By Bassey Ikpi
- Boogie: Oh, mommy! Today I saw some gooses…
- Me: Geese
- Boogie: What’s a geese?
- Me: Geese is plural for goose.
- Boogie: What’s a plural?
- Me: It means more than one. Just one is singular. So one goose. Several geese.
- Boogie: *blank stare*
- Boogie: I’m 4 years old and I was just trying to tell you a story!
- *walks away shaking his head*
- Boogie: Grandpa! I have a story to tell you about Gooses!
Bassey Ikpi is a Nigeria-born, Oklahoma-bred, PG County-fed, Brooklyn-led writer/poet/neurotic who is also the single mother of an amazing man-child, Elaiwe Ikpi, a.k.a., Boogie. A strong advocate of mental health awareness, Bassey is writing a memoir about living with mental illness and producing Basseyworld Live, a stage show that infuses poetry and interactive panel discussions about everything from politics to pop culture. Find more Bassey on her site, Bassey's World.
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Too cute!
THIS is my life! Its a conversation I have with my daughter regularly!
Ha ha ha ha ha! I remember these days with my boys……
HAHAHA!!!! That sounds like several conversations that my son and I have throughout the day.
lol! this reminds of THE MOST WONDERFUL memories I have of my great grandmother correcting me at that age. I couldn’t tell a story about me and my friend, without having to back up and correct it to my friend and I. My sentiments were the same as “Boogie’s”…I’m only 4 and I was just trying to tell you a story…..now I miss her dearly and thank her as I am often complimented on my “diction”. I do the same to my kids….as she used to say “You WILL speak the “king’s english”!
)
Thanks to my mom, whenever anyone ends a question with “at” I have to sometimes fight the urge to say “around the corner on preposiotion street”
I got popped in the mouth whenever i tired to talk like the neighborhood kids and a “You will not talk like everyone else. You will speak good English.”
But i do now speak ‘good’ English. Thanks Mommy (now without the sarcasm)
excuse the typos LOL
This is too cute. I love it!
My little man turns 3 next month and I can’t wait to have these convos. At 18 months, he was walking around here talking about, “Oh gawd.” LOL