The dit hits the fan

I am very proud of Riley's vocabulary. It's just one of the many zillions of things that I'm happy to brag about, so here I go. At 15 months, she says about 70 words in English and Spanish. She usually adds a new one every day. About half of them are even intelligible to civilians.

Words like "agua" and "apple" are crystal-clear. "Bubber" is translated to "Butter" (the bear, not the saturated fat) fairly easily, as is "deche" for "leche." Then there's head-scratchers like "wo-wo." When I consulted my Rileyese-to-English dictionary after she pointed to a shelf in the fridge, I realized that was "yogurt."

Her verbal acuity coupled with the fact that her favorite song is the ABC ditty are great indicators that she'll follow in her mother's wordsmithing footsteps. While that also makes me proud, I can't help but wish she showed early promise at playing the stock market or developing software, just so she won't follow in my financial footsteps.

But back to her vocabulary. She's entering the parrot phase of toddlerhood, much to my potty-mouthed chagrin. My language is much, much better than it used to be back in my single days, but I'm still not as watchful of my words as I should be.

But Riley the Repeater is now helping to remedy that.

I was driving home last week when some other driver did something aggravating. I can't remember what it was, but my self-righteous-ometer dipped into the red, so it couldn't have my fault. Before I could stop myself, I spat out a scatalogical expletive. Half a nanosecond later, a high, cheerful voice chimed in from the back seat:

"Dit! Dit! Dit!"

As funny as Riley's first attempt at cursing was, it was also sobering. This was one of the many points in the day I realize the profound, fundamental impact my attitudes and behaviors have on my daughter. With everything I say or do, I'm teaching Riley how to be human.

Yes, there are much worse things in life than forgetting my good mommy language. And it's inevitable that Riley will eventually learn how to say that particular word correctly and pepper her conversation with it.

But the "dit" episode is a good reality check. Shaping a little person is serious business. Perfection is impossible, but really, really good is an attainable goal. But I guess I should start with myself first.