Potty (Mouth) Training

At around 20 months, Cady began forming words. I noticed she had the habit of pronouncing her "f's" like "b's", so fish would become "bish" and "fun" sounded like "bun." I tried correcting her by exaggerating the fffffffffffffffffff, but she would just say fffffffffff...bish instead. Around the same time, I had developed a bad habit of cursing. To set the record straight, I don't usually curse, I think getting married triggered it. j/k. Anyway, it was a particularly frustrating night. I was trying to put Cady to bed before my tutoring session at 9. Ray was OC, Cady was stalling as usual, and I was rushing around trying to find the Blanket that she never leaves home, or goes to sleep, without. I couldn't find it anywhere in the house, so I realized I must have left it in the car downstairs. It was 8:50 and I had to log on to tutor in 5 mins. Frantic, I began searching for my car keys. I looked in the usual places; top of the kitchen counter, under the sofa cushions, in the laundry basket, but I couldn't find them anywhere. That was about the time I lost it. I started throwing the sofa cushions around trying to find my keys, all the while saying, "f__k!" "f__k!" under my breath. Up to that point, I still hadn't realized how impressionable Cady was... until the next morning when...

The incident from last night was just a faint memory; I had found the keys, retrieved the Blanket, made it in time to tutor, everything was all good. This morning I was looking for my keys again, getting ready to take Cady out, and I wondered aloud (but happily this time), "Where are my keys?" That was when, to my utter mortification and dismay, Cady walked over to the sofa and cheerfully started throwing pillows, calling out, "buck" "buck," and looking at me with a huge grin on her face. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry, but the second emotion was stronger. I felt like the Worst Mother in the World. Especially since Ray was right. Whenever I turn into the Screaming Old Hag, he says, "Don't curse in front of Cady." But I guess I underestimated her pick-upability.

A few days later when Ray was trying to give Cady a bath, I heard her say, "buck" "buck" again. "What is she saying?" asked Ray, looking for me to translate as usual. "I think she wants me to tie her hair," I lied, because "buck" in Taiwanese, means to tie up her hair, and that was one legimate word she had learned. So yeah, now whenever she says buck, I say, "oh, you want me to tie your hair?" Hopefully that will phase that habit out.. And I'm very careful about what I say around her now.