Today I was reminded of the importance of paying attention to what your child sees and hears. I went up to Scarecrow Video today and rented a DVD of The Dick Van Dyke Show. Noodles was reminiscing over a particular episode of that series last week and, since we had the opportunity, we decided to rent some episodes to watch after the kids go to bed. But since The Dick Van Dyke Show is so wholesome--we had watched it as kids, after all--we decided to give the girls a treat and let them watch one episode. Now I don't know if it's because our kinder are growing up almost TV free, but man, did those kids soak up the schtick. A bit later Poodlepums was going around saying, in a fair imitation of Mary Tyler Moore, "Oh, Rob!" and Bunnah was responding with a "there, there honey." (Also a recognizable imitation, but it's hard for a seven year old girl to really capture a man's voice.) And this from one episode! (We know they haven't been seeing any on the sly, since they were both balking about having to watch some dumb TV show they had never seen before. They only whine like that before the experience something.) Of course, I really can't point the finger too much because later in the evening, while Noodles was out on an errand, I managed to set some cooking oil aflame while trying to make up some popcorn. I normally don't cook like a sitcom husband, honest! Anyway, it just goes to show that every word, picture and idea has the potential to get in your brain and work some mischief.