Tadpole and I sit on her bed, side by side. I bend forwards to unbuckle her shoes (Clarks, navy blue and purple with sequins. Sensible shoes fit for a princess.)
“Mummy, I can see a bottom peeping there,” shrieks Tadpole. An icy hand reaches for the space between my jumper and my low waist jeans and I flinch in anticipation of her touch.
“Why do they fall off, your trousers?” she continues, puzzled now. “Look mummy!” She turns to show me her own rear. “We can’t see my bottom, can we? My trousers don’t do that…”
“And a good thing too!” I say, hastily pulling my jumper down.
There are some scenes that need to take place behind closed doors, and that was definitely one of them.
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But I’m sure it’s a beautiful sight!!!
Comment by JNH — January 16, 2007 @ 6:12 pm
Fashion makes so little sense when seen through the eyes of a three-year-old.
Watch out – I can definitely see her repeating that in a crowd. Maybe even to a stranger…
Comment by BlondebutBright — January 16, 2007 @ 6:44 pm
Of course, I’m sure Tadpole won’t remember this episode when she reaches her teens and starts doing the low waist jeans thing herself!
Comment by Greenmantle — January 16, 2007 @ 6:50 pm
Well seeing as some shops sell thongs for nine year old children, some people probably wouldn’t be that shocked….
Comment by stressqueen — January 16, 2007 @ 6:59 pm
Out of the mouths of babes…….
Sally
Comment by Sally Lomax — January 16, 2007 @ 7:20 pm
Is that it!
Comment by Sue — January 16, 2007 @ 7:56 pm
Irony duly appreciated.
Comment by Tom — January 16, 2007 @ 8:11 pm
Sue, if you are referring to the brevity of this post, I decided that the “Tadpole talks” category will be a place for short snippets of conversation that I want to record for posterity. Sometimes they won’t slot easily into a longer post, but it would be a shame to discard them…
Comment by petite — January 16, 2007 @ 8:13 pm
Adorable. ;)
And what a cool idea to have a record of conversations like that, for -both- of you as she grows up!
Comment by jen — January 16, 2007 @ 8:30 pm
Personally, I think snippets of conversation often make lovely posts and this is a prime example of that.
I am a fan of low waisted jeans but also possess a very hollow back (a family trait) which means at the best of times my trousers sometimes have a little gap at the small of my back. However, when I am wearing low waisted jeans I am completely and utterly terrified that I am revealing A LOT more than I mean to….!
On the plus side that family trait means that women in my family have been sporting JLo type bottoms since before the lady in question was born :-)
Comment by Elisabeth — January 16, 2007 @ 8:55 pm
Agree, they say the funniest things..
Your “customers” drive a hard bargain don’t they?
Comment by heather — January 16, 2007 @ 9:09 pm
bless her, its good to keep a record of these things!
Comment by gerbil — January 16, 2007 @ 10:47 pm
Well, you must be in with the times, ‘though if you were a teen-ager you would be showing undergarments and not skin.
Comment by Lost in France — January 16, 2007 @ 11:42 pm
she is so very french!
Comment by mad muthas — January 17, 2007 @ 12:17 am
It’s funny to think that you’ll probably have the reverse conversation with her in 16 years.
Comment by frog with a blog — January 17, 2007 @ 12:29 am
Tadpole = Supercute
Comment by Mlle Smith — January 17, 2007 @ 12:50 am
ive just found your blog today. its very good with good writing – I’m sorry you were outed last year!
cheers
http://mammals.wordpress.com/
Comment by zack — January 17, 2007 @ 3:31 am
Cute!
As for the length of the post: it’s quality, not quantity that counts.
Comment by Sparkle — January 17, 2007 @ 9:20 am
I wrote down things that my children said as they were growing up and it is such a pleasure to go back and read them and, usually, get a good laugh.
Comment by Linda — January 17, 2007 @ 10:20 am
Aaah quel petite bebe! Ils sont tres mignons non les petits enfants? I went to a friend’s house last sunday afternoon to play with his twins and this cute french boy imitated his papa like a pro! He growled like a little tiger!
Comment by Pau-Lynn — January 17, 2007 @ 11:47 am
Dear Petite,
I’ve been reading your blog for some time. I’m from Bulgaria, from a beautiful town called Slivo pole.
I just wanted to congratulate you for the great blog and up-to-date topics. Many of the people in Bulgaria have similar things to share.
Comment by Megi — January 17, 2007 @ 12:12 pm
You got off lightly Petite, my own 3 year old daughter told me I had a HUGE bottom the other day (and stressed the word huge with glee I thought).
Not quite so shocking though as when I heard her singing a little song about mummy’s hairy minnie. Time to get the razor out me thinks!
Great post and great blog, felt is was finally time to de-lurk!
Comment by Jo — January 17, 2007 @ 12:40 pm
You can be pretty sure that when Miss T reaches teenage they’ll find low waist jeans to be ridiculously passé and that fashion will then dictate the exposure of some other part of the female anatomy.
Comment by Parkin Pig — January 17, 2007 @ 12:43 pm
Sadly, 90% of the jeans sold in america for little children are also low waisted! Thankfully that is changing again as the higher waisted skinny jeans slowly creep in. ;) Not good for ME though because I’m incredibly ‘short’ waisted and low-rise has been a godsend to me! In normal jeans my waistband sits just under my boobs! (I’ll secretly save all the low-rise even when they are out of style… and just wear my t-shirts long enough to cover.) *wink*
Comment by Meritt — January 17, 2007 @ 1:54 pm
Wow! She’s such an astute and! “proper” young lady :) Gotta love those things said at her age – priceless. (My son at that age used to say it wasn’t nice for mommies to wear shorts…) Wonderful, wonderful peek at Tadpole!
Comment by Terry — January 17, 2007 @ 2:15 pm
How funny that she bends down to see if her pants are doing the same thing!
Comment by tongue in cheek — January 17, 2007 @ 2:21 pm
Don’t they prefer to do that stuff in the road? :-)
Comment by fjl — January 17, 2007 @ 2:23 pm
Nothing like a effective words of a 3-year old to start the day. Thanks for this post Petite. Well done.
Comment by Johnny — January 17, 2007 @ 2:48 pm
thank you for being the first thing to make me snort into my coffee this morning.
Comment by franko — January 17, 2007 @ 3:11 pm
This one should be linked to the time in the plane… Kids are cruel! ;-)
Comment by Marius — January 17, 2007 @ 3:29 pm
A friend’s 5-year old son shouted ‘Mummy, you have a very big bottom’ in a crowded shop – his poor mother had to make a very quick exit. Tadpole sounds she would be a lot more discreet!
Comment by Karen — January 17, 2007 @ 5:04 pm
Take her advice – sounds as if she’s the sensible one in the family!
Comment by SW France — January 17, 2007 @ 5:04 pm
Next thing you know, Tadpole will be telling you “You are not going out dressed like THAT, are you?”
It will then be time to be very, very afraid…..;-)
Comment by Dave of the Lake — January 17, 2007 @ 7:38 pm
This is my statement: we should never forget to learn from kids!
Comment by Momo — January 17, 2007 @ 8:59 pm
Leave it to children to speak the truth, as awkward as it might be. I’m reminded of a story a friend told me about the day her 4-year old daughter decided to tell the world the new word she’d apparently learned that day. While standing in line at McDonald’s she suddenly shrieked “Penis! Penis! Penis!” at the top of her voice.
Her mother: red-faced and wishing the earth would open up and swallow her.
Comment by The Bold Soul — January 17, 2007 @ 9:12 pm
very cute little girl , and very cute dialogue
and a good name , Tadpole
Comment by sin31 — January 18, 2007 @ 7:46 am
Obviously Princess Tadpole is a very discerning young woman. If 95% of the supposedly grown-up women who wear these low waisted jeans (worst of all with what, I think you call them,thongs)could see themselves from the rear, they would be absolutely, and hopefully, mortified. As a man I am totally entranced by the female form…in the majority of cases…but this revealing fashion, unless displayed by a nymph-like 16/18 year, does little to stimulate anything other than the feeling of there goes “mutton (normally blubbery to boot) dressed as lamb”.
Comment by Terry Harris — January 18, 2007 @ 11:09 am
Sweet! Almost as bad as my stepson-to-be, after his first visit to me aged three, getting in the car with his mother (my then boyfriend’s estranged wife) and announcing: “Helena’s got an all-in-one.” I’m sure she was thrilled….
http://www.helenafrithpowell.com
Comment by Helena Frith Powell — January 18, 2007 @ 11:21 am
Don’t tell me Tadpole has noticed that mummy’s pants have loose elastics? he he.
Comment by AussieGil — January 18, 2007 @ 11:41 am
I feel I must point out that I don’t buy low waisted jeans out of choice, but it’s difficult to get anything else these days. Usually I wear a dress over the top, as I HATE visible bottom cleavage. Which is why she had never spotted such a thing before…
Comment by petite — January 18, 2007 @ 11:43 am
My 7rd old daughter thought that the biggest insult she could give me was to tell me that i had “no fashion sense”.
Comment by Sara — January 18, 2007 @ 12:09 pm
Men, watch out! We’re under the low waisted jeans threat too (1st time I can feel some chilly air down there…). Now I know how the women can feel when they didn’t get those out of choice. Be ready to hear some laughs in your back instead of appreciative comments (haven’t heard any of those yet) lol
Comment by Froggywoogie — January 18, 2007 @ 2:54 pm
Correction Petite. One doesn’t call it “visible bottom cleavage” in polite society.
One calls it “the builder’s crack”!
Comment by Carruthers — January 18, 2007 @ 3:37 pm
Say no to crack.
Comment by Adam — January 18, 2007 @ 4:16 pm
Comment #37 reminds me of the Ogden Nash verse (which I have probably not got completely right since I’m doing it from memory):
Sure deck your lower limbs in pants,
Yours are the limbs, my sweeting.
You look fine as you advance —
Have you seen yourself retreating?
Comment by Passante — January 18, 2007 @ 7:26 pm
Oh, just adorable! My lil’ Kitten was behind me in the supermarket and pulled my pants away from my bottom and loudly pronounced “Mommy poopied?”
Comment by Audrey — January 18, 2007 @ 9:33 pm
I love that it’s a behind closed doors moment that you share with us!
Comment by clarissa — January 18, 2007 @ 10:51 pm
It’s wonderful that you will have these little moments to look back on. My mother used to tell a story about shopping with me for panties when I was about Tadpole’s age. I refused to have anything to do with usual (granny) panty that she wanted to buy for me and was insistent that I was old enough to wear the sportier briefs “like grandma wears”. After quite an argument I won out and we went home with the ones “like grandma wears”. They laughed for years over that…apparently I was a little fibber as well because my grandmother indeed wore the granny panty. :)
Comment by California Reader — January 19, 2007 @ 2:02 am
Hi Petite,
I’ve been checking in to your blog regulary since about the time you were outed and I love it. I am from New Zealand, which is possibly about as far away from France as it is possible to be :) Am looking forward to your book – and then the sequel, perhaps when Tadpole is in her teens.
Comment by Tania — January 19, 2007 @ 2:08 am
On a more serious note…
I hope you all are faring well during this extreme weather. I saw some of the (online) news clips from London and the French coast, WOW! Here it’s just “bleeping” cold! They say the estimated frost damage to the California citrus crop tallies more than one billion dollars. The gale force winds you are suffering look awful…I can’t wait for Spring! Brrrrrr
Comment by California Reader — January 19, 2007 @ 2:25 am
Well, it’s a bit gusty on the rue de Belleville, but I don’t think Paris has borne the brunt of it. And seeing as I hadn’t looked at a newspaper for a couple of days (I know, it’s bad), it was only when I spoke to my dad on the phone last night that I realised it was actually causing such big problems…
Comment by petite — January 19, 2007 @ 10:42 am
Last night, our six year old was wearing jeans, which, as they usually are, were just a bit too big for her. As they slid down below where they should decently be seen on a little girl, I thought of you and giggled to myself…..
Comment by Sally Lomax — January 19, 2007 @ 11:14 am
So would that be called ‘la fissure du bricoleur’, then? Perhaps not eh. :^)
Comment by suziboo — January 19, 2007 @ 11:26 am
“Out of the mouths of babes” as they say. I always think different generations can learn so much from each other. I have two young nephews who I love spending time with, I find they can be so insightful as they sometimes see things from such gloriously different angles.
I’m reminded of a quote by May Regan….”No person is a genius when compared to a baby.”
Comment by Sue — January 19, 2007 @ 11:49 am
Excellent stuff :) A friend of ours little boy looked into his Mum’s armpit after she had not shaved it for a while, and said…
“but the thing is Mummy, why do you have a beard under your arm?”
He said this while she was paying for something in a shop…
Comment by Jonathan — January 21, 2007 @ 2:20 pm