Goin' Out of My Head

H is doing that thing that C did. That thing with the letters where you string them together randomly and then torture your mother by asking her, "what does that spell?"
As in, "what does phqtn spell?"
I remind him that most words have vowels. And then I remind him of what a vowel is. Then he rephrases the question: "what does phqtne spell?" This continued line of questioning by two out of my four children has caused me to realize that even though there are thousands of words, most arbitrary letter combinations will not result in spelling any of them.
Then, even though I tell him it doesn't spell a word, I still have to pronounce it because it spells something, so now I have to figure out what phqtne sounds like.
For H I'm trying a new tactic. I've begun saying, "I don't think phqtne spells anything, but "pen" spells pen." I figure this way I'm not squelching his creativity with my own negativity, and, he might learn a few real words in the process.

song: Goin' Out of My Head • artist: The Lettermen