July 25, 2004 - Oh, Man! Oh, Darn! Oh...no-
Everett has entered the repetition phase of his language development. Sure, he would repeat words I said before...when I wanted him to ("what does the cow say, Everett? MOOOO?"). And he would often repeat the last word or two of my sentence when we were talking about something ("Everett, do you see that cool tree?" "Coo Tree!")
But in the last few days he has started with the strategy of attempting to repeat whole sentences. Even the ones I don't direct at him. The other day he started saying, "Oh, Darn!" I thought it was pretty cute. I giggled to myself. He didn't say it very many times, at least not when I was around.
One or both of Everett's parents may have a nasty habit of using mild profanity when they argue. That's all I can say. So when Everett started his newest phrase, today, we had an idea where it originated.
It was early this evening. Everett was walking past me into the kitchen, deep in a conversation with himself. "Oh, GOD!" he said. I thought about it for a minute. Did I just hear what I think I heard?
"Oh, GOD!" he said again, clear as day. Yep.
As if he knew just how funny I found this (despite my desperate endeavor not to), he began to repeat it. Again. And again. And so all evening we were treated to a virtual chant of mild profanity. "Oh, God! Oh, darn!" he said. And he uses just the right intonation, although perhaps he is a bit heavy-handed with its application.
As I mentioned on Blogging Baby, the way BabyCenter advises me to deal with this is to ignore it. Unless, of course, he starts using more shocking language, or doesn't stop on his own.
One of the methods suggested is to encourage using alternate, silly, exclamations. My favorite is Swiper the Fox's "Oh, MAAAN!" I tried that when I was getting Everett out of his car seat (having first stifled the silent giggles with which his daddy and I were wracked in the front seat). He said, "Oh, GOD!" I said, "Oh, MAAANN!" and laughed enthusiastically. Jonathan and I each said it again. He looked at me like I was from another planet and said eagerly, "Oh, God!"
Oh, no.
