words that are taboo

We all know what curse words are but what about those other words - those words that aren't "bad" but you don't want your kids to say anyway.

Yesterday at Curriculum Night, I was talking to another Mom who had been informed by the teacher that her son told a girl "He had to go piss." She was mortified that her second grader used the word PISS.

Of course this came only hours after I read Mrs. Fish's blog about her son being in trouble for using the word STUPID.

In our house we have a few words that I do not allow at all - stupid, idiot, crap. And instead of curse words I've been known to say things like
"Oh Snap" and "You're full of poodookie dust"

And yesterday when I was asked what those eight nubs were on the dog - I said they were her boobs. Because if I had responded with nipples or breasts, rolls of laughter would have been emitted and the educational experience would have been lost. I know I don't teach the proper words - but really I live in a house full of boys.

What words are used in your house?

You can learn many things from children. How much patience you have, for instance. ~ Franklin P. Jones

sayings

I've been collecting some of my favorite sayings from around our house. Some were one time lines that had me double over in laughter. Others were things so true that they have turned into normal language.

• "poop slide": as in I asked T2 how he was doing in the bathroom and he replied, "Mommy, I've got the poop slides!" We still use this one.
• "beans": the twins called change (quarters, dimes, nickels, pennies) beans for years. I always thought it made sense.
• "The best kind of fun, is nonstop fun" Said while hoping mommy wouldn't make them go home and go to bed.
• "let's go to the rocks, cars, or bars" T1 said this to T2 one day while we were outside and Dear Hubby  and I both said "What?" Apparently the rocks, cars, or bars on the front steps are very warm and good places to dry off after the pool.
• "Can I stand in the corner again?" said by T1 who had just been released from his first and last time out in a corner.
• "Do you have issues? I've got tissues!" from our stand up comic.
• "selfish hairball" this is what T1 calls T2to make him really mad.
• "huh" ok- so not so funny, but you must hear it come out of Little Man - the two year olds mouth - when we ask him to do something.

If we would listen to our kids, we'd discover that they are largely self-explanatory. ~Robert Brault

multiplangual

multiplangual: a word I've invented to describe the language that multiples develop amongst themselves.
Before the twins could talk I read about and heard stories of languages developed by multiples that no one else could understand. One in particular was of a set of twins that did not learn English until after they were five years old. Until that point, all they spoke was their twin language, and because their mother understood it, they didn't learn anything else. I was determined that my boys would learn English before 5 - but that didn't stop them from making their own. At 2 years old they would carry on full conversations with each other and I had no clue what about. Very little of what they said made sense to me, and I continued to reinforce English words. At one point I started to understand a small amount of what they were saying. I would catch key words for things like milk and hungry. I never repeated what they said, instead I would say the actual word. This worked well and eventually they learned to speak correctly, except for one word. "Gohn"

gohn: means 1. brother 2. Nathaniel 3. Tyler
I know it sounds a little odd, but Nathaniel couldn't say his own name or Tyler's and so he called Tyler "Gohn." Tyler would not say his own name or Nathaniel's, and he called Nathaniel "Gohn." This went on for years. Everyone in our family understood when Tyler said, "Where's Gohn," he meant, "Where's Nathaniel." If Nathaniel said "Gohn potty," that did not mean that he'd gone potty, it meant "Tyler potty."

I believe the boys were four years old before they grew out of it. If you ask them about Gohn now, they think you are nuts. They have no memory of calling each other Gohn, it was just what they did. Lately we have been reminded of Gohn as Bradley learns to talk. Nathaniel is a pretty hard name to say, so it was no shock when Bradley said "Tyler" first. As he develops his language skills he continues to call both twins Tyler. He knows who Nathaniel is and who Tyler is, but he calls them both Tyler. Even stranger, he calls himself Tyler. Put him in front of a recent picture of all three of them and point to Tyler and ask "Who's that?" Bradley will answer "Tyler." Point to Bradley and ask the same question, you will get the same answer, the same goes for pointing at Nathaniel. I don't understand this concept, but they do. And I guess that's all that matters.

As my mother once said, "I don't care what they call me, so long as they call me.''