Every night after Leta’s bath we lather her entire body with lotion to help protect her skin against the dry winter air. She loves this part of the routine and anticipates it by wiggling her feet frantically and chanting, “SHOSHUN! SHOSHUN! SHOSHUN!” For months Jon and I have been trying to teach her the correct pronunciation of the word often resorting to cruel behavior and withholding the lotion until she at least tries to fumble an L out of her mouth. It never works, of course, and we end up laughing maniacally as she holds her mouth shut in anger. When Leta is old enough to have her own blog one of her first posts will be about how her parents often denied her the healing salve of moisturizer and that is why now at the age of eight she likes to blow up mailboxes.
Shoshun is the most adorable mispronunciation that comes out of her mouth, and last night we recorded it so that we have it in permanence before she takes us seriously and says it the right way. That inevitable day will be tragic.