The horse apples tree

Cooper loves apples. He loves horses. And he loves trees.

So when he noticed that there is a picture in one of our books that has a horse under an apple tree eating a fallen apple, he was in heaven.

Unfortunately, somehow his brain has wired itself to say "Horse apple tree!" instead of "Apple Tree Horse!" or even, neutrally, "Apple Horse Tree!"

And of course, he says it incessantly as soon as that book is spied on the shelf, or even just when I serve him sliced apples, or sometimes sliced mozzarella because he often mistakes that for sliced apples until it is placed on the table.

And all I can imagine, every time he proudly exclaims "Horse apple tree!" is big wet clumps of fresh horse poop falling out of a tree. Eww.