My mom took the boys for the day so I could get a few things done around the house – like putting my furniture back in order after our new front window was installed last Friday.  While they were there, they captured a mouse (or shrew) that had somehow gotten into the house.  Nolan saw it first.  It wasn’t until the little thing scurried out from the corner and down the steps, that my mom caught a glimpse of it too.  The rodent managed to find its way to the “fort” room under the stairs and was essentially trapped.  The boys danced around in the doorway and sang “No, mouse, no!” to keep it from getting out of the room until my mom came back with a butterfly net to catch it.  They released the frightened animal in the backyard and had quite a story to tell Papa (my dad) and Uncle Tony when they had dinner together that night.

While Nolan was re-telling their adventures from the day, he got to the part about the mouse/shrew going downstairs and how apparently “There’s just all this crap along the wall” down there.  At that point, my brother just about lost it.  Not only did Nolan use the 4-letter word correctly in context, but he said it so nonchalantly that my mom had to ask my brother if he said what she thought he had said.

Unfortunately, I’m to blame for letting that one slip around the kids.  A few too many toys pushed me to the brink a while back and I uttered a phrase similar to the one Nolan used.  Guess he filed it away for a time such as tonight.  At least he was with family 🙂