I am the Editorial Assistant for The Fort Scott Tribune, where I have been employed since March of 2008. I live in the country near Mapleton, Kan., with my husband and our two children. I graduated from Uniontown High School, Uniontown, Kan., but before attending Uniontown, I moved around several times during my childhood. I love to take photos, write, read and spend time with my family. I am also a member of our local fire department and enjoy attending church with my family and appreciate everything a small town has to offer. I look forward to watching my children grow and spending time with my husband and family while living in the country.

I'm the boss, applesauce

Posted Monday, December 1, 2008, at 12:41 PM

My son's vocabulary is growing everyday. He is constantly learning, constantly growing and learning how to take words and put them together into sentences. He has an incredible way of talking, for being so young and while this amazes me, I also have to be very careful. His mind is like a sponge and everything I say, he say's too. It serves as a good reminder to make sure I always say nice things about everyone. Lately, when I begin to get angry, I choose my words very wisely, knowing that if I don't want my son to say it then I had better not either.

He has also turned into two year old mode, he argues and says no to everything. I take him shopping with me and I offer him choices such as either the blue or the red coat, black or blue snow boots, etc. Anymore, anything I say, he automatically wants the opposite of. One response I have said without thinking is "I'm the boss, applesauce" and then I make him do whatever it is he is refusing to do. I never had really thought much about this as a response... I'm not even sure where I got it from.

However, it must have had significant importance to my son, the sponge, and he filed the saying into the back of his mind, to use it later and make me regret it.

Later that evening, while we were eating supper, my husband told my son he couldn't have any cake until his plate was clean. I of course, gave in before I was supposed to and gave him a big piece of cake while he still had food on his plate. Of course, my husband wasn't very happy about this and asked Colby why he was eating cake instead of cleaning his plate. My son's reply?

"I'm the boss, applesauce!"

Although it shouldn't have been funny, my husband and I had to laugh at my son for trying to use the same response I had used. He had said it and although it didn't sound perfect, it was a reminder that he really can remember things we say, so we needed to be careful. We both had a good laugh at it and Colby, who thought he was so clever, laughed right along with us. I know now that I have to be really careful what I say to my son, because I never know when he is going to repeat it. It could be bad, because I must admit I have slipped up a few times and yelled things in the car. Thankfully, nothing worse has been repeated. I just hope that my son doesn't take it to grandma's daycare... grandma may not be too impressed with him refusing to go to timeout because, "I'm the boss, applesauce!"