Nathan received his first “reprimand” for improper language yesterday. It was a day i’ll not soon forget. I was cleaning some stuff in the kitchen while he was playing with his new Thomas the Tank Engine Snow Globe and i heard him softly say to himself, “stupid, stupid.” At first i didn’t understand what he’d said…it sounded like he could’ve been saying “too big, too big”.

But when i asked him to repeat what he was saying, he blantantly said it – “stupid, stupid”. I asked him where he learned that word (trying to remember if it was on something i was watching on TV or if I had said it!) All he did was smile and say it again. I asked him to stop saying it because it wasn’t a nice word. He didn’t. I gave him alternative words (nice ones) to say. He didn’t. Finally, i asked him to stop saying it and told him that if he didn’t, he’d go to time out. He said it again, almost testing me.

So, while he was in time out, i sat on the couch thinking about where he’d picked it up. I knew it had to have been something he’d been repeatedly exposed to because he usually doesn’t just shout out words like that until he’s heard it several times. Then, it dawned on me. Monsters, Inc. (the movie)! It has become one of his favorites and it always did bother me that they say that word in there so much, but i never thought it would do this to Nathan!

So, we have banned Monsters, Inc. from the TV. I will be erasing it from our DVR today sometime. It saddens me because i know how much he likes that movie and asks for it constantly. David and i have grown to like it too. I guess we’ll just hold off on letting him watch it for a while, as my sister is supposed to be giving us her DVD of it soon.

Needless to say, i went to bed feeling like a bad mom – that i had let my kid become “infected” with today’s movie language, but i guess it would’ve happened sooner or later. David did make me feel better by telling me that i wasn’t a bad mom; that a bad mom wouldn’t have really been as bothered as i was about him saying “stupid” over and over again. Still, it just made me realize that my little boy will soon grow to a big boy and probably lose all the innocence about him.

Still, i will fight to the death to prolong it for as long as possible.