Baby Got Back

"Mommy--Aiden said 'poopy butt'...but I don't say 'poopy butt' because that's not a nice word."

Nice try, kid--you just said it twice.

We have reached the stage where Ben is exploring his verbal boundaries and expanding his vocabulary...and it's amazing some of the things our little parrot has picked up on...either at home or on the playground.

"Poopy butt" was the word of the day (insert Pee-Wee's-Playhouse-type screaming here) for quite some time...and every day when I picked him up from school, I would get to hear about how Aiden had said "poopy butt" and how he's not supposed to say "poopy butt" and right, Mommy? isn't "poopy butt" a bad word?

We tried to not really react to it, because all the books and experts say that kids are just looking for some kind of reaction--so, we just tried to subsitute that with "bottom" or "heiny"...and it really has worked...until now.

Ben came home yesterday and announced, with his silly little grin and furrowed brow..."Mommy? You know, you know, you know what Maddox says? He says 'buttocks.'"

Apparently, my kid has become a reformed offender, and now he's the bad-word hall monitor. (Trust me--I can't get away with saying "Oh my gosh!" without a stern reprimanding from Ben..."Uh, Mommy--we don't say 'oh my gosh'...we say 'oh my goodness.'" He's right.)

Uh...the books in all their infinite wisdom don't really tell you what to say when your 3-year old comes home with a very medically technical term for his rearend...so I just had to wing it.

"You know what, Ben? You can just say 'gluteus maximus' if you want to!"

The confused look on his face tells me that we'll just be sticking with "heiny" for now.