It's the Little Things That Irritate

Like any couple, Sean and Allie each exhibit a behavior or two that the other simply cannot abide.

For Allie, it's Sean's reading aloud. Let me backtrack a bit to explain that my fears about Sean's ability to read have been roundly disproved. He reads pretty well now -- I've marked his progress on the Henry and Mudge scale: he has gone from reading, with vociferous complaining, two pages of a Henry and Mudge book (September) to reading, with occasional prompts, an entire book on his own (February). I couldn't be happier.

Allie could.

She loves to be read to, but I think she has grown accustomed to the fluidity of a grown-up's reading cadences. Sean reads s l o w l y, pointing at each word as he goes along. Allie listens to Sean read for a few minutes, then either gets up and finds something else to do or picks up her own book, flipping the pages pointedly. And sighing for effect.

For Sean, a certain aspect of Allie's diction grates. She speaks very clearly about 98% of the time, but she can't say "th" words correctly. I think it's adorable, her "fank you" and "dat toy", but Sean feels the need to conduct a speech class. "No, Allie, it's THank you", not "FANK you," he'll lecture. "TH TH THHHH".

"Dat's what I SAID, Sean!" Allie replies indignantly. "FANK you!"

I guess I should be working on that letter combination with her, too. Maybe it won't be so cute in a year or so. Or I could just see how much our resident speech pathologist charges for ongoing therapy.