Warning: Scatological Post Ahead

That means I’m going to talk about poop. Or more specifically, talk about talking about poop. Every family has different words for bodily functions, some are more delicate than others. And I have found that families with boys seem to have the least delicate of terms for their excrement. For a long time, we were poopies people. But then somewhere during CW’s training, we became stinks people and once Bam started talking, he has always referred to the smellier contents of diapers as “stink-ums”. So today, Bam walked by me and his smell lingered. So I said, “do you have stink-ums in your pants?” And he very carefully said to me, “no, I have poops.” Bam is a very verbal 2 year old. My guess is that he has developed this skill to better enable him to convey his very particular opinions on subjects near and dear to his heart such as clothing choices, food choices and toy choices. But lately, his verbal skills have blossomed into making verbal distinctions such as this. Another one which I love he came up with a month or so ago when he had a cold. He is very particular about his name and only occasionally will accept non-standard nicknames (of which there are many, this is me, remember?). So, he woke up with a bad cough and I said, Bam are you sick? And he said No, I Bam; I have cough. I love watching my children learn about language and experiment and develop their identity in relation to language. Even if it’s about poop, or stinks, or whatever you call it in your family.