Oh Banisters!

Conversation in the car on the drive back from a Waffle House lunch earlier today:

Claire: I want Max & Ruby. [on the DVD player in the car]

Molly: Momma?! Pat, pat, pat. [translation: I want Little Einstein's]

Me: We just watched the whole Max & Ruby video, so let's go with Little Einstein's.

Claire: Oh banisters!

Me: What?

[Claire repeats]

Me: Do you know what a banister is?

Claire: Yes, it's that thingy on the stairs you hold onto.

Me: So why are you using that word now?

Claire: It means "oh man, I don't like this"

Me: You made this up?

Claire: Yes.

So my kid came up with her own personal curse word, or so it seems.

And that kicked off a decidedly crazy day around here. Kyle set up the bounce house this afternoon, and the entire neighborhood (of mostly big kids, that is) descended upon our house. Sixth-grade boys, third-grade girls, and so on ... they were jumping in our bounce house, playing in our basement, taking our drinks out of the garage refrigerator (without asking permission), wildly pulling Claire in the wagon, creating a drink stand (with our drinks, of course) and as of 9pm the kids have yet to leave my front yard. So my four year old now has a bunch of groupies because they think she has the "cool" house in the neighborhood. Huh? Really?

I wince to think of the language she's picked up today - I did hear the word "hate" thrown around a bunch of times by the second and third-grade girls. Uggggg. In the five minutes Claire sat down for dinner, we reminded her of the language rules in our household, and told her if she uses any of the words she knows aren't allowable then she'll never get another friend day like this. Honestly, the kid had such a blast today that I think she might keep her language in check. We'll find out soon enough.

The twins got a lot of outdoors time, but we spent more time ensuring they weren't mauled by a big kid than doing anything particularly fun.

And now, as I stare at the utterly trashed basement, I realize it's time to start cleaning for the nanny's return tomorrow.

Oh Banisters!