Offensive?

Early on in my pregnancy my husband and I agreed that it was completely unreasonable to expect our child not hear curse words. My husband is surrounded by severe cursing on a daily basis and often brings that home with him. It is also in the music he listens to and the people we hang around with. So we agreed that when Joli got to the age that she could say those words we would begin teaching her that it is inappropriate for children to use them.

Well that time has come a lot sooner than we expected and as Joli is not even two-years-old yet, we completely understand that she is just to young to be taught the concept of appropriate language. So we have chosen to say nothing in hopes that if she does not get a response from us, she will not continue to use the language. This response seems to backfiring. When Joli uses these words she does not use them and look at us for a reaction or even notice whether or not we have heard her or not.

Example #1:

A few weeks ago Joli and I got up early to take Joe to work. Since I was driving and we are not usually driving during a time when there is traffic I was frustrated. A few minutes after moving down the freeway at a snail's pace a motorcycle comes whizzing through the cars and continues on its merry way. So I said "Here we are barely moving, and there goes a fucking bike." Joli pipes up in the bike seat and says "Fucking bike!", but not in a way that said "look what I just said", she said it in a way that said "Oh I'm so excited, look mommy! A fucking bike!" My husband in seating in the passenger seat trying not to let Joli see that he is about to wet his pants, all the while trying to figure out who on earth he can call at 7:30 in the morning to tell the story to.

We didn't hear too much more curse words for a while after that. That's not to say that there weren't a few words that Joli simply mispronounced that made us stop for a moment. In fact she has a list of words that we usually have to do a double take on. One small example of that is the word "soap". This is the first time I have ever heard a child take such a simple, innocent, and clean word and turn it into "fock".

So we went several weeks without any other kind of incidents until a few days after Joe left. Then I walked out onto the porch to hear Joli repeating "shit, shit". Apparently the small clothes dryer had fallen over and she was in the process of figuring out how to pick it up. Yep, that's my daughter.

Another day or so went by and Joli and I went out shopping with my friend Kacie. While we were out I decided that since we hadn't really had much breakfast we should supplement with a Jamba Juice. Joli took the initial first sips and some of dripped out onto her blanky. Kacie said "Oh no her blanky", and Joli simply looked down, pointed at the drops and said "Oh dammit." Completely matter of fact as though she uses the word on a regular basis and it is not in any way unusual that she said it!

So now I am at point where I have to figure out if I should respond and risk having her turn it into this fun thing that gets a reaction out of mommy, or should I just let it go and hope that she grows out of it. Watch out playdates, here we come!

Life's Bitch

When did I get to the point in my life that I was no longer myself, no longer important, no longer anything but the secretary/caregiver of this particular household? I have no influence on society, I contribute nothing, and do nothing of any importance. If I am not right in the middle of doing laundry, changing a diaper, or washing dishes than I am therefore a lazy piece of shit that does nothing!

How did this happen? Was it the moment that I stopped working and began caring for my child and running my household? Is it because I don't bring any money into the household? Maybe it is because no one would notice if I suddenly up and died until my husband needed a ride home. I can just picture Joli screaming and throwing the ultimate of all tantrums because I won't get up from my expired state and give her her binky. Is that all it would take? A chauffeur and a nanny and I would no longer exist? I guess there would have to be a few more people involved. A maid, a cook, a dog trainer, a laundry service, a maintenence service, a gardening service, a diaper service, a personal shopper, a seamstress, an accountant, a secretary, a plumber, a carwash, a decorating service, and a hooker. That about covers it. Unless of course the maid doesn't do dishes or clean litter boxes. Yep, I'm completely replacable.

Of course, since I don't work or bring in any money, it's completely unimaginable that I wouldn't be doing at least one of these tasks at any given moment. Right now I'm being put on the list of most horrible people ever, simply because I'm sitting down and writing something about myself. Not to say that it is anyone person's fault. It is simply where we are at in society. All these women spent decades trying to be "equal" to men, so we now not only have to be resposible for all of the above mentioned tasks we must also get a job to "contribute". I'm totally happy for us women that we have so many equal opportunities, but what about those of us that want to stay home and raise our own children? What if we don't think that working a full time job and then coming home to be a full time wife and mother is such a great thing?

I guess it doesn't matter. It's the same arguement that I've heard every other stay at home mom try to make. File this away with all the other letters from unappriciated, overworked women that are trying to make themselves feel like they're worth something even though they do nothing.

No Blow

So I'm branching out and trying more wines. I figure while Joe's gone I'm going to need it. Today I bought a brand solely for it's name, and I now know never to make that mistake again. Let me tell you first hand, it blows!