Some things just don't need correcting.

When our littles are tiny, they mispronounce words left and right. "Yellow" comes out as "Lellow", and compound nouns such as "fire truck" can spill from their little mouths as "fire f*ck" (two of my mom's favorite expressions from my childhood). As our babies grow, they figure out the "correct" way to say these words and phrases.

However, there are a handful of words that our 5-year-old still mispronounces, and I refuse to correct her, because these personal expressions keep her... Well, little.

For instance, Linna still calls "pancakes", "pan-a-cakes". She's called them "pan-a-cakes" since she was able to put a name to one of her favorite foods. She also says "marsh-yellows" when she refers to "marshmallows", and at the age of 5, the word "maybe" still comes out as "nay-be". Hearing Linna say her versions of these words is especially heart-warming when she's speaking to me like she's a sophisticated 20-year-old.

When Linna was learning how to talk, I pounced on every word that she'd mispronounce, in an attempt to get her to speak "properly". Now, as I watch our first-born grow into a young lady right before my very eyes, I can still see her as my little toddler when she uses her version of certain words.

"Nay-be" one day when she's a grown woman giving her valedictorian speech, the State of the Union address, or her farewell speech as Miss America, she'll still be using her word "flubs". A mother can only dream, right?! No matter what, I'll always be there to make her "pan-a-cakes" in the morning, and put extra "marsh-yellows" in her hot chocolate.

Whatever I can do to keep her little for as long as I can, consider it done. So, "flub" away, baby girl!