Potty mouth

There are few things as adorable and troubling as a toddler using bad language. You hear it and laugh reflexively (hard), fade into an awkward smile, and finish with a distant, guilty grimace. Since I’m the only adult in my house that curses, whenever my 28-month old (2.25 years, for you non-parents) son decides to spout off, the finger of blame sits squarely and heavily on my head. Yeah yeah, I’m not winning any parenting contests anytime soon. The good news is that unlike other young kids who might simply parrot naughty words at random moments, completely ignorant of context, my son knows exactly when to employ these words – moments of anger and frustration. I feel a strange sense of pride about that. His burgeoning vocabulary currently includes such classics as fuck (pronounced “fucks”), damnit, shit, and stupid. Today, when he couldn’t  quite figure out how to use the remote control to turn on the TV and DVD player and play one of his favorite videos, he yelled “Come on! Shit!” That’s my boy!