Watch What You Say

Most families go through the phase where the child/ren repeat everything you say. In some cases this can go on for years, and the older the child, the bigger the time delay in when they repeat what you said -- usually they wait for the worst possible moment.

Take this story, for example. I think it is safe to tell it now without causing strife, as it happened over 10 years ago, and all the parties involved are either still friends or are dead....

When this story happened, my oldest niece was a little girl. I don't recall how old, exactly, but old enough to be in school. My mother, my grandmother and I were to meet my sister and her family at the local Chinese Buffet for lunch. Now, to be fair, this was a period of time where my mother's entourage seldom arrived anywhere on time. Nobody liked this, least of all my mother, but things were what they were. My mother would be hunting for coupons or something, my grandmother would forget we were going someplace ... it wasn't a pretty scene. Of course, we were all used to it by now, and everyone made some sort of accomodations for transport of the elderly and the generalized chaos that seemed to follow the three of us when we were living together. By the time we arrived, we were probably 10 minutes later than we said we'd be. At that point, my niece comes running up to us and said, "Mom told us to just go inside and get our seats, because she said, 'You know how they are!'"

Umm, yea. Kids will say the darndest things, right?

Well, we are in that phase right now with Toddler. Our one saving grace is that his speech, while complex, still requires a human interpreter, so even if he rats us out, chances are he won't be understood ... for now. I've been having fun with this by saying things like, "Go tell Daddy that Mickey Mouse is a piece of broccoli." (Of course, he does.)

Today, however, we saw what we all knew was coming. Toddler repeated something little boys aren't supposed to say. For about a minute, he was walking around the house saying, "dammit, dammit." Now, I know we have all been trying so hard not to say such things anymore, but when the brand-clean pile of laundry falls down on the big giant pile of cat fur, things just slip out, okay? Thankfully, he dropped the idea quickly, and the front door was closed.

Be very, very careful. The day has arrived....