Things We Say

With a baby, things often come out of my mouth that I never thought I'd hear myself say. Yesterday LE made a new friend at the neighborhood park while I chatted with his friend's grandmother. Because I'd only planned to be out for a half hour or so, and it's easier to chase after the boy unencumbered by his bag of equipment (sippy cup, snacks, diapers, wipes, toys, a blanket, butt cream, etc. etc. ... my school backpack has been recruited to a new role that suits it well), all I'd brought with me was the boy and my house keys.

Then LE ate sand. First he was nicely sprinkling the sand into my hand. Then he ate a pebble which I took. Then he ate a tiny dessicated snail which I also took. So he ate another pebble and when I took it he was so mad at me he threw a handful of sand in his mouth to show me what's what. Then he realized sand isn't yummy, and that Mommy can't remove it with one finger, especially not without water from the sippy cup. He looked troubled by all this.

So I picked him up and said to his friend's grandma in what I believe to be perfect Turkish, "LE ate sand. We're going home."

Oddly enough, I have no idea when or where I learned to say 'sand' in Turkish.