That "Dam" Thing

A couple of weekends ago we went to Mark's parents' house to visit, to go to our nephew's farewell, and so I could get my fingerprints taken in the state of Utah. Hmm... curious now, huh? My kids told me grandma told them to bring their snow boots, but I figured they were making things up- they weren't. There was a lot of snow! My mother-in-law bought some sleds and Henry and Charlie had a blast sliding down the sidewalk next to the house and the "garden lot" my in-laws own. The sleds were starting to get a little torn up on the bottom, so my in-laws built a wall at the bottom of the hill so they kids wouldn't go flying onto the driveway and cement tearing up their sleds. We were in the house and all of a sudden we hear someone screaming. We ran outside where we found a very upset Charlie. During the course of the day the sled path turned into a luge track- pure ice. Charlie came flying down and hit the wall. He was crying, "I hit that dam(n) thing. I hit that dam(n) thing!" It was all we could do to keep from cracking up and he just kept saying it over and over. The kids had named the wall, the dam, and although we knew he didn't know what he was saying we couldn't help but chuckle.

Later on in the house Charlie was sitting on the counter helping make cookies. He chatters about random things, so I have a hard time concentrating on everything he says. As he was going on about hitting the wall he said with a very sly smile, "Hey Mom, is dam(n) a bad word?" It reminded me of when I used to ride my bike on the canal bank to 7 Eleven. It was very quiet and no one was ever around, so I would say all the swear words I knew (I was probably about 10). I'm sure if anyone saw me they would have assumed I had a mental deficiency, because it is not everyday you see a 10 year old on a pink ten-speed, talking to herself, swearing like a sailor. So, I can relate to Charlie. Sometimes, you just have to get it out!