Blog posts tagged with 'parenting'

Every parent under the sun goes through this horrible period somewhere between 18 months and 4 years wherein their lovely, sweet, and perfect baby finds out 'potty words' get noticed. I remember a two year old cousin stomping around the room one Christmas singing "Sh*t, Sh*t, Sh*t, Sh*t, Sh*t, Sh*t, Sh*t, Sh*t....." What in the world is a parent to do with this?

Ignore it?

Well this just might be the best approach if it seems like an isolated incident of mimicry and development. Very young toddlers will pick up on sounds and words and try them out. Often it is just part of the development of the skills used to incorporate language into their daily lives. New words, fun sounds, and constructions that have a good 'mouth feel' make for common repeated phrases and words. The newly tested word will be abandoned shortly for a new one and your life will move forward.

A side note on this: To this day the phrase, ‘Mecca Lecca High Mecca Hiney Ho!’ plays over and over in my brain.... damn you pee wee herman!

Redirect it?

Sometimes that lovely 'mouth feel' of a word can get stuck and becomes a bit of a habit. The little mirrors, that are our children, pick up on some of our worst behaviors. When handled appropriately a simple redirection can accomplish quite a bit of good. Three and four year olds often want to be oppositional and test limits, but, for the most part, like to please their parents. If you can time the discussion correctly (NOT right after the child drops an F*bomb in the grocery store which reinforces the behavior) you can redirect the behavior. It needs to be communicated clearly that their choice to use that word wasn't the right behavior and is dissapointing. This should be done at some time after but not so far down the road they cannot remember the actual behavior. Like maybe in the car on the way home.

Punish It?

At a certain point all kids will do stuff just to push your buttons and the limits of the relationship. It is completely natural and part of their development. You want your child to question the rules in life. You want them to grow and thrive and test the boundaries. How else would we have ever made it to the moon or invented the iPhone or thought to put bacon into a chocolate sundae? HOWEVER, part of pushing boundaries and testing the function of the world is to suffer a few consequences in breaking the "rules". Jumping out of a tree to see if you can fly (ill-advised behavior, by the way) has the consequence of hitting the ground. AND the foul-mouthed kindergarten student is going to have some pretty major consequences for you as a parent and your child too. Set realistic limits and clear consequences of the behavior. Time outs, loss of favorite toy, loss of desert, loss of story time, etc. If all else fails, pull a Lifebouy like poor ole Ralphie.

Tell us about your favorite "potty mouth moment" in the comments below. We would love to hear about it. At least we can all laugh together, out of earshot of your 'foul mouthed toddler' :)

We just love creative documentation of your new little ones first years.  New and first time mom, Elise, has taken some time off work to raise her cutie-pie son, Gio.  Well sometimes all that baby stuff lying around the house just becomes inspiration (especially for an artist).  Elise decided to take us all on an adventure.She writes:

"This is what happens when an artist becomes a first time mom! Baby Gio travels to fantastical places in a weekly saga of DIY photo art (collaging household items, e.g., sheets, dishes, baby, etc.)... When I donned the wig to play "Alice" and made my husband take the photos, we both cried with laughter. Yes, I have totally lost my mind. But we're all mad here, aren't we? Or we wouldn't have come here. :)"

What we love about this is the effect in the final composition is stunning and the components used to create this beautiful picture are hardly recognizable. Candles and jar tops function as apples on the tree, changing pads. Shower curtains and blankets take on the life of grass and trees. It is all just stunning and so clever. We will have to keep an eye on her adventures over at her Elise in Wonderland Pinterest page.

"Little known fact: the reason why Alice went down the rabbit hole was because she was chasing her 10-week-old baby, Giovanni Everett."

Gio and the Mad Hatter:

Baby Gio was quite pleased to join the Mad Hatter in celebrating his unbirthday, which just happened to fall on April 29th, the day Gio turned 11 weeks old. Alice had been sitting in the extra seat, but she drank out of the wrong cup, and grew too large for the table. Made by me, with: table cloth, shower curtain, window curtain, bed sheets, napkins, dress socks, an old beach towel, hair barrettes, tea set, teddy bear, mouse toy, vines, baby bottle, and construction paper. Starring Gio and Ian

Gio in the Garden of the Queen of Hearts:

At twelve weeks (which is not at all the same as 3 months), Baby Gio wandered into the garden of the Queen of Hearts. Made by Elise Ippolito using napkins, bird statue wrapped with tissue paper, halloween costume, Venetian mask, two stuffed animals, silk flowers, clothing, jewelry, curtains, sheets, window drapery, pipes, envelopes, potted tree and a broomstick.

Gio and the Magic Beanstalk

Brave little 13-week-old Gio found some magic beans while in Wonderland, and put them to good use... Picture made by Elise Ippolito, with "elephant ear" vine, blankets, sheets, gauze, dress, shower curtain, changing pads, and gold plated serving cup. Starring Gio

Gio Meets the Giant while trying to get a Golden Egg

14-week-old Baby Gio isn't afraid of that Giant, or the Goose, and fully intends to make off with the Golden Egg, even if it is a bit heavier and larger than he'd expected... Made by me with fuzzy baby blankets, gold tablecloth, oval serving dish, a coil of rope, several sheets, and elephant ear vine leaves. Starring Mr. Gio and his daddy, Ian, as the Giant.

Gio on the Magic Carpet

Gio is off again.  I guess we are gushing about this alot lately, but we just love when someone's passion for their child becomes a visual testament:

Gio, now 15 weeks old, escaped the Giant with the help of a magic lamp, and made a couple of new friends in the process. Made with: blue towel, carpet, more towels, belt, a multitude of clothing and sheets, sash, ribbon, gold card stock, monkey hat, construction paper, swaddle, and actual authentic Egyptian lamp. Starring Gio

One of our favorite things about this artist is her self deprecating humor about the project in general. Some comments she made on the original image she posted on facebook:

You can tell it's not a professional's work, because you can see the zippered fly of the pink jeans in the top right cloud! Gio cooperated amazingly, though. I was also really pleased with getting a Genie-shape out of the one blue towel we owned.

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Dads are making it big in advertising these days...bout time!

We all know a few of the dedicated stay at home dads that took the initiative to devote their time and energy to the kids (cant imagine a more exhausting or rewarding career). Finally some big national companies are taking a liking to this great group of parents and actually spending some time and money to advertise about and to them. This is such a big change from as early as a year ago when a group of dads started a petition to get Huggies to pull some ads that made "dads" out to be incompetent at child rearing; encouraging their consumers to videotape dads 'trying' to diaper a child.  Huggies eventually pulled the ads and apologized. Looks like the 'stay at home father' is finally getting their due and we hope the trend continues.  We just love this commercial from Tide. Stay at home dads ROCK!  They work hard hard hard!