A Stupid Post

WB, the LFM and I just got back from visiting WB's family in Puerto Rico. It was a lovely time except for the fact that the LFM picked up a horrible word from a special feature on the Madagascar DVD and spent the entire vacation calling his grandmother stupid every chance he got. It was horrible. We tried explaining that this was a word we don't say, that it hurts people's feelings- no dice, he kept saying it. We tried replacing the word with another woprd- so every time he said stupid we'd respond, "oh, you mean sube." (the spanish word for up, pronounced soo-bay, which sounds almost exactly like his pronunciation of stupid), which only made things worse because then he would say "no! STUPID!", and over-enunciate the word stupid- just to make sure we were 100% clear as to what he was saying. Finally, we started ignoring it, which is the tactic we're currently employing, as he has brought this delightful behavior home with him. He's clearly doing it for attention, because when I don't respond to his use of the word, he gets really upset, to the point of screaming it. Still, it feels weird just ignoring it- it feels like bad parenting, like shouldn't I be addressing this somehow? Yet the more I address it, the more the behavior is repeated.

Boy, this parenting stuff ain't easy...and this is just the wee tiny head of a pin sized tip of the very large iceberg, I know.

There were some really cute moments to the visit as well. Lest you think the LFM is all boundary testing and no joy, I'm including some really cute videos I took on this trip.



This is the LFM singing and being adorable to avoid sleeping. It worked. he's charming, that one. There's no visual, because we were ostensibly going to sleep, hence the darkness. Just enjoy the music.



This is the LFM playing the drums with his Grandfather and Great Uncle in an impromptu party.



This is the LFM searching for lizzards (legartijo) in the back garden at his grandparents' house. It rained half the time we were there, but at least the puddles were fun for one little monkey to play in.



And lastly, this is the LFM rocking out at his grandparents' house. This kid LOVES to dance. And I personally love to watch him dance. He often shouts "Bailando, bailando!" (Spanish for I'm dancing, I'm dancing!) or "Shake your booty!" while he dances. The move about 3/4 of the way into it is awesome and I'm totally stealing it the next time that we (never) go dancing.