I talk to myself out loud quite a bit. If I mess something up, I don't mince words.
One of those un-minced words escaped this morning as I was struggling to get a sliding screen door back on track.
Immediately there after, Finn found Erin and repeated it perfectly in a hushed tone, retaining the emotional essence of my delivery.
Not my proudest moment, though it gave Erin a great laugh.
Finn has become a mirror for us, of sorts.
We have been amused for a while now about how he recalls the events of the day.
If we've been apart for several hours he begins by recounting all the things that Mommy said no to, regardless of how few.
And visa versa.
"How was the park buddy?"
"Mommy said, 'No!'"
More amusing are the emotional embellishments.
When he has eaten most of a four pound melon and I say, "Finn, let's have something else," he runs to Erin crying and creates an imitation not unlike a mini Darth Vader.
Thrusting his hand out and deepening his voice he'll say, "Dadoo said, 'NO MORE CANTALOPE!!!'"
From our stand point it's a simple "no". To him it's devastation.
At least for next two minutes.
Clearly, it's all in the interpretation.
It brought me back to the way I talk to myself in the first place and my own embellishments.
My self-narration is far from supportive at times and my judgement of hurdles are almost always exaggerated.
I could think of a million cathartic applications for Finn's brand of expression, if it were acceptable in adulthood.
But I'm grateful for the choice of discernment.
A "no" or a setback, or a door falling off the track
is not devastation. :-)