Who Gets the Dammit?

D has made a new friend at school who is a year ahead of him. They hang out together in the afterschool program, playing games or kicking a soccer ball around.

Earlier this week, D's other mom got to school in time to see D and his friend playing soccer with two of the older Princeton Friends School boys. It was mostly a friendly ground-based version of monkeys in the middle, with D and his friend signed up for monkey duty.

At one point, though, our little man managed to actually get his foot on the ball. Very exciting! From across the field, his friend let out a howl of dismay. How could D, only a Beginning Schooler, do what he, a first grader, had been unable to do?

Seeing his friend's distress, D yelled across the field:

"Don't worry! Remember last week, when we were playing baseball and you could hit it but I couldn't? That time I got the dammit.

And this time YOU get the dammit, is all!"

Did I mentioned he yelled it?

From here on out, D gets a nickel from either of his parents whenever we swear. "What if you say dammit, and I tell you you shouldn't, and then you get frustrated that you said it, so you say it again?" asked our little entrepeneur. You could practically hear the "cha-ching" sound in his brain. "Then you get two nickels," we said.

Stay tuned for our impending declaration of bankruptcy.

And, speaking of dammit moments, my lovely birthday girl sister sent this along this morning. Ouch! Kind of puts it all in perspective.