Watch What You Say

I don't worry too much about what people say in front of Teh N00b. All languages have swear words, and kids will hear them; the catch is learning when to use them.

I will admit to cleaning up my own language somewhat when Teh N00b started using the F-bomb to get my attention. His favorite show-stopper for a while was "F**k it out!" Best response? "You want a fork, honey? But we're not eating right now. What, you want a truck? We have one of those at home honey, should we go get it?"

Then we went to South America and no one knew what he was saying. So he stopped and hasn't sworn since.

Now, part two of "Watch What you Say":

Almost everyday a local ice cream truck comes to our street. I never buy ice cream from the truck because I don't want Teh N00b to beg everytime it comes by -- and the best way to avoid that, in my rigid parental mind, is to simply not make that an option.

The truck always plays "La Cucaracha" in tinny, ice-cream-truck notes as it waits to see which of the neighborhood kids it can tempt outside. So we (as sarcastic misfits) dubbed it the "Marijuana Truck." When it came by, we would joke in fake child-like excitement, "Hurray! It's the marijuana truck! Come and get your marijuana!"

This is, of course, completely inappropriate for non-smokers like ourselves. And we never say this in front of our neighbor's kids, because really, it's just an ice cream truck, and I imagine there is a shortage of catchy tunes off copyright that one can use to draw attention to one's frozen dairy treats. So you have to give the guy a break.

Yesterday we're walking down the street, and in the distance we hear the siren song.

"It's the Mara-mara-ni-wana truck!" shouts Teh N00b.

Oops.