On a recent stop to pick up the girls my mom met me at the door and pulled me inside. This is enough of an anomaly that my first thought was Aw hell, what kind of mischief have my two little hellions found now? When she started with, "Your daughter said something interesting today," my sense of unease didn't get any better. Anyone who knows me won't be surprised to hear me admit that I have a bit of a swearing habit. I taught my youngest brother the 'F' word when he was four. At the time I thought it was hilarious...until he turned around and pointed out the f-ing lizard to my mother. Whoops.
Having kids has cleaned up the worst of my language, but not everything. We have a rule in my house that if I say the word in front of the girls then they can't get into serious trouble for repeating it. I can tell them they shouldn't. And admonish them for using a word we've agreed they're not old enough for. But I can't ground them or take away privileges. And my mom's aware of my propensity so I figured whatever Baby Girl had said must be really bad.
And then I saw the glint of humor in her eyes as she proceeded to tell me she'd overheard my seven year old using the word fiduciary. Fiduciary. I don't think I learned that word until I started college level accounting classes.
She can't tell me if Baby Girl used it correctly because she hadn't been paying close attention to the conversation between Baby Girl, Sweet Pea and my oldest nephew...but that isn't the kind of word you just stumble into. My mom thought it was hilarious that my seven year old apparently has the vocabulary of a college freshman. I think it's pretty cool.
Have you ever overheard something that made you laugh? Have your kids ever said anything that shocked you?
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4 comments:
I don't even think I could properly use fiduciary in a sentence. And how it would be relevant to a conversation with another 7 yr old and a 10 yr old is beyond me.
My friend when I was a kid had a minor speech impediment. While that is nothing to laugh at, I remember our parents quietly giggling every time he would excitedly point out a truck or a duck because it sounded like... you guessed it. Nothing quite like a 4 yr old in the park yelling f-bombs at the wildlife in the pond.
Did she watch Desperate Housewives on Sunday? ;-) There was a whole scene with Gaby trying to fake her way through a business meeting and tossing out the word "fiduciary" to sound like she knew something.
When I was little my grandfather had a Boston Terrier that became very jealous of me because I took away my grandfather's attention. I've been told that when I was two years old the dog tried to jump up and take some cookies my grandmother had given me and I turned to my grandfather and said, "Will you get that damn dog off me?"
My favorite moment from my kids is when #2 son had been begging for candy and I'd been telling him no. Finally I picked him up and put him on the kitchen counter so we were eye level. "Read my lips," I told him. "You cannot have any candy." He took my face between his little hands and oh so seriously replied, "Mama, listen to my face. I want some candy."
Well, I lost it and yeah, he got some candy. But from then on, when you wanted to make a point, we'd say, "Listen to my face."
PM learned that kind of language from her father -- not me!
My kids are always saying things that surprise me, but I can't remember them later. :( But they've always talked like little adults. We never used baby talk around our house, so my kids have a much bigger vocabulary than most kids their age. Adults who speak to them remark about it all the time.
What really amazes me is that they now use big words, correctly, that I didn't teach them. Its like, having used big words all their lives, they aren't intimidated by them and simply pick them up wherever they find them. :)
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