Thursday, June 23, 2011

I Am From Garbage

My son told me, "You are made of garbage."

First, a disclaimer on my son's use of the word garbage.  When Wolfie was 4, the word "coconuts" was his funny word.  It's the word he said all the time to be funny, sound funny, or as a punchline to a joke.  Then he went to Kindergarten and discovered these words are funny:
poo
poop
pee
potty
fart
burp
toilet
diaper

Now, I will admit I'm pretty easy when it comes to using these words.  I mean, when I overhear my kids playing pirates and my son says, "My island is made of poo.  It has giant poo rocks on it," 1) I secretly giggle a little at the visual, and 2) I think at least they are playing pirates which is more creative than generic good guys and bad guys with weapons and much better than playing any sort of licensed Disney character story reenactment.

However, we have some rules about using these words...of course!  They cannot be used at the table at mealtime and you cannot call another person one of these names.

My son has made some pretty clever substitutions.  Stinky cheese is a favorite.  Actually, anything stinky is a good substitute.  And "garbage".

Now back to the garbage story.

So we were finishing up our bedtime stories and Wolfie was firing off a bunch of "Look out, there's a toilet falling on your head.  It's full of poo.  Etc.  Etc."  Then he said I was made of....garbage.  Good thing the kid knows he would really be crossing the line if he told his mother she was made of poo.  (Although, as I type this I have to admit it's pretty hysterical to tell someone she is made of poo.  I mean, poo.  Those three letters and the sound of the word spoken is pretty funny.  But not everyone shares my sense of humor.)

My response, since I'm an easy going mama with a terrific sense of 6-year old humor, was, "Wolfie.  I am your mother.  I gave birth to you and love you every day of your life.  I take care of you.  Out of all the gazillion things in the world you could tell me I'm made of...your choice is poo?"

He totally gets it.  He can't help but grin in spite of himself at hearing his mama say "poo".

He says, "Okay, how about this.  Mama, you are made of millions of beautiful hearts.  And all of them have pictures of me inside of them."

Yeah, he totally gets me.

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