Ewwew that smell!

Recently during a home visit with an 18 month old boy, mom asked her son if he had made "poo poo". When the child neared me, I understood why she was asking the question. I then repeated mom's question to which the child responded, "no". Mom then asked the child to come to her and he again said, "no". Mom commented that the child had been saying "no" a lot lately, and we discussed negativism and how saying "no" was a natural part of development. Suddenly, the child began waving his hand in front of his nose while saying "pewweee!" Mom asked him again if he had "poo poo". Again the child responded "no", but mom took him to change his diaper regardless of his response. While mom carried him to his room, the child continued to wave his hand in front of his nose and yell "pewwweee!" While mom was changing his diaper she used "self talk" to describe what she was doing in order to help her son with language development. As soon as mom reached the word "poo poo" in her oration, the child began screaming the word "POO" over and over again. Mom was delighted that her son had learned a new word, but was a bit embarrassed as well. I laughed so hard I almost made "poo" in my pants. What a fun way to see children grow in the area of language development!
Tara