Code Words

Saturday mornings around this place are pretty standard. My husband watches the kids while he talks to his father between 8 and 9 a.m. There's usually a lot of noise but I manage to squeeze in a few extra minutes of sleep during this time. Then, as his conversation finishes up, my husband gathers his checkbook and co-payments from the week and prepares to head off to the bank. Vivi accompanies him with the sole purpose of getting a lollipop and I get to ease into my morning with one less child in the house. It's been a pretty good system overall.


On Halloween morning, things took a different turn with this conversation:

Husband: "I am going to go to the b-a-n-k by myself because she [Vivi] will get plenty of candy tonight."

Me: "Good point. Are you going now?"

Vivi: "Daddy, where are you going?"

Husband: "I am going to take care of some business."

Vivi: "I want to go with you!"

Husband: "You don' t even know where I am going. I'll be right back."

Vivi, near hysterical: "DADDY!! I want to go to the B-A-N-K!!!!!"


As Vivi turned from toddler to preschooler, we discovered that she was picking up on a lot of conversations that weren't meant for her ears. She was never a child to miss much but when she recently called our eccentric neighbor "Crazy J," I knew I had to keep my less than complimentary opinions to myself. Or, at least wait until well after bedtime.

So much for our code words.

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