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Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

Oh Mother

part 1 ~ Children rarely misquote their parents. Quite the opposite, they repeat brilliantly word for word things their parents should never have said. (Anonymous)

Just ask any parent who curses. There is a scene from A Christmas Story that is just so funny. The family has a flat tire and the dad gets out to change it. The older son, Ralphie, gets out to help. He?s holding the hub cap for his dad, who accidentally sends the nuts spilling out over the snow. And Ralphie says ?oh fuh-udge?. Only that?s not what he said, he said the mother of all bad words. And when his mother asks where he heard that word, Ralphie thought of his dad but knew not to say that and so he gave the name of one of his hapless friends.

We had something like that happen when Billy was a baby. We ? Rich and me ? would say sh*t a lot. We didn?t realize how often it was until Billy spilled his legos and exclaimed, ?Oh, sheee, sheee!? He was just 2 years old but it was pretty clear which word he meant. So we made an effort to clean up the language ? sometimes not so successfully!

part 2 ~ We spend the first twelve months of our children's lives teaching them to walk and talk and the next twelve telling them to sit down and shut up. (comedian Phyllis Diller)

Now isn?t that ironic? It?s true! I remember all the days of encouraging one of the kids to say ?ba ba ba? and ?ma ma ma? and how we sort of danced around the room when we had success. And then it was really cool to hear the baby say ?mama? and know that he/she meant me! I also remember helping the kids get ready to sit up by pulling them to a sitting position. Then there?s letting go but having my hands out to catch the baby. How cute they looked cruising around the room, hanging onto the furniture for support. Then there were the ?walk to mama? or ?walk to daddy? days when one of the kids began to toddle around alone for the first time!

We encourage the kids to become increasingly independent and to begin thinking and reasoning for themselves?And then they become adolescents or teenagers and I think that?s what Phyllis Diller was talking about. Kids of that age are curious. They want to know why we think the kid with the blue and orange hair is ?weird? ? maybe that kid is a nice person and not weird. Or they think they know it all now that they are going into junior or high school. They let you know, too.

And they like to go places. Sometimes telling mom and dad is inconvenient and embarrassing. Besides, what is the big deal? Everything will be fine. And the moms and the dads get another bunch of gray hairs!

3X Thursday

1. What's your least favorite trait in a person? Why?

I don?t like arrogance or a condescending way of looking at people. Why? Because every person is valuable and there?s no reason to make anyone feel inferior.

2. What is your least favorite kind of music? Explain your reason.
Ah well I have eclectic tastes in music. I enjoy listening to all kinds of music, one more than another depending only on my mood. When I feel quiet, thoughtful or sad, I listen to classical music. When I?m feeling angry, I listen to hard rock. When I?m writing, I like classic rock. The music all soothes me and relaxes me.

3. What is your least favorite house chore? Are you able to somehow get out of it? If not, do you do it anyway?

That would be cleaning the bathroom or the kitty litter. Many times I ask Heidi to change the litter for me or, yes, I do it myself. The two girls clean the upstairs bathroom and the guest bath. TB gets all the awful iron stains out of the toilet and tub and I just disinfect stuff.

Bonus Question for Comments: What do you think is your worst trait/bad habit/etc? Have you done anything to change it? Why/Why not?
My worst trait is this tendency to procrastinate on almost everything, including things I enjoy. I haven?t done anything lately to change it because I just haven?t gotten around to it. ;-)