Cringing

All parents have this same problem occasionally. It's when their children repeat something they've heard their parents say - in a public place, in front of everyone, LOUDLY.

My mom likes to tell me the story about when she realized she shouldn't tell me things. Apparently, when I entered the 2nd grade (or was it the 3rd grade?... could have been 1st grade, I suppose...) Anyway, when I came home from my first day of school that year and told her who my assigned teacher was, she was happy. And she told me why she was happy I'd been assigned to her class.

So, the next day when I got to school, I went and told the teacher, "My mom is happy that I got you for my teacher because you're a no-nonsense kind of teacher." *gasp!*

I have to laugh whenever I think of this. My mom was mortified by the teacher hearing this. I'm still not sure why. (but I love that she was - it's part of what makes my mom my mom) If I was that teacher, I would have been very glad to hear that my reputation was good. But anyway...

If I could only have such "horrible" moments. No, instead, here's what happens to us:

The other day, we all went to the grocery story. We went to the one that has those race car carts - where the kids get to drive the "car" that has the cart attached to the back of it.

I'm pretty sure this was a day when the boy had not taken a nap and when he hasn't taken a nap, he knows no boundaries and he says whatever he's thinking. What am I saying? He's like that all the time. Nap or no nap!

So, we're all having fun driving through the grocery store when we ran into some traffic in the cereal aisle. The boy yells out to everyone. "MOVE, PEOPLE!!!"

(Yes, in the privacy of our own car, when people are driving slowly, both my husband and I have been known to mutter in a somewhat exasperated manner, "Move, people!" The boy hit it dead-on. Exactly the right inflection. Perfect.)

Imagine his chagrin when nobody moved, but instead just stood there staring at him with amused looks on their faces.

The boy would have none of this, so he leaned out the side of the car and began waving his arms yelling "MOVE, PEOPLE!!!"

The husband and I exchanged some horrified (yet slightly amused) looks ourselves and I backed up the cart and made a bee-line for frozen foods.