Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Catch phrase

As a parent, one of the best perks of being the primary language teacher in your child's formative years is that you can make them say really funny things.  Even funnier, is that they usually don't even know what they are saying, but you are laughing, so they continue to say it.  Soon, they say it on their own, knowing it will elicit rounds of laughter from all the world.  Now, I'm not talking about making your baby shout profanities (although, when discovered accidentally on their own, can be amusing, but one must use vast amounts of self control to not laugh and encourage swearing as a habit); I'm thinking more along the lines of "shake and bake, baby" or "oh Phillip, I think I farted".  For instance, when the blonde was a baby and started talking, my husband and I went crazy with the funny baby catchphrase routine.  We'd think of something hilarious, make the blonde say it in her tiny baby voice, it would be even more hilarious than we had ever hoped for, and we'd inevitably call our friends and make them listen to her saying it on the phone.  "Did you hear?  She said 'how you doin'!"  Maybe only slightly amusing for them, but for us, our baby was a comic natural.  Soon enough, she caught on and became choosy with her act, and settled on one phrase - "I want my baby back baby back baby back ribs."  Admittedly, it's not the most hilarious thing a baby could say, but the blonde thought it was funny, and who can argue with a baby cracking herself up?  As her language developed, so did her sense of humor, and soon the blonde started throwing out variations of the catch phrase to maintain a fresh act.  By the time the brunette was learning to talk, it had morphed into "I want my bigga baby back," which was both weird and a little funny.  Both girls would shout it back and forth, falling into hysterical laughter over how comically genius they were, and as a duo, even better.  We, too, thought they were pretty funny, but then again we also brought them forth into this world, so obviously everything they do is amazing.  The phrase would show up quite frequently, and would continue to change, eventually becoming "I wanna bigga back baby."  Um, yes, weird.  Recently, a lip-popping "poo" has somehow been tacked onto the end, so now all the girls, even the baby, sit in the back of the car chanting "I wanna bigga back baby *poo*", followed by rolling laughter and red faces.  And of course, their dad and I think it's hilarious and make them say it whenever we see anyone who may or may not be up for some homespun comedy.

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