Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Bob Dole wants his shtick back

M's got a new habit. He refers to himself in the third person. You know: "M needs more water" or "M can do that for you." I don't know why this annoys me so much. Maybe it's because I feel guilty every time I hear it, because this probably came from me referring to myself as "Momma" for the past four years. Or maybe it's because he's supposed to be getting better at sentence construction, not worse. Or maybe it's because he sounds like Bob Dole, and the last thing I need in my day is an aging Republican.

I've tried various strategies to kick the habit, from kind correction ("Do you mean 'I'?) or mild ignorance ("Who?" which only results in M repeating his name over and over) to more involved ignorance ("Oh, is that someone in your class?"). And lately, in terrible mom honesty, I've been doing a lot of glaring and maybe a little growling too. Yes, we sometimes growl in this house. It's been a long time since we had pets, but some things never die.

All of which makes me realize that twenty-one days (you know, to form a new habit?) is going to seem like a really long time. Especially when the habit in question isn't yours, and there really is no incentive or interest in the breaking it. Does that even work then? Well, Momma **growl** er, I am determined to find out.

1 comment:

Heather said...

I hear you on the habits. Two I'd like to personally take charge of quashing (ha! good luck, Heather):
--Chewing the hair. Something about it just gives me the heebie-jeebies.
--Picking at the back of her arms. I think she already has scars. Band-Aids help a bit, but they cause some skin irritation, which then she (surprise!) picks at even more.