You must bemember this

Tonight Anna was doing some improvisation for an audience of stuffed animals on her bed.  About 15 minutes into a monologue, she began saying, "Bemember not to do that... Bemember what you need to do... Bemember..."  You get the point.  So, Mom has this thing about language.  I don't mean that I'm some perfect-schmerfect Nazi grammarian and spelling bee champion (and let's not even speak of my sloppy punctuation), but I think it's important to be able to speak the King's English and I simply cannot tolerate when people encourage mispronunciations and/or baby talk with children.  I think it's cruel to the baby...and everyone else within earshot.  While I think Anna's mispronunciations are quite cute, I still feel compelled to make sure she understands how the word should be spoken, obviously as a solid stepping stone into reading and writing.  (I know.  I'm taking this way too seriously.)  Example: Anna has a book called "I Ain't Gonna Paint No More."  I admit that it's fun in a singsong kind of way, but every time I have to read it out loud it's like a gut punch.  Psst -- don't tell Anna, but I usually correct a few words when I read it, just so it's not quite SO BAD.  So, I gently tell her the correct way to say the word "remember".  "'R', Honey.  Not 'B'."  (Insert loud toddler protest here.)  "I WANT to say it that way, Mom!  I don't want to say RE-bember!"  So, I'm backing off.  Much like I've temporarily given over to the fact that she calls her coat cubby at school a covey.  And just like I'm ignoring that every doll, stuffed animal and picture she draws is currently named Barbie.  She knows what it is, what it's supposed to be; yet in her own way she is expressing her independence and creativity.  Who am I to squash those qualities?