My little lion learned a word

Hudson bounded down the steps of a pumpkin-adorned house Halloween night like a kid who, well, just left a candy store. 

Treats in hand, his face flush with the thrill of trick and/or treating, he looked back at the door and opened his mouth as if to say thank you, but instead out came:

"Idiot!"

In the dark and excitement of Halloween no one heard him but Ted.

"Pardon? What did you say?"  my husband asked, stunned, flashing back to two weeks ago when he could have sworn Hudson greeted him by saying: "I want mommy, you're an idiot."

Hudson gleefully repeated the word 10 more times. 

Our cute little son - in glitter makeup with black whiskers and round as a pumpkin because we slid the lion costume over his ski jacket - was taking after his mother and my potty mouth.

Crap.

"This is horrible," my husband says, forehead in his palms. "What if he says that to another kid at school? He'll get in trouble."

Actually, I'll probably get in trouble.

But what am I supposed to do? Stop talking? I'm barely aware of the things I say until they come out of Hudson's small scarlet lips. It's only because of his chatter that I've come to realize I overuse the following phrases:

"what are you talking about?", "seriously?" and "are you kidding me?" 

The bigger problem is... I think it's hilarious when he says them, especially things like "idiot." 

That makes me a horrible parent and bad person, I know, but I can't help myself. I just find him so darned cute.

Besides, is the word "idiot" really that bad? 

 

Here, my potty mouthed lion in a not-so-great picture I snapped before he went trick or treating with his dad ...

 

 

 

Comments

[marta]

he will eventually learn all sorts of "bad words." my 2 year old calls me by my first name because he hears other people saying it. you can't raise them in a bubble. better to ignore him instead of making a big deal about it, he will only say it more.

[Dee]

Yes we definitely must watch what we say around our kids. My little ones both call me nasty and also exclaim things like "friggin" this and "frackin" that... cute but not wonderful to get reports of this language usage from daycare!

[Val]

Your honesty is refreshing. So many new parents nowadays claim to be perfect and refuse to admit that its their own bad habits that are imitated by their kids. Don't worry about your parenting and your child's 'mouthiness'--he'll be fine because his mouthy mom can confess to her own mistakes. That takes a lot of maturity.