My son is five and a half. He is inquisitive, has a boundless imagination and preternatural hearing except when he is not listening; which is usually when I am asking him to do something he’d rather not do.
My husband doesn’t always watch his language in front of our son. For this reason Milo recently looked up from a video maze game and said “I’m damn good!”
When the husband has used more profane language and I mentioned (mildly) that he should maybe not say the f word in front of Milo (not so much because we are appalled by the word- it is just a word after all- but because I cringe like a coward at the thought of getting another call from the school) Milo said to me quite matter -of -factly “Do you mean f***?” And I shushed him and asked him not to repeat it but he did anyway simply because he was trying to establish whether it was that word that began with an f rather than another one- fruit or funnyfor instance. One must admire such clarity of thought and the interest he shows in knowing things. It is quite shocking to hear a child use the word especially when the child in question still doesn’t pronounce his ‘r’s or ‘l’s’ correctly. I think I was at least eight years old before I said it, and then I whispered it in the middle of the street positive I was going to get struck down by lightning. Nothing ever did happen. As I said before it is just a word.
Here are some recent
Milo observations, which usually occur in the morning while we’re waiting for the school bus. (By the way I hope this isn’t coming across like the typical adoring mother presenting her child as if he’s a genius type thing. I just think that
Milo has a refreshing angle on things and only hope it’s not expunged by life):
*Me-It looks like it rained.Him- Yeah it’s all soggy. As if Lucy (the baby) had chewed everything and then spit it back out.
*Him- The dog looks like he’s got a mouthful of hard toothpaste.
*Him- When we’re in our world watching them play in their world on the TV, they’re in their world watching us. Me-That’s really cool. How did you make that up?
Him- I didn’t. It’s real. My spirit told me.
Me- Your spirit?
Him- He’s really old. He was like my daddy and then he died and he knows everything. He looked just like me. He told me.
*Those eye worms are yucky ’cause they squirm out and then they squirm back in again.
*I’ve got a bad memory so I’ve got a missing brain.
*Him- A boy named Jake in my class is telling everyone that Santa isn’t real and it’s just your parents buying you toys.Me- I feel sorry for Jake.
Him- Yup, too bad for Jake.
(Incidentally whenever Milo asks me if I think something is real (eg. ghosts, Santa, wizards, magic, or werewolves) I always say either I’d like to think so or What do you think?I’m not going to be the one to start chiseling away at his beliefs. The worst thing a parent can do is to tell their child that they cannot fly.
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