Holy crap

Three years ago I used to swear like a sailor.  To me swears were words, and somewhat often the right word for the job.  While not nearly so surly as me, Christie was also a fan of the well time four letter word.

Then Violet arrived and for her first few months, we had a free pass because she didn't repeat what we said. After she gave her first "Dah" and "Mah" of communication, however, Christie and I have done a good job of not swearing in front of the kid.

We even had a phase of replacing every swear word with the word "cuss" a la the Fantastic Mr. Fox.  I think that phase ended after a week or so because it sounded too absurd and not nearly as satisfying as the real word.

And yes, I screamed the f-word at the guy who blindly turned out of the Dunkin' Donuts parking lot right in front of me and almost hit me (all without even looking).  Violet was in the car and must've heard it.  But thankfully no repeating.  Maybe because I shouted so angrily it was more of a weird f sounding grunt than a formed word.  Regardless, she didn't seem to pick it up, so no harm, no foul.

Despite our best efforts Violet gave a bit of a swear today.  Yes, it was fairly PG.  She didn't say one of the big ones, but she said one, one that we were trying to keep her from saying.

I was removing her nap-time diaper so that she could go to her potty and do her business.  She looked past me to the light fixture.  She said, "Holy crap, Daddy.  What's going on with the light?"

I was stunned, I wasn't sure I heard what I thought I had heard.  "Violet, what did you say?" I asked.

She repeated it clear as day.  "Holy crap, Daddy.  What's going on with the light?"

I figured if I make big deal about it then she would learn that the word had some power.  I nonchalantly asked, "What's wrong with light?"  I didn't see anything.

"There a bug," she said.  I looked and looked and didn't see one.  I told her so and she said, "Oh, OK," and let it drop.

As I mentioned, "Holy crap," is no big deal.  They probably say it on Sesame street now.  But we tried so hard.  Did it happen during one of our (most likely my) screw ups?  If not, where did it come from?  A mystery.