Thursday, March 11, 2010

Another Oops! Moment

I’m a potty-mouth. I spent nearly 20 years in the construction industry – 10 of those years working on military contracts. I honed my foul-language skills with the best. That’s not to say I don’t have a good command of the (American) English language. I do. I have a decent vocabulary. I know my grammar. I speak properly…most of the time. But sometimes, swearing just feels better.

Giving up the swearing has been the hardest part of parenting for me. (OK, maybe not the hardest part, but it’s definitely been a struggle.) Shortly after Buddy Boy was born, The Man sat me down and gave the ‘the talk’, “You know, Honey, you’re going to have to clean up that mouth of yours.” Yeah, yeah, yeah…whatever, I’ve got years to work on that.

Well, two years ago, when Buddy Boy was three, he went through a little phase. Every time he got strapped into his car seat he’d say “Dammit!” He didn’t use the expression at any other time – only when he was getting buckled into the car. He did this several times when my folks were visiting. You can imagine my embarrassment. So I asked my Mom, “Do I say dammit every time I get in the car?” “Why yes, dear. You get the car, close the door, say dammit, hop out of the car and run back into the house.” I guess Buddy Boy just thought that’s what you say when you get into a car. That phase passed and I really started making an effort to clean up my act.

Yesterday was our first day back from vacation. It was also yoga day. First thing in the morning, the kiddos and I hit the road to the gym. Half way there, I realize that I forgot to put my yoga mat back into the car.

Me: “Crap!
Buddy Boy: “Mommy, crap’s a bad word”
Me: “You’re right, sweetie. I’m sorry.”
Buddy Boy: “That’s OK Mommy, at least you didn’t say fuck.”

Oh SHIT!!

**Credit where credit is due: The illustration above is a greeting card created by Peggy O’Neil (aka: GoodGosh). If you ever need a little something special to pop in the mail to someone, she’s your gal. Check her out on Etsy.

12 comments:

Jenny said...

too funny! i have to watch myself, too - "dammit" is one of my son's favorite words - he just won't let it go (i said it way too much during potty training)

Jeans and a Sweatshirt- said...

OMG!LOL! I'm the same way! So how old is he now?

When my son was in 3rd grade someone told him that it was a bad word (btw, he did not get it from me) and he didn't believe it...so...he kept repeating it until the teacher ended up calling me.

Aunt Cindy said...

OMG! I'm dying here. Sounds just like me down to the talk from my hubs (except I was an engineer in factories). My 2yo said "Shit" not once, but twice in front of my mom & the nice man at Staples the other day. Nice man at Staples has an 8 month old. He still looks to still be in the parenting honeymoon phase (the one where your dreams of perfectly behaved children all of the time have not yet been crushed). Damn you mad 2yo verbal skills!

I'm just happy it wasn't worse!

w said...

ack! boo boo word! boo boo word!

also. i laughed. mainly because it was your kid and not mine.

T@PoppyPlacePdx said...

Oh Denise you are too funny :)

I allowed my kids to swear freely in the home as a form of expression but we had the "BIG" talk about consequences to swearing anywhere other than the home. Consequently, my son was not invited to several B.Day parties at a friends' home because the Mom was a little too overly sensitive, whatever, life is too bloody short to care about that :) T.

goodgosh said...

Oh my. LOLOL!
I laugh because I know I've done the "dammit" in the car a thousand times! I went on to "shit" and got the stink eye from my son. Now I say "poop" and an occasional "shit".
Thanks for the card feature and for the laugh, now go wash your mouth out with soap.

Alyssa S. said...

O....M....G. I would have died...laughing...then maybe I would have been mortified :) If there's one thing I'm glad about leaving behind in Boston (there aren't many things), I'm glad we left the hothouse for the f-bomb. There, kids come out of the womb dropping it! I made such an effort to delete expletives from my vocabulary that I can't honestly remember the last time I cussed even when the kids weren't around.

Seriously, you need to drive down from Dallas and come visit. We could go out, toss back some drinks and cuss it up. You can help me remember how :)

Vanessa said...

Hahahahah! What Winn said, ditto. :-D

Unknown said...

ROFL! That's hillarious! My 3 year old says 'Shit' when we wash her hair.

Well, at least he doesn't say dammit anymore...

tanya said...

Very funny. Sorry to laugh but I did out loud.

Anonymous said...

From the mouths of babes! Love the photo!

Actuary Mom said...

So funny! I have a potty mouth too. I need to watch it..