After All This TIme... A New Pipsqueakism!

I used to love the Pipsqueak's left-handed approach to the English language. She would apply her own perfectly logical rules of wordsmithing to everyday objects and situations, or adopt partially overheard terms that were just a tiny bit off from the bull's eye of common idioms. This approach led to things like my toolbox containing a "screwter" and a "bang" (and later, when she learned that a "bang" was actually called a "hammer," she would mimic my hammering nails into wood by loudly saying "HAM!" every time her imaginary hammer would hit an imaginary nail), or to a room being "bletch dark" when all the lights were turned off.

However, just as Puff the Magic Dragon learned, children begin growing up when we're not quite ready for them to, and the cute Pipsqueakisms were slowly but surely subsumed into standard American English vocabulary and grammar.  Much as I might approve of & encourage her (good and growing) mastery of the language, I missed her much cuter version.

And then I picked her up yesterday to get her from after-school care to the dance studio and she began telling me about her morning visit to the eye doctor. (This, of course, after answering my hopeful question about how fun or interesting her day at school had been with a characteristic "Meh.")  She gave me some general information and then told me that the eye doctor had been very happy to tell her that the optimism in her eye was gone.

I very intelligently replied, "Huh?" and Miri repeated, "The doctor told me the optimism in my eye was gone."

I laughed so hard that I had to take my foot off the gas (and nearly choked because I didn't want her to feel like she was being laughed at).  Several blocks later, I was finally able to explain what optimism is and why I didn't think that's what had been in her eye, and we agreed that I would ask Mommy later on.

Riding up to the studio in the elevator, Miri got one of those "AHA!" looks and confidently told me, "I just remembered what the eye doctor said -- he told me that the optimism in my eye went away!" Even before I could say anything (or start laughing again), she stopped with a quizzical expression on her face and said, "Or is that the same word that I said before...?"

I told her it was and we shared a laugh.  Later in the evening, AJ called me on her way to pick up the Pipsqueak and couldn't stop laughing when I told her about the supposed diagnosis.  Eventually, my sister caught her breath and explained that the doctor had said the astigmatism in one of Miri's eyes had apparently self-corrected.  I wrote out both words & showed them to Miri when she Facetimed me after dinner (due to Mommy's expertise in mathematics, Uncle Brian gets to help with & review the homework), and she made a point of memorizing the jumble of letters & sounds that is "astigmatism"...

...but from now on, any time I have trouble seeing clearly, I'm gonna wonder if it's due to the optimism in my eye...!