Say What?

I think we'd all like to believe our kids are exceptionally intelligent. I remember gushing over every tiny milestone, like the first time Seamus babbled back and forth with me, and saying to myself, "He's so smart!" He could complete a small shape-sorter at around 15 months old, and I thought, "Maybe he's a mathematical genius!" Although as time passed and his language was not developing, it became clear that he needed an evaluation. I remember Linda, the genetics counselor from DuPont saying to us, "He's going to be small, you don't want him to talk funny too." Ouch. Way to make us feel like Parents of the Year!

Seamus qualified for speech therapy and also had ear tubes placed to correct a hearing loss due to excess fluid. With the help of his therapy (and a Leapfrog DVD), he learned all of his letters and the sound each one makes. Fast forward to a year later...now, we can't get this kid to shut up! His speech development has been truly remarkable.

One evening last week in particular. The four of us were sitting around the dinner table, Devon, Grace and I eating normal dinner food, and Seamus eating a bowl of Rice Krispies and banana (his food aversions are a whole other post!) He was also clad only in Thomas the Train briefs (hey, it's summer, he's hot, and I'm choosing my battles.) He was talking, encouraging himself to take a bite - "Come on, tuck it in the bucket!" (I believe he got the "tuck it in the bucket" phrase from his babysitter, pretty original if you ask me.) He gets a giant scoop of Krispies and perfectly diced banana loaded onto his spoon, holds it steady and aims, and just as it approaches his open mouth, the entire spoonful slides off and dribbles down his belly. And all over Thomas. He looks at the empty spoon, and then down at the mess on his lap, and says "Oh, Jesus!"



You know when your kid does something like this and you want to burst out laughing, but you can't because you don't want to encourage inappropriate behavior? This is what is happening to me at this moment, except I had just taken a large sip of wine. So I let out some kind of a snort/choke and managed to aspirate a good amount of my Pinot Noir. I look over at my husband, whose beet-red face is looking down, shoulders shaking with silent laughter. Where on earth did he learn to say that??? The Wiggles Christmas DVD talks about baby Jesus, and Seamus' school is a Catholic elementary school, so all that plus church on Sundays, he's heard quite a lot about Jesus. Maybe he was just praying??



Seeing no reaction from Devon or I, Seamus tries again. "Oh, Jesus!" he yells with more exuberance. I seriously can't take it. I try to look stern. "Seamus! That is not a very nice thing to say. Jesus would be sad if he heard you talking like that." He looks confused. I tell him, "You can say, Oh my goodness!"

So what does he say then? "Oh my God!"

Is he just a particularly devout child, or do I have something to be concerned about here??


He tells me he can't wait to go to school to see Baby Jesus. Right now, I'm just envisioning the first phone call from the teacher, when Seamus spills the glue or drops his crayons and his little voice shouts out, "Oh, Jesus!"