Oh...
Colin's language skills have been growing by leaps and bounds over the past few weeks. He's using complete sentences (short ones, but the syntax is all there and correct), he's now using pronouns, he knows his alphabet, can count up to 20, knows more animals on sight than many adults, and is a whiz with colors... it is really amazing. And it just seems to have happened overnight.
Along the same lines, he is parroting much of what we say. Which is great for the most part, but has its risks.
I am happy to report that Colin has been using "Oh my goodness" as his expression of choice instead of some of the other things he might be saying. And was hoping that this would continue for a good long time. Apparently that isn't meant to be.
I've been warning H for quite some time now that he needs to start watching his language around Colin or we're going to end up with a tiny little boy with a serious potty-mouth. His reply is always that I curse with more venom, whereas he swears and mingles it so seamlessly within his sentences that if/when Colin ever picks any of this up it will undoubtedly be from me. Never mind that I try very hard to watch my language around the boy, while Daddy curses fluently and frequently in two languages. (Since we've been here in NJ he picked up a whole slew of new Indian curses, which he now uses more frequently - and more vehemently - than the regular English ones!) I've laughed many times warning H that if Colin pulls out some of the Indian swears in front of Grandpa I'm not covering for him, but he just shrugs me off.
Yesterday it happened.
We were driving home on a twisty, narrow 2-lane road and H saw a motorcyclist speeding toward us, taking a curve in the road a little too hard (the bike was leaning waaaay over, and he was right on the yellow line). We had nowhere to go so H just slowed down a bit to let the guy by, but also let out a reflexive "Oh sh!t" when he first saw the guy. Colin, from the back seat, promptly repeated... "Oh sh!t" without any hesitation. With perfect diction, of course.
H's mouth went into a perfect tiny "O" and his eyes opened amazingly wide as I clamped a hand over my mouth and stared pointedly out the front window. I knew that if Colin heard us laughing, or saw either of us making a big deal he was going to remember that choice word for a long time, and keep bringing it out in the hopes of eliciting another reaction, so I locked down and forced my laughter back and somehow refrained from clubbing my husband.
I suppose I should be grateful that it was a mild curse and H didn't pull out something stronger... like the usual BC or MC that gets toted out when there's a stubbed toe or something spills. But enough is enough and we're officially at the stage where we're going to have to use non-swears and/or made up words to express our baser emotions.
Wish us luck!
Along the same lines, he is parroting much of what we say. Which is great for the most part, but has its risks.
I am happy to report that Colin has been using "Oh my goodness" as his expression of choice instead of some of the other things he might be saying. And was hoping that this would continue for a good long time. Apparently that isn't meant to be.
I've been warning H for quite some time now that he needs to start watching his language around Colin or we're going to end up with a tiny little boy with a serious potty-mouth. His reply is always that I curse with more venom, whereas he swears and mingles it so seamlessly within his sentences that if/when Colin ever picks any of this up it will undoubtedly be from me. Never mind that I try very hard to watch my language around the boy, while Daddy curses fluently and frequently in two languages. (Since we've been here in NJ he picked up a whole slew of new Indian curses, which he now uses more frequently - and more vehemently - than the regular English ones!) I've laughed many times warning H that if Colin pulls out some of the Indian swears in front of Grandpa I'm not covering for him, but he just shrugs me off.
Yesterday it happened.
We were driving home on a twisty, narrow 2-lane road and H saw a motorcyclist speeding toward us, taking a curve in the road a little too hard (the bike was leaning waaaay over, and he was right on the yellow line). We had nowhere to go so H just slowed down a bit to let the guy by, but also let out a reflexive "Oh sh!t" when he first saw the guy. Colin, from the back seat, promptly repeated... "Oh sh!t" without any hesitation. With perfect diction, of course.
H's mouth went into a perfect tiny "O" and his eyes opened amazingly wide as I clamped a hand over my mouth and stared pointedly out the front window. I knew that if Colin heard us laughing, or saw either of us making a big deal he was going to remember that choice word for a long time, and keep bringing it out in the hopes of eliciting another reaction, so I locked down and forced my laughter back and somehow refrained from clubbing my husband.
I suppose I should be grateful that it was a mild curse and H didn't pull out something stronger... like the usual BC or MC that gets toted out when there's a stubbed toe or something spills. But enough is enough and we're officially at the stage where we're going to have to use non-swears and/or made up words to express our baser emotions.
Wish us luck!
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