Monday, May 23, 2011

Poop.

A versatile word in my family.  It can be at one moment a source of extreme hilarity or at the next a heinous insult. "Mommy, (insert name here) called me a poop-head."  It is often tagged on to the end of words and mentioned too frequently at the dinner table.  It is also Max's favorite punch-line to any joke he might tell.  "Garble, garble, gook......(wait for it)....POOP!"  And then he and whomever he is telling (so long as their surname is Reynolds) are rolling on the ground giggling like they ate cocoa-puffs with skittles on top and shot of Root-beer for breakfast.   Max loves the scandalous nature of the word as observed by his ear-to-ear grin after over-hearing my conversation with a tender-eared three-year-old playmate:

Girl: Sister Reynolds!  Sister Reynolds!  Max says BAD WORDS!!!
Me: Really?  What did he say?
Girl: (hushed tone) Poop.
Max:  POOP!

I. CANNOT. TAKE. IT. ANYMORE.  Last night, I informed my brood that if anyone so much as used the word poop outside the bathroom and in the wrong context they would be paying me a dollar for each violation.  So far, I've made three dollars off of Max and he has cried about me taking his "moneys out his piggy bank".  I know I'm mean, but the potty talk has to stop sometime or they will turn out like their Dad.

Case-in-point:

Earlier in the day:

R:  Tell Max his Dad said poop in a can.
Me: I will not tell him that!
R:  Why not?!!!

(A few hours pass)


Me: Btw- anyone who says poop in our family has to pay me a dollar.  New rule.  I'm planning on making a lot of money off you.
R: Poop in a can.
Me: $1 in my wallet.  I might start charging you more.
R:  Hahaha
Me: You laugh now!  Wait until you are broke! Then I'll be laughing.  And don't even think about asking me for a loan...
R: Shoot, this will be tough.

Soon, I'll have a new pair of shoes....and hopefully they'll be cured of a bad habit.

7 comments:

Meredith Hayes said...

This is very smart. I think your method will work. When I was in 5th grade my friend's parents had a "Burp Jar" and every time someone burped they had to put a dollar in...but the deal was once the jar was full they'd go out to dinner with the whole fam...???

"Hey -- psst! Mom's making gross meatloaf for dinner again! Let's burp it up and by tomorrow we'll go get pizza!" "YEAH!"

What about "BM Ball"? Is that out of the picture?

ericareynolds said...

Ha! I wish-- I have to win the battle before I can win the war!

mcampbell said...

I love it. It sounds like Bernstein Bears book. You know, Bernstein Bears Go to the Doctor, Bernstein Bears Forget Their Manners, and...Bernstein Bears and Potty Talk.

Good luck. :)

Carolee said...

I still laugh about the day Drew came home from preschool and told me..."max says poop" and then he did alittle chuckle! Is it male genetic thing that makes that funny. Cause we had used those words tons of times during potty training without the same response.

No hard feelings about Drew learning "poop" from Max. I have such bigger problems....like all the other 4 letter words his dad has taught him and that get repeated (in context) WAY to often.

I should try charging J for all his words...he would be broke.

Good luck with the battle.

Mitch said...

I thought the Reynolds' were all about the BM. Christine would have strung us up if we ever said poop. Thus we made up all kinds of insults that revolved around BM instead. :)

Sarah said...

So, um, was Ryan the girl?

Julie said...

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Sorry Erica I have contributes to Max's potty mouth. But it is soooo funny. ;) ok, no more. I promise. Also, Robert texted Mac "poop in a can". It's all making sense now...