Get it right, Mom!

One stormy day last week the girls and I were curled up on the couch for school. I was going over the girls' spelling words and asked Olivia to spell "extra." She tried to start the word with an "x," so I was trying to explain to her the concept of "ex" at the beginning of a word. I must admit, I was a bit groggy. It was so dark and gloomy outside, and the rain was very soothing. So, my brain wasn't in top form. I made the mistake of saying, "You don't start words with 'x' - you have to have another letter first. What do you think that letter is?" Well, any of you who know Angela at all know that she couldn't stand for such an erroneous statement! But the way she did it was quite funny to me. I would have expected her to say, "But what about xylophone?" since that is the common "x" word used to teach the letter. But, no. Instead she said, "Um, Mommy? Did you forget about Xerxes?" Xerxes? What? My five-year-old knows how to spell Xerxes - and can specifically dredge up that information in a situation totally unrelated to the story of Esther? She cackled with delight when she realized that she had gotten the better of her mommy. And Olivia now remembers quite well that "extra" is not spelled like "Xerxes."