Today my sweet toddler called me a butthole.  Actually, his exact words were “Mom. You’re being a butthole.”   I happened to be videoing him at the time…

If you are wondering how my precious babe got a foul mouth like this, I will tell you how.  He hears it from his older siblings, who repeat what they hear from the kids at school, kids on their sports teams, or  what they hear in movies or television programs.  It’s impossible to shield them from everything.  They are going to hear it, and they are going to repeat it at least once.  And it’s inevitable that the baby in the family will hear these words, too.

I will admit, it did make me laugh a bit.  I know, isn’t that awful?  But it did.  I mean, at first I was shocked and said, “Hey! don’t say that word!” but then I smiled.  I didn’t get angry.  I smiled.  Which made him smile.  And before I knew it, the siblings were laughing at him. And so of course he started saying, “butthole! butthole!” because he loved the response he was getting, and everyone was laughing and he was laughing,  and then I had to step in and control the scene because after all I am the mom and that’s my job.

Because yeah, it was funny the first time.  But it won’t be funny at the grocery store when I tell him he can’t have candy.  And it won’t be funny in church when I tell him to sit still.  And it won’t be funny when we are meeting new friends at a mommy-and-me gathering.

So I’ll do my best not to smile.  I’ll give him my scariest mommy voice to warn him no more “butthole” words.  And if push comes to shove, I will let daddy handle it when he gets home.

This is what daddy does to foul-mouth little toddlers.

I don’t think Aiden wants to be fed to the dinosaurs, so I’m quite sure he will not be saying the butthole word again.  Let’s hope not!