Grown-Up Words

This morning, I moved Peeper's Poor Ballerina Who Keeps Losing Body Parts from one spot on the counter (where she was awaiting surgical superglue reattachment of one hand and the other arm) to another.

When I put her down, one of her (previously glued) feet snapped off.

I told Shrike about it, saying, "All I did was move her, and her damn foot snapped off!"

So, of course, Peeper asked, "Why her damn foot snapped off? Mommy, Mama moved my Poor Ballerina and her damn foot snapped off. Why Mama snapped my Poor Ballerina's damn foot off?

To her credit, she did drop the "damn" when I reminded her that it's a "grown-up" word.

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During a trip to the potty this afternoon, I said something about Peeper's "booty."

She told me, "No, you hafta to use a grown-up word."

"What?"

"You hafta to use a grown-up word. You don't say byewty. You say . . . butt."

I never did convince her that "grown-up words" aren't actually required for grown-ups.