Expletives & Ears

Tuesday evening I receive a call from my sister as she is picking up WC from after school care. "WC got in trouble for using a bad word and I don't know what to do."

I'm all about the context of a situation, so I ask what happened.

In after school care he was working a puzzle and piece wouldn't fit right and he uttered, "damn."

"That's it," I ask. "He didn't yell it at someone or anything?"

"Nope and she even said if she hadn't been standing right there she wouldn't have heard it."

And she goes on to say she doesn't feel she could discipline him because she would feel like a hypocrite. That's probably one reason he's using the word due to Aunt Potty Mouth, but honestly none of us- other than CJ- is innocent of using that word. Usually it is under a frustrated sort of context.

He knew better than to use the word. And was very upset that she was calling me. I honestly fail to the see point of getting my panties up in a bunch over it. If we make a big ole deal about it then that word and others like it just become more attractive. Because let's face it- forbidden makes it more exciting. And it gets the grown ups all nervous to boot. So I just told her to tell him not to say it again and just go home & do his homework.

I'm not at all sensitive to language. It just doesn't bother me. I grew up with an uncle who peppered every other word in a sentence with a colorful word. After a few years I came to the conclusion that it was because he didn't have a broad enough vocabulary to adequately express himself without those words. It was sad.

Cat later told me that she asked him who he heard that word from. He named us all- even Grandma. I really wasn't surprised. It isn't like we use it in normal conversation. But trust me, if  I drop a casserole dish full of raw food on the kitchen floor the word 'darn' isn't what's coming out.

I may should have addressed the issue with him when I arrived home but before I made it there I had to pick up CJ.

When I arrived at mom's to pick up CJ, he was sobbing. She said he woke up from his nap, holding his ear & crying. He'd done nothing but lay on her with his ear up against her. He'd had a cold for the past week, so I was 99.5% sure it was an ear infection. So, I drove 25 miles in rush hour traffic towards home with him crying the whole way. We stopped at the clinic in the drug store to the see the NP. Luckily, there was no one in front of us. Which is a miracle. People in the store probably suspected we were murdering him in there the way he screamed. But he cooperated with her- even though he cried the whole time. She wasn't used to children & I don't feel she did a thorough job. She said she couldn't see the ear drum and didn't know if it had burst. But she declared it was an ear infection and prescribed the familiar pink goop of amoxicillan. 12.5 ml 2x a day! Seriously? That might as well be a gallon jug of medicine. Drug companies need to be forced to actually administer medication to small children- maybe then they'd come up with more concentrated dosing.

The NP said if he isn't better in a couple of days to bring him back. But I think if he's not then I'll take him to his pediatrician- who isn't rattled by a little fit throwing.

Once we were home, I immediately gave him a dose of ibuprofen. Then the antibiotic- which surprisingly enough he took without issue. He went and climbed up on the couch and curled up. I assumed he was out for the night. But about 20 minutes or so later he sat up and said, "Hi WC." Like he'd just gotten home. Then he jumped down and ran off playing with his big brother. By the time Jay arrived home, he would have never known there was anything wrong with CJ if I hadn't called him from the pharmacy.

 

On another note: WC received a certificate from karate, it's time to test for his gold belt. The one thing is that his teacher has to sign off on it. I sent it to school with him on Tuesday and haven't received it back yet. I'm praying since we haven't had any more hitting incidents since Mr. H spoke with him then she will sign off on it. He is doing so well in karate that I pray she will sign off. If she doesn't I don't know how long we'll have to wait until next testing.