It’s not stupid

The word “stupid” has joined booty-head on the list of words we don’t allow Andrea to use. This word is apparently bandied about in the mean streets of day care quite a lot, and we don’t want her to denigrate others, so it made The List†.

Since pushing the envelope is something children apparently enjoy (who knew?), Andrea is developing ways to skirt around the edges. A recent favorite has been to say “stu! stu! stu!” She knows we know what she’s saying, but it’s true that technically she’s within the boundaries.

Today while I was cooking dinner she was leafing through a catalog, muttering to herself with apparent glee, “Stupid, stupid, stupid.”

So I put down the spatula and asked her what she was saying. This lead to the usual witty repartee of our favorite game “What word?”

“The word you were saying.”

“What word was I saying?”

“You know which word you were saying.”

“The word I was saying with my words?”

“Yes … yes.”

“Tiggers do best.”

“Em. You were saying, ’Tiggers do best?’”

Huge smile: “Yes! Tiggers do best.” A pause. “That’s a good one, huh?”

†It’s a pretty short list at this point, pretty much only consisting of “booty” and variations thereof, and “stupid.” It will no doubt increase in size as time passes.