Bye Bye Soupcase

Why is it that when you're a mom and life is flying by you like the speed of light, you don't realize what you have right under your nose? I take the little things for granted. I listen to the cute little quirks of toddlers and think that they'll be there forever. But I fail to realize that at some point, my daughter will not be able to get away with saying the word "soupcase" and continue to maintain credible aptitude with her teachers and classmates. But what is cuter than soupcase? That's the way she thought we said it. And like unresponsible parents, we just couldn't bare to tell her the right way to say it. Why. How often does a little 3 or 4 year old need to refer to a suitcase in the proper context. So we let it go. And each time we would get ready for a trip, Laura would emphatically say she had to help me pack her soupcase. Awwww, what a cute little word. "We have to pack our WHAT?" I would ask her and over and over she fell for it. "Soupcase Mom, our S O O O P C A S E". Oh. Okay. Thanks for clearing that up. So now, she's getting to that reading phase where she can sound out words. And she's 5. She growing up. So last night we're reading a reader book and she's sounding out words and I turn the page and there are pictures of, say it with me "soupcases" and she sees them. She sees the word, she makes the connection, and I help her finish sounding it out. "Suitcase" I say, hoping she won't hear that dumb T in there. Who needs it. The p makes it so much more endearing. So she says "Oh, soupcases". Ah, she didn't pick up the T. But....my guilty parental thoughts take over. What if she's 20 something and she's in a social setting and they're talking trips and she says she still hasn't packed her soupcase and then they all stare at her like she's a naked terrorist. And then credibility goes out the window. So I squinted and I thought and I said "Okay Laura, I have been misinforming you these entire 5 years of your educated life. It's not soupcase". Ah man. "It's sui-T-case. With a T". She ponders. She doesn't say anything like thanks or well, glad we got that sorted out. She just repeats it, almost like we're in slow motion. S U I T C A S E. Sniff. There it goes. She's fixed. I have made another word right in her little vocabulary. But I lost the cute little soupcase, sacrificed another childhood faux pas. Sniffle. And just last week Grant told her it's not "Husing" it's using. Like using the bathroom. Or using a pencil. But Husing was so much cuter, really! Sad. But they have to grow up and I am the resonsible person for teaching them how to say things right. So I'm having a small ceremony here on my blog. Goodbye Soupcase. Goodbye Husing. What's next?