Tuesday, September 13, 2005

A Little Yellow Rain for Your Parade?

So you should know that this is one of those cute child sayings posts. I can't help it; I am a parent. The urge to relate such things far and wide must be either instinctive (alongside 'bare teeth and growl when kid in sandbox snatches offspring's shovel') or hormonal (part of the helpful team of chemicals that sends the brain a message to tear up at otherwise moronic commercials if they involve children running to/hugging parents). You have been warned: stay and read, or run screaming to another waystation on the Web, at your own peril.

So we're driving along and my newly-potty-trained 2.5 year old (the one who likes to go commando) is reciting the latest addition to the Big Boy Potty Rules: No peeing in the car. First, imagine why we might now have instituted this rule. (Big kid car seat covers are no fun to remove, I must say.) Okay, so he is saying it over and over and I figure, to put a stop to it, I'll reinforce the Order of Things by saying, "That's RIGHT, we don't pee in the car, we pee on the POTTY, right?!" in that annoyingly bright, cheerful way I've heard other moms use to, subtly as a trainwreck, steer their young ones away from undesirable behavior. Imagine my surprise when my young one responds, "No, Mommy." Me, surprised, "What, honey? We don't pee on the potty?"

"No," he confirms, "we pee on the PARTY."

So there you are. Given the vagaries of toddler pronunciation, perhaps he's been saying this all along (i.e., since 'party' with his imperfect 'r' becomes 'pawty' and thus, very similar to 'potty'). I suppose this is what he thought we were saying, but then again he corrected me today when I said 'potty.' I guess I'll never know. In the meantime, I'm glad we haven't been invited to any birthdays in the near future.

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