While I was away in New York auditioning last week, my two-year-old son Edward was staying with Toy Grammy. He likes to go to Toy Grammy’s house, generally because it contains lots of toys. I often drop him off right at the train table, and pick him up in the same spot. Sometimes I wonder if he ever moves while I’m gone. But, in addition to the toys, he also gets to hang around with his older cousins and learn exciting new things.
One of the exciting new things he has learned from last week is the phrase “Shut Up!” I was made aware of this when my mother called to inform me that he had been repeating the phrase “Shut up, Grammy!” even when she was not saying anything. Now, on the one hand, this makes a lot of sense. If you have ever met my mother, you know that when she is not saying anything, it is only because she is taking a breath to prepare for saying something, so I get why Edward might want to slip a preemptive “shut up” in there, just to cover his bases. But on the other hand, this behavior is also extremely hilarious.
No, just kidding, This behavior is bad, and it is not something we want him to be saying. Ok, just kidding, it actually is hilarious. No, wait, it is not. It is bad. I must attempt not to laugh when he tells my mother to shut up (quite congenially, I might add – he has no idea it is a rude thing to say). I must scowl and be scoldy. It is not funny. I will keep telling myself that.
Now that I am home with him again, I have not actually heard him say this new phrase at all, so maybe it isn’t his new thing. Maybe he just really wanted my mother to be quiet. Or maybe he repeated it a few times, and then lost it. He certainly picked up a bunch of other words while he was there. In fact, as soon as I walked in the door and he came over to greet me, I could tell that his language had improved in the five days that I had been gone. He learned the word “follow,” which is a useful word to know, and his overall ease with the words that he already did know is greater.
So am I expecting him to tell me to shut up? Well, probably at some point in his life. I just hope it will not be soon. And if he does say it to me, I will sit him down and explain that we don’t use that phrase in our house, and that we should say “please be quiet” when we want someone to stop talking. Or, alternately, I will say to him, “Why are you telling me to shut up? Do I look like Grammy? I know! Let’s get her on the phone…”