Best of
October 12, 2009 | Filed under: Stuff
I was babysitting for a neighbor not too long ago, and in the olden days, that is when I was a twelve year old babysitter, this responsibility never seemed as huge as it does now with all the dangers lurking in every corner of my house. The DVD tray must look like a toaster because a piece of bread was shoved into it. My laptop’s cord must look like a piece of spaghetti, since it was shoved into the mouth and devoured like a pizza loaded with the works. After an hour, I was completely frazzled and went into the kitchen for nourishment (read: cookies). I had to climb high up on the counter and then over the refrigerator to get to the secret secret SECRET stash, but lo and behold …
SOMEONE HAD BEATEN ME TO THE STASH.
At this point, I might have uttered an entirely inappropriate word. And in the next beat I hear a two year old breathlessly repeat that entirely inappropriate word.
I froze. Surely she hadn’t really said—
Oh boy. She’d said it all right, laughing now with delight for being ever so clever as to render me nearly speechless. “Okay,” I said (begged). “Maybe you could forget that you heard that word here.”
It was repeated again, with a toothless, cheeky grin.
Oh God. The word was bouncing off the inside of my brain. Now what? How do you UNTEACH THAT WORD? Not five minutes later her momma came and got her, and I tried to shove them out the door before my unintentional lesson in swearing became evident but there is no rushing some people. Mom sat on the floor of my living room while I ran around cleaning up the toys, and damn if the first thing the little rugrat didn’t do was point to me and say IT.
The mom looked up at me as I stood there holding a toy fire truck. She didn’t kill me. In fact, she smiled. “Oh, listen, did you hear that?”
“No,” I said quickly. “Didn’t hear a thing.”
“She said truck.” The mom beamed. “Isn’t that wonderful?”
SO wonderful.

























Judy F says:
phew that was a close one huh????
Kids will repeat everything.
Posted on October 12th, 2009 at 2:57 amtrish c says:
Is this blog a repeat. I could have sworn I heard this story before. Or maybe, your teaching these “words” to all of your friends kids!! lol lol
Posted on October 12th, 2009 at 3:15 amRKCharron says:
Thanks for the great post Jill.

Posted on October 12th, 2009 at 3:23 amIt was new to me.
I’ll be wearing a grin all day now.
All the best,
RKCharron
xoxo
Amber says:
That’s hilarious!
Posted on October 12th, 2009 at 6:58 amNatasha R says:
Saved by the truck!
Posted on October 12th, 2009 at 7:01 amTweets that mention Best of | Author Jill Shalvis -- Topsy.com says:
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Sharon Muha. Sharon Muha said: RT this is why I'm never allowed to slip up… @JillShalvis: New blog post: Best of http://bit.ly/455ZqO [...]
Posted on October 12th, 2009 at 7:03 amtennismom mary g says:
Since it’s “best of” you may have posted it before but it’s new to me. That was a pretty close call.You must have used up a lot of luck that day.
Posted on October 12th, 2009 at 8:05 amLiza says:
So funny, even if I’ve seen it before. Looks like you were saved by the “truck”.
Posted on October 12th, 2009 at 8:42 amSusan says:
My sister had a similar experience when she yelled at her dog (in front of her 2 year old daughter) “Damn it, shut up!” My niece thought for months her dog’s name was Damn it and called him that frequently.
Posted on October 12th, 2009 at 9:07 amAllie says:
That is HILARIOUS!!
Posted on October 12th, 2009 at 9:12 amJess says:
lol are you sure the mom doesnt read your blog?
speaking of that, that day I saw a video of a toddler trying to say FROG.. and it sounded totally like …….
Posted on October 12th, 2009 at 9:50 amAshley says:
lol, be very careful around little ears!! I’m starting to learn with mine that they repeat everything you DON’T want them to.
Posted on October 12th, 2009 at 11:33 amThis reminds me about one of my nephews that had speech problems when he was younger and loved fire trucks!! He ran around the living screaming fire f**k one afternoon that I was keeping him because he heard the fire truck passing by our house! It was hilarious.
Crystal says:
lol I so needed to laugh and this just made my day!
Posted on October 12th, 2009 at 11:55 amBrandy says:
I don’t remember this one, but enjoyed it!
Posted on October 12th, 2009 at 12:09 pmDonna M says:
Thank heavens for “truck”!!
I had a similar experience with me own daughter at an early age! After that we had to be very careful what we said when she could hear us! They pick up things so quick & sometimes it is not something you want them saying!!
This may be a repeat but still made me smile!
Posted on October 12th, 2009 at 12:29 pmlimecello says:
Hahahaha “she said truck!” How wonderful indeed
Posted on October 12th, 2009 at 12:37 pmLucky save!
Kris says:
too funny.
my oldest had an issue with the “tr” sound when she was that age. her tr sounded like and “f” and one day in the car while my hubby was on the phone with a friend (he is a minister as well), she points out the window nad starts yelling “f**k f**k” Hubby and i both wirled around in shock and then figured out she was saying “truck”. His friend on the phone was a good sport too. we were so happy when she grew out of that phase.
Posted on October 12th, 2009 at 1:17 pmtrish c says:
Oh, Best Of! Guess I’d better not comment at 6:00 am when I’m not really awake yet! lol
Posted on October 12th, 2009 at 3:04 pmKarin says:
LOL The adventures of babysitting little ones!
Posted on October 12th, 2009 at 4:16 pmNicole S says:
It’s wonderful that some words sound likes others, especially when a little child says them. Cute story!
Posted on October 12th, 2009 at 4:42 pmNancy Alexander says:
That was hysterical.Reading this at 1:30am. Your blog is as good as your books. It brings back memories of the good old days. LOL
Posted on October 12th, 2009 at 11:29 pm