THAT word

About the time that we're ready to "retire" a toy or book, one of the boys starts playing with it. They are 12-1/2 now, and they haven't played with the letters/numbers on the fridge for a long time. I was about to retire the letters when ... Mikey started playing with them, again. He played for a while on the fridge, then went outside. A short while later, he took me by the hand to join him outside.

It had rained recently, and the ground was still damp. There, in the grass - in the mud, if you will, Mikey had spelled, "stuck." "Stuck in the mud" - that's pretty good (and pretty funny).

Then, he picked up the letters, took them to the patio table, and started an Electric Company-type word transformation set. Stuck --> Suck --> Fuck.

"Mikey," I said, calmly, "We do not use that work."

Obviously agitated, he picked up the "F." "No F!" he shouted, "F is bad!" As he removed and ran back to the fridge with the offending letter, he kept repeating the "no F" comment.

Now, I had not made a fuss about it, honestly. When we took the boys home that night, I told Mom the story. She said that Mikey's school - which is a small, private school for autistic kids - divided the kids into two groups: 1-6 and 7-12 graders. Mikey just moved to the latter group. She thinks he probably heard "that word" at school.

I suspect that, not only has he heard the word there - he has used it and been corrected.