Why must I S-P-E-L-L every word?

Matt and I have become quite the spelling pros as Jack gets up there in age. We routinely find ourselves spelling such red-flag words as C-O-O-K-I-E, S-C-A-R-Y, C-R-A-P--you know, the keywords one needs to use on any give day, but those which may evoke an undesirable response in a 3-year-old bystander.

So the other day, when we were leaving the house, we were gathering our 101 things to put in the car and I kindly asked Matt, "Babe, could you turn off the F-A-N?"

Silence.

He looked at me, with his head cocked to the side, and I stopped and said, "Did I just spell fan?"

We busted up laughing at how routine it had become for us to spell every little word. (Hey--at least my brain is being challenged--if nothing else to replace some of the brain cells lost since becoming a professional mom).

I'm a little concerned, though, because today, Jack finished watching his show, Word World, (which is great at teaching letter sounds and spelling) and came up to me with a big smile on his face and said, "Listen mom: "C-O-O-K-I-E!"

I was in shock, but very proud. I gave him a high five and told him so.

But in my head, I was thinking, C-R-A-P...not long until Matt and I will be unable to use our secret language while our little Scrabble champ is in the room.