website for teaching kids and, as a teacher, I highly recommend it as a supplemental tool.

But alas, that is not where my daughter learned her new vocabulary word, "decay."

My daughter learned this happy little vocabulary word from pbskids.org. Namely "Sid the Science Kid." After spending about a half hour playing with some Sid the Science Kid game, my daughter asked me, "What's decay mean?"

I began with my usual processing stall of, "Well..."

My daughter then answered the question for herself. "It's when things get old and slimy and icky."

"Okay. I guess that's one way to look at it."

"Like when the apple got decayed. Or when my juice gets decayed. Or when things in the fridge get old."

"Right. That's absolutely right. But even leaves can decay outside and return to soil."

That was a little too much for her. "Okay," she said as a dismissal.

Over the next several days, "decay" became the word de jour.

"I can't eat this," she said as I placed a grilled cheese sandwich in front of her. "It has decay."

"No it doesn't. Where?"

"Right there. See?" She pointed to a slightly burnt part.

"That's not decay. That's crispy."

She mumbled something about decay and began to tear the offending part of her sandwich off.

On the way to preschool, she said to me, "I'm going to leave my juice in the car. PLEASE don't let it decay, okay?"

She asked for some water later in the day. I handed her a water bottle.

"Does it have peanuts in it?" (We've trained her a little to well to ask about peanuts because of her allergy).

"No. No peanuts."

"Does it have decay?"

Sigh. "No. Just drink it."

She examined the bottle closely before taking a drink.

I'm seriously thinking of writing Sid the Science Kid a letter. I don't know what I'd say. But I feel the need to sarcastically thank him for teaching the word "decay" to my child so well. Something like, "Dear Sid, Please come live with her until she learns a new vocabulary word. I've had enough."