"Is Daddy gone yet?'

This is the question that Benjamin asks me almost every single morning. Now before you start to think "why does Ben so desperately want Brian gone in the morning?" let me fill you in on some background.

I think before I may have mentioned that while Addie was a new baby I participated in the Leadership Institute. One of the faculty there told me a story about raising her daughter and how all children need a chance to be naughty, without being too bad. She gave her daughter the parameter that she could never eat anything blue. So this little girl took every possible opportunity she could to eat blue lollipops or blue candy. It didn't cause her any harm and the little girl felt like she was making her own decisions, etc.

So back to Ben's question... the kids and I have serious talks about words and their meanings frequently. They know that they are being raised to know the right names for their body parts and that other kids may not be, etc. They also know some words that are grown up words that kids shouldn't say like "damn" and "hell."

As you all know, Benjamin is a dance party music guru. Well one of his favorite songs is "Sexy and I Know It."We've had plenty of conversations about what sexy means and who can say it. Addie and Ben both know that sexy is a word that grown ups say about people they think are attractive, but it can't be your own mom or anything like that. They also know that they aren't supposed to say sexy at all, since it's really not an appropriate kids word. But that rule is tough to enforce when a song like Sexy and I Know It comes on (or any one of handful of other pop songs), so I told them that they can only say it to me, and that Daddy will be really mad if he heard them say it.

So each morning when Ben wakes up, he wants to know if Brian has already left for work and then he whispers "I'm sexy and I know it." It's very cute. Every once in a while he'll walk by me and say it under his breath and get the orneriest smile on his face. Adorable.