Wonderful

"Mommy, what does ash-ton-ish-ting mean?
"Astonishing?
"Yeah, it's on my list of spelling words, replied the little boy from his perch on the kitchen stool. His dangling feet were swinging back and forth.
His mom washed and ripped the lettuce as she thought, "Well, it's kind of like something amazing. Like how Superman can fly all around the world in just a few seconds. That's amazing!
He scribbled down the sentence and the kitchen was silent except for the squeak of fresh lead and torn lettuce.
"Mommy, what does ab-mer-able mean?
"Do you mean admirable?
"Yeah, I have that one too, he said.
She threw the lettuce into the salad spinner and pulled out the tongs to fetch the potatoes from the boiling water.
"It means that something that someone does is really super and they should get a lot of people who say thank-you to them for doing something so good.
"Like what does the person do to be a ab-mer-able? he said twirling the pencil through his chubby fingers.
"It's ad-mir-able, she said sternly, "and say a fireman saved a bunch of kitty-cats from a burning building, that would be a very admirable thing.
"So the kitty-cats can really say thank you to the Mr. Fireman? Wow! I wanna talk to kitty-cats, Mommy!
"They can't talk to the cats, sweetie, animals don't speak. The person who owns the cats says thank you.
"Oh, he sighed softly.
"Mommy, do you know what mag-nif-cent means?
"It's a word you use to describe something that's very pretty, she said as cranked the pepper mill a few dozen times, "Like how the Smiths across the street just got their bathroom remodeled and now they look absolutely stunning, but of course, we haven't done any renovations to our house yet.
"So if I keep the poddy pretty and clean then our house will be mag-nif-cent like the Smiffs! he exclaimed.
"No, Mag-Nif-I-Cent has nothing to do with how pretty the poddy is. It's about how splendid and gorgeous you can make something look. And of course, that takes money. And if we could actually save some, then maybe I wouldn't be living in such a junkyard and our house would be nice.
"If I give you some of my 'llowance back, can we be mag-nif-cent?
"Please say it properly. Heaven forbid, if you can't pronounce it correctly, people will start thinking I'm teaching you this bad grammar and I can't have anybody think I'm stupid!
She raised the knife and snapped it down forcefully into a very ripe tomato. Red juice sprinkled the kitchen.
"Oops, whispered the little boy.
"Well this is just phenomenal! My new Armani blouse and a tomato juice stain. I knew we should have just gone out to eat tonight, but NOOO, we wanted to 'get some work done at the home office', she said, the sarcastic tone dripping like cold syrup out of her mouth as she spoke.
"Oh! Fen-om-in-all is on my list too, Mommy!
"PHENOMENAL! It's not that hard. What are these outstanding gaps in your knowledge?! Don't you learn anything in school?!
"I can count to ten-
"Then go wash up until you reach 100, she cut him off impatiently. With the pile of juicy tomatoes chunks ready to go, all the prep-work was done. The oven's scorching heat let wisps of hell leak into the room. The scattered spoons were silently stirring the tension. His mother stormed out of the kitchen to attend to the buzzing dryer.
"-in Polish, he finished even though his mother couldn't hear him, "I met a girl who teached me how to count to ten in Polish.
He could hear her muttering and murmuring in the other room so he slid back around in the bar stool and went back to his homework. But then he paused and lifted up his pencil to turn to a clean page. With a sure and steady hand, eyes and focus narrowed, he began to write.
When his mother came back into the room, her son had disappeared from the kitchen counter. But a neatly folded note sat on top of his notebook. She stared curiously at it for a second. Then she walked over and gently opened the folds.
It read:
"Mommy, I think you are wonderful. Love, me.