A series of loosely connected anecdotes

[nanila]

On Martin Luther King day (yesterday)

Me: “My work inbox is quiet today. You can tell it's MLK day in the States.”
Him: “Who's he?”
Me, after a long pause: “This is like that time you got me to explain bukkake to you, isn't it.”

At the dinner table. We are having an assortment of leftovers. I have also cooked the remainder of a packet of streaky bacon.
Keiki, pointing: “Mmm! Mmmm! Mmm!”
Me: “What? Mashed potatoes?...No. Pasta?...No. Beans?...No. Oh, but you've never had bacon before. Are you sure?”
Keiki: “MMMMMM!”
Me: “Okay, okay!”
(He ate two slices.)

In Norfolk

Humuhumu, laughing (age 3): “Bum Bum!”
Cousin, laughing (age 4): “Bum Bum!”
Adults: “Stop that! It's not nice to call people bum bum.”
There is a pause.
Humuhumu: “Cousin! Let's go upstairs so we can say it and they can't hear us.”

At home, a couple of weeks later.
Humuhumu: “Mummy, it's not nice to call people poo poo, is it.”
Me: “No.”
Humuhumu: “Or bum bum.”
Me: “No.”
Humuhumu: “You're not a poo poo or a bum bum.”
Me, gravely: “Thank you.”
Humuhumu: “You're a silly billy.”

Comments

[quoththeravyn]

I'm reminded of a linguistics paper I had to read for a class once, on the question of how things like 'silly billy' are formed, and why; what parts of the word have to stay the same and which ones can change. Fascinating stuff, and it forms so early it seems totally instinctive.

[nanila]

A lot of books aimed at toddlers/preschoolers seem to have a rhyming structure. They find it really appealing - almost all of Humuhumu's favourites are.

[happydork]

Oh, that last one made me grin so hard! :)

[nanila]

The timing on the delivery of the final assessment was perfect.

[kaberett]

... *stare* at the first

[nanila]

Heh. I still remember squirming my way through that bukkake explanation whilst he stared at me straight-faced. He's far too good at deadpanning fake ignorance.

[niqaeli]

I saw the tweet before and -- he was having you on, right? O.o

If not, I am gonna be mildly bewildered because admittedly UK folk don't necessarily know US politics as a whole that well, sure! But that would strike me as comparable to not knowing of the Dalai Lama? If someone's moved in mainstream society for long, you'd expect someone to at least have heard REFERENCE to him!

[nanila]

he was having you on, right?

Correct. He's very, very good at deadpan/inscrutable facial expressions!

[ankaret]

Has Humuhumu encountered Flanders and Swann?

[aella_irene]

If not, it may give her unseasonable ideas.

[nanila]

No, and neither had I. Now I'm torn whether or not to introduce it to her. The saying "making a rod for your own back" springs to mind...

[hilarita]

You can always leave it to be a joyous university discovery :)

[pbristow]

But they're edjumacational! =:o]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnbiVw_1FNs

[forthwritten]

I remember being in the car with my cousin and two of her young children, one of whom was loudly chanting "poo poo poo" and the other loudly chanting "wee wee wee" and trying to drown each other out. Such a delightful age.

[nanila]

Yes, they really know how to turn the charm up to 11...!

[davidgillon]

but you've never had bacon before. Are you sure?”
Keiki: “MMMMMM!”

Definitely the male of the species! It's meat from here on.

[nanila]

I'm still astonished at how much sausage he can consume in a sitting. It's a significant percentage of his body weight!

[davidgillon]

Yep, that's the male of the species for you.

Once watched someone I was on holiday with work his way through a metre long hot dog sausage. Admittedly he did struggle towards the end (and they cheated, it was two 50cm sausages end to end ;) )

[ironed_orchid]

1. WTF?

2. Mmmm, bacon.

3 & 4. Hehehehe.

[nanila]

He knows who MLK is. He was trying to - and nearly succeeded in - deadpanning me into explaining!

[ironed_orchid]

I figured it was some high level trollery, but still: WTF

[omnipotent]

Keiki KNOWS what's up. Hahahaha!

LOL perhaps he was better off not knowing what bukkake was . . . MLK, not so much. Hahahaha.

Humuhumu is going to be a very mischievous child, huh? LOL.

[nanila]

Yep, Keiki's definitely got a finely tuned "tasty food" radar.

The bloke is very, very good at deadpanning me into embarrassing explanations of things he already knows about. This may be where Humuhumu gets it from!

[silveradept]

Whip-smart child, that Humuhumu. I wouldn't have expected them to pick up on the important parts of polite conversation so easily and so early.

Although there's still some work to be done ,based on that last anecdote...

[nanila]

Definitely still work to be done. Particularly in the "most jokes are funny the first time, but not the tenth" department!

[gwendraith]

A little stunned by anyone not knowing who MLK is.

You have charming and clearly very bright children. Each age brings it's own delights, although teenagers can be challenging ;)

[nanila]

Heh, he definitely knows who MLK is. He was trying to fool me into explaining.

Thank you! Poor Keiki has been quite ill the last few days. I'm hoping he's finally on the mend, because I miss his smile.

[azurelunatic]

Given that I didn't know who either Harvey Milk or Cesar Chavez was until I moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, I have a certain amount of sympathy...


Once upon a time, my small cousin (he who would later become the Infamous Cousin (n.b. this link has photos of Rude Chocolate) ) was about 4 and started making up rhymes for "duck". He found one that particularly upset the library...

[nanila]

Oh, he definitely knows who MLK was. He was trying to deadpan me into an explanation.

A Swedish colleague recently told me about going shopping in the States with her young daughters. They were looking for shirts with pockets and talking in Swedish about the ones they found. Gradually it dawned on them that the shop assistants were staring in horror. Because the Swedish word for "pocket" sounds a lot like that particular "duck" rhyme!

[rmc28]

Humuhumu is excellently funny :-)

Keiki is well ahead of the game; C only discovered recently (at age 9) that bacon is lovely. N at 3 agrees with him though :-)

[nanila]

She has good comedic timing, although we're working on the concept that just because people laughed the first time doesn't mean that you should then tell the same joke nine more times.

Keiki even worked out that breaking the bacon into smaller bits with his hands made it easier to eat - he only has six teeth at the moment, although there are three more trying to break through right now.

[miss_s_b]

baaaaaacon!

[nanila]

Mmmmmm.

[whereisirisnow]

I love these anecdotes. They're always so funny :)

[nanila]

Aw, thank you! I'm hopeful the kids'll enjoy reading them when they're a bit older.

[whereisirisnow]

They probably will! I still very much enjoy anecdotes from when I was young :)

[weaverbird]

How I love these anecdotes. It's never dull around your family. *g*

[nanila]

Thank you! I know there are lots more that I forget, so I must make time to write at least a few of them down. :)