Bluh

Do you know what a Bluh is? I do, but it took me a long time to figure it out.
Nate has an amazing vocabulary, but a few speech issues. "S", "CH", and "SH" are all pronounced "yuh." And any combination of a consonant followed by an "r" results in the "r" being pronounced as an "l". Like, "tlash", "hungly", etc.

I know these rules by heart, but every once and a while Nate uses a word that I can't decipher no matter how hard I try. And boy does it make him mad. I ask over and over and tell him I am trying my best to understand him. This afternoon Nate was asking for the red "bluh." It was an out of the blue request, therefore I had no context for the unusual word "bluh." He and I worked and worked at it. I was straining with every ounce of my body to understand when it finally dawned on me. "Bl"="Br" and "uh"="ush."
BRUSH. How his eyes lit up when he knew that I understood. How my shoulders loosened in relief that I had finally gotten it.

Communication. Everybody wants to be understood.

And by the way, Nate and I also played a few games of "Heads or Building" tonight, although some do prefer to call it "Heads or Tails." (If you don't get this...go look at a penny.)