Ryan words

When Ryan was a little younger, he couldn't pronounce "sp" words. He made an "f" sound instead. Special was fecial, Spider-man was Fider-man, and spoon was foon. These, like so many others, passed quickly and are gone. Like the time when he was a baby and stuck his tongue out the left side of his mouth for like five days. That was it. Then it was over. Luckily, we had the presence of mind to snap a few shots of this short lived cuteness. Anyway, now he can say special, Spider-man, and spoon just fine. And the cuteness of that little stage is over.
When he was first learning to talk, he had these little made up words for things. Sometime around one and a half he was drinking a bottle before bed, and he stopped pointed to the bottle and said, "This...nana." From that point on anything to drink was nana. I have no idea why. It just was. Onnie was for orange. Sudu was cereal. Hubba was helicopter. Okeem was airplane. Mosko was motorcycle. Simmie was excuse me. But all those words have gone too. Replaced by the grown up words spoken by a grown up boy.
He's three and a half now and there are only a precious few of these little "Ryan words" left. Around the time of onnie the orange, came also zoot the granola bar. To this day granola bars are still zoots. Granola bars have been zoots for so long that they are zoots to us too! I wonder how long they will stay zoots. Secretly, I hope forever.
Several months ago he latched onto the word "snuggle." Only its a Ryan word. Its "smuggle." We smuggle in the rocking chair. We smuggle in bed. We smuggle and play the fish game. (He totally loves Happy Aquarium on Facebook) We smuggle ALL THE TIME. Again, I wonder how long it will last. Again, I secretly hope forever.
I know as he grows these "Ryan words" will all eventually go the way of Fider-man, foon, and fecial. I am proud of him and how fast he is learning to master language. I beam at compliments from other parents and teachers about how verbal he is. But, I have to admit, there is a tiny part of me that will always want to smuggle in the rocking chair. And maybe eat a zoot together.