All the fun stuff happens around the dinner table. Billy announces that he knows how to spell “yuck.”

“Y – u – c,” he says.

“K,” says Fritz.

“Oh, y – u – k,” says Billy.

“No, honey, ck. It rhymes with duck. y – u – c – k Yuck, duck, same ending,” say I. First of all, why is YUCK a word being spelled around MY dinner table? Should I be taking this personally? (yes) Secondly, why do I not see where this conversation is headed? I have become so naive over the years.

yuck
duck
muck
tuck
ruck

And so the boys and I begin to list all the words we can think of that rhyme with yuck. Finally Billy comes up with one that starts with F.

I was completely blind-sided but managed to maintain composure. “Oh, we don’t say that,” I said. Thankfully, the kids translated that as, “Oh, that’s not a word,” and we went on to buck and luck.

Whew.