Thursday, February 16, 2006

Tell Me, Would You Laugh? I Did.

Lovely,

Today my four year old was trying to draw a cat, threw down her pencil and exclaimed with perfect inflection “d-----t!”

I blinked at her, asked what she said. She repeated it, less perfect inflection, starting to sound concerned.

I crooked my finger at her to come here. “What did you say?”

“I can’t draw the cat.”

“But what did you say?”

“Look Mom, it’s all weird.”

“But what did you say?”

“D----t.”

“Where did you hear that?”

Shrug.

“Did you hear that from Mommy?”

“No.”

“Daddy?”

“No.”

“TV?”

“No.”

“Where did you hear it?”

“I made it up.’

We, of course, covered the fact that that particular word was unacceptable and if she had ever heard it from me, I was sorry. But I don’t think she’s heard it from either of us. A derivative, maybe. I confess Dang it does come out of my mouth when I’m excessively frustrated but I’ve really tried to stop it. (Primarily because she started saying it and we had to have this conversation once before.) We don’t watch TV when they are awake. Do they say it on “Star Wars?” Or did she really make it up?

I’m just glad it happened at home and not at Sunday school. My pride is intact.

For now.

1 comment:

Robin said...

Jamie, I'm doin what I try to do when time permits (like early morning)--reading through the old posts of a blogger who engaged me w/their "recent posts" (thanks for visiting PENSIEVE). That is, unless they have over a year of 'em! Then, I bounce around clicking on titles that sound interesting. If I think I'll be back, I just like to kindasorta know who I'm posting to.

ANYWAYS.......

This post cracked me up. When my daughter was about the same age, we met some friends w/children at the park for a picnic lunch and play time. Rachel had a treat that day--a canned Sprite. Well, when it was time to eat, she dropped her can and immediately exclaimed "Sh*t!". Perfect pronunciation, perfect intonation.

And I, as a mom out with her CHURCH friends, DIED!!! Probably most of all, b/c I KNEW she could have heard that one fly outta my mouth! The other moms had that look of sympathy on their faces, and I figured this was the LAST time they'd want their kids around mine. I mumbled some kind of apology and tried to move on with the day.

Later, at home, Rachel knew I was upset; I guess I addressed it at the time, can't remember now (this is almost ten years later, crud, where did the time go?!). She colored a picture of a kitten for me, I knew it was her "apology". If she could have written, she would have said she was sorry in words.

Now, looking back, I think those moms were glad that someone else's kid did what their's might do on another day. They were glad to see a "Christian" mom who looked more real than perfect (and plastic).