Beware – Toddlers have no filter

You know some people  who say exactly what’s on their mind? Positively described as honest, negatively described as blunt. Sometimes I love these people. “I wish I could be that honest” I think. Other times I think “Ooh that was harsh, don’t you have a filter?”

Well, let me tell you toddlers do not have this filter! And if you tend to have a bit of a potty mouth (don’t we all some days), control it, control it now! For your delightfully cute little one will repeat EVERYTHING YOU SAY! And I mean everything. Hence Mr. S and I training ourselves to replace our thoughtlessly uttered expletives with words such as ‘sugar’, ‘bother’ and my current favourite ‘fudge sticks’. Particularly hard when driving I’ve found!

“So”, I hear you say, “I get it, keep my language in check in front of my little one” (and out of sight because THEY HEAR EVERYTHING) – “check”. But it’s not just your language you need to consider. These adorable tiny humans have a way of saying exactly what they think, when they think it.

Take Good Friday for example. There we were, family Smith 3, enjoying a sunny afternoon at Bateman’s, a National Trust property in East Sussex. Taking a break from our Easter egg hunt to enjoy our picnic, people watching and enjoying the sunshine, when a shall we say larger lady comes into our vicinity. Aria, darling daughter, pipes up from behind her carrot sticks “Lady, big tummy.” Cue husband and I, beetroot red trying desperately to drown out her honesty, “ARIA ARE YOU ENJOYING YOUR LUNCH?” “Lady, BIG T..” “MMMM YUMMY CARROT STICKS”. “LADY, BI..” “LOOK AT THAT DOGGY.“

Thankfully, I don’t think the lady heard her honest outburst. We however, are going to have to learn to deal with more of these types of situations. Because when you’re two, you really do say what you think.

Has your little one come out with any embarrassing things? I’d love to hear them!

Em xx

Darling daughter, enjoying her chocolate bunny

 

 

 

 

Raising a tiny human – 104 weeks (ish)

Two years! That’s 104 weeks. Roughly 104 weeks since the little girl, who has the cheekiest smile I’ve ever seen, came into the world. I can’t believe that the past two years have gone by so quickly. This post is a little late, as Aria turned two last month, but I wanted to reflect on the past two years.

When I was pregnant and in the first year of her life,  I was blogging a lot with updates and recording her milestones on the blog. That’s fallen by the way a little in her second year, mostly due to the fact life is pretty hectic!

I think in the early days, certainly for me, it was so hard to see beyond the baby days. the sleepless nights and tiredness that go hand in hand with the wonders of watching this little person develop their personality. I can’t count the amount of people who told us ‘enjoy this time, it goes so fast.’ It sounds like a cliche but it really does!

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not all butterflies and rainbows, some days have you tearing your hair out, fighting over whose turn it is to get up in the night, crying from sheer bloody exhaustion, but I guess that and my permanent eye bags are part of raising a tiny human.

These two years have really been a ‘getting to know’ each other time as well. As strange as that sounds when talking about your own child, you really do have to learn their quirks, the things they like, what makes them happy, like anyone new that you meet.

I’m amazed at how kind she is and funny to the point she makes us cry with laughter. True to her name, she loves music and like us is a fan of seafood and silliness. Sure she has irrational outbursts, like the time she cried because she wanted to see the neighbour’s cat who dared not to be in the garden, and she likes to test how far she can push that cheekiness of hers – terrible twos are true to their word. God help us when she becomes a ‘threenager’!

I don’t want to turn this into a post about how wonderful she is, with my rose tinted glasses after a full night’s sleep, but she’s truly a wonder and I can’t wait to watch her grow into the beautiful person she’s becoming.