"Firty-one, Firty-two..."

Silas has a very cute speech impediment: instead of the "th" sound, he says "f". He says "fank you" instead of "thank you" and "free" instead of "three".

I think it's pretty common in preschoolers, and I hope he will out grow it on his own, but the other day I thought perhaps he was going to need some prodding, so I looked up online how to teach the "th" sound and followed the directions to assist him. We've practiced the "th" sound, sticking our tongues out and blowing air across it. He wasn't immediately able to connect it to a "th" word, but he did have fun making the sound.

Sunday we were stuck in traffic and he began whining about when we were going to get to wherever we were going. Steve suggested that they count to 100 together, a little game that daddy started to help pass the time, and one that mom, the educator, very much approves of! They volley numbers back in forth, so Silas gets lots of help at the change of tens (from 69 to 70 and so on), and at the same time, he's becoming familiar with the order.

Well, naturally he began the 30's with "firty-one, firty-two..." And I interjected a little speech therapy lesson, reminding him to make the "th" sound to say "thirty-one". He did a great job all the way to thirty-nine and then started right in on the 40's. "Thorty-one, Thorty-two..."

It's really hilarious, and unfortunate at the same time. He was following my rule of changing the "f" sound into a "th", but here was a word that was supposed to sound like an "f". Sigh. We'll get there eventually, I hope.