As a parent of a toddler, you learn pretty quickly that you need to choose your words wisely when your wee ones are around. They are sponges that absorb every word you say... when you are angry, when you are joking, when you aren't paying attention, when you mumble things under your breath. Parents don't think their kids pick up on these things until they hear them regurgitated verbatim. You often wonder, "Where did my child hear such a terrible thing?!" That is, until you hear yourself saying it, thoughtlessly.
On our visit to my parents' house, one day my mom asked me if I heard what Cora said to her. I had not. Laughing and awestruck, my mom told me that Cora told her (Granny) that she was 'trying her patience.' Where had she ever heard a thing like that? Guilty, as charged. Okay, I am learning. Your words can and WILL BE used against you.
Today's calamity involved Cora's emerging interest in potty training. I am trying to be supportive of her interest to potty train, but it is hard when I am being pulled in so many directions at the moment. Today I was doing laundry downstairs and the kids where playing down there. Cora pulled off her clean, dry pull-up and suggested she needed to go to the bathroom. I said, "okay let's go down here (in the bathroom)," as I continued to work on the laundry. She refused and began to play. Next thing I know, she said, "I pooped." I ran over to see she pooped on the floor and on the plastic train track. All I could think was I hope this isn't what she thinks when I say "potty train."
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