It all started when Ari told me about a kid who threw up in the cafeteria after eating “prep-eroni.” We don’t eat pepperoni, so Ari has little experience saying the word. But still… prep-eroni sounded funny.
That led us to talk about other things Ari has mispronounced recently. For several months, the Cheesecake Factory’s outdoor seating was closed, which upset Isabelle. But not Ari. When we go to the King of Prussia Mall (which is every two to three months), he prefers to eat at Bartaco, which has outdoor seating. However, when Ari protested Isabelle’s preferred restaurant, he said, “I don’t want to eat at Cheese-fake Cak-tory.” The flipping of the /c/ and the /f/ made all of us giggle.
After prep-eroni and Cheese-fake Cak-tory came Ari’s reminder about Juhlune. What’s Juhlune, you might ask?
Last weekend, Ari listed the months of the year while we drove on the highway. He blended June and July, which became Juhlune.
“Juhlune is funny,” Ari reminded me. He began listing the months of the year, adding Juhlune after July (knowing full well there’s no such thing as Juhlune).
“Wait, can you say that again?” I asked as I grabbed my phone and opened the voice memo app.
Well, that was silly. No wonder he was barely eating his breakfast.
The silliness didn’t stop there. Ari proposed a new type of leap year starting in 2025 and happening every 20 years. He said an extra month would be added, giving those in the Northern Hemisphere an extra month in the summer. At first, it would. Eventually, a 13th-month year would pose some trouble.
I wish-wish-wish I had recorded our conversation since we dove into how this would impact day and night. This probably occurred because we started reading We all Celebrate! by Chitra Soundar and Jenny Bloomfield last night. On the first page spread of the book, the author explains the difference between the Gregorian calendar and lunar calendars while explaining the Earth’s revolution around the sun.
Thinking towards 2025, how brilliant would it be to have an extra month of summer?!
Raising Literate Humans 
I think Ari is rather brilliant! I wish we could see both kids more often. They are growing up too fast! I would love an extra month in spring. Maybe Maypril or Aprimaju since spring takes up most of June, too. Ask Ari to help me out here!
I’ll see what he can do for you!
I love his idea! I moved from NY to Miami, so now live in perpetual summer (though their “winter” is my ideal weather… I could do without the dreadfully muggy July or August.).
I’ve been to Southern FL in the summertime, so I know it is dreadful!
Ari for president! Love this little glimpse into how his brain is doing some big thinking!
Ari is onto something here! How can we get this to happen? Is there a petition we can sign? Iām pretty sure I could get loads of signatures for him. š
I am going to vote for that! If I could it would love an extra May without too much heat, humidity and bugs! I would also love to have the flowers and grass greener, longer and the days getting longer day by day.
I’m a fan of fall so. Personally, I’d want an extra month of October. However, I have a feeling I’m in the minority on that.
Oh, if only if only!! The world according to Ari could be a pretty amazing place to be.
I would sign up for an extra month of summer! Yes please, thank you Ari. This reminds me of when the youngest of the 4 of us was in her rhyming stage… one of the girls I danced with asked her to rhyme all the words she could think of with ‘duck’. I think you can fill in the blanks with how that story ends.
Oh, Larkin! I’m sure your mom did NOT appreciate that. BUT it is pretty funny knowing all of you turned out so well. š
Yes, I love Ari’s new leap year idea. And an extra month of summer would be nice. He realizes the southern hemisphere would get another month of winter, or does he have a plan for tag-teaming with the southern countries? I love Cheesefake Caktory too!
I’ll have to ask him. The mastermind is fast asleep. š
Ari’s new leap year idea is *pretty* good, but can you ask him to create a leap year that adds an extra month of summer every year, not just once every twenty years? And I love all his mispronunciations. š
An extra month of summer annually sounds WAAAAY better!
Speaking of mispronunciation, my favorite one was from Isabelle. She used to call caterpillars “killerpatters” when she was about four.