Mommy Says

Now that Little L is in full copycat mode, my language and choice of words are constantly under scrutiny and I find myself having to really self-censor.  Which is easy, in some ways, because I did that all the time when I was teaching. It's also bloody hard in other ways, because when your 28-pound kid puts all of her weight on your little toe while she's wearing her thick-tread shoes, your first inclination has four letters and a suffix.

But those words are stifled at the back of my throat, and I refuse to allow them to be unleashed. I just know that if she is going to pick up on anything I say, that will be it. Kids are somehow drawn to the bad words, whether they know the words are bad or not. Or maybe, cuss words just roll off the tongue amazingly well.  Hard to say.

Anyway, I didn't set out to replace my former utterances with a G-rated version, but somehow, these new phrases have started escaping my lips.  And no, before you ask, I am not an octogenarian fuddy-duddy trapped in the round pudgy body of a 30-something Asian woman. 

"Yikes!"
"Oh heavens!"
"Oh heavens to Betsy!" - which Little L already repeats now, often
"Oh my!"
"Wow-wee!"
"Oh dear!"
"Ai-yah!" (okay, I used this a lot when in HK, but I totally gave it up for the past several years.  It has returned).

Anyway, I'm also self-censoring any comments about my physical appearance (particularly the negative ones), sarcastic remarks that can be taken literally, and rude (but non-profane) words like stupid, dumb, retarded (which isn't PC anyway), lame, crap,... you get the idea.

In case you think I'm going a bit overboard with my language cull, here's a very telling example. After hearing Hubbs say this (in jest, no truth to it whatsoever...or maybe it was after I farted), Little L began to declare, unprompted, "Mommy pooped her pants!"

And now she tells everyone.

She also has an obsession with saying the words "poop" and "vagina." Oh heavens!

Image courtesy of Miss Bee. Little L *loves* Starbucks.