Zed or Zee? (and a little bit of Zen)

So, which one is it? Anyone know? And should we really care? Is it really a Canadian versus American thing? Or something else? Now that my boys are learning ‘stuff’ on a daily basis, every hour, minute and freakin’ second, which one should I be teaching them?

The Leapfrog alphabet fridge magnet thingy says ZED. (purchased in Canada) but that most definitely does NOT rhyme with “…next time won’t you sing with me”. So, when I sing it saying ZEE in order to rhyme with the song, I am getting scolded by twins A & B pointing to the fridge magnets or their Leap Pad clearly stating that ‘they’ say ZED. Everyone sing along now “…next time won’t you sing with Fred” or wait “…next time won’t you sing in bed.” or still “…next time wont’ you sing what I said, until we are dead, cause we all learned to say ZED.”

Sesame Street says ZEE. I grew up with Sesame Street, in fact my father insists that is how and where I gained all of my counting and alphabet abilities. (Thank you Sesame Street for my two university degrees) I like ZEE. I like the way it sounds, fits and feels. I get scorned by other parents when they hear me using ZEE. WTF?????? It is a fucking letter, no matter which way I say it, Zebra will always start with that letter.

I am not correcting my kids, I let them use which ever version they want and any given time. I will never change that, not while they are THREE years old!! Does that make me a horrible parent? I think not. When they sing Old MacDonald and use E-I-E-O-O, I don’t correct them, in fact I sing along with them cause it is just so friggin cute and I know damn well it won’t last forever.

I do use proper words when I speak with them, and correct them occasionally, but they are three. I love how they explore and test drive certain things and use words/sayings like “Of Course”, “Actually”, “Oopsy Daisy” and “This is the bestest piece of cheese ever!” simply because they are copying and learning from us.

I had a zen-like moment this evening. I went back to my weekly yoga class. It was my first class in many months, and I loved it. (Please note I am so NOT a yoga guru. I love my weekly class, never do it at home, just once a week at the gym, that’s it, that’s all. So would you now all please stop getting so confused, that really IS Jennifer Aniston and not me doing yoga on her back deck every morning.) I came home and told my Beloved it felt so good and was one of the bestest yoga classes ever. He looked at me and laughed. I was confused.

At dinner tonight, Thing 1 (a.k.a. twin A) kept saying “This is the bestest sloppy joe ever”; “This is the bestest apple sauce ever” etc…right down to the mini marshmallow he had as a dessert treat. I was L-ingMAO all through dinner saying, “Where did he get that?” Now I know! From me!! How awesome is it that they are so impressionable and literally soak up every single little teensy weensy iota of everything and anything you say, show them, read them, make with them, etc. I am so in love with them these days, especially at how much and how fast they are learning which appear to be at rates only measurable in exponential quantities (and also light speed). I also love the letter ZEE. I wonder if their university professors will ever forgive me. (Hey, that rhymes, like the song.)