In our house we often ask the six-year-old Peanut if he can hear us. We repeat requests *a lot* and have many ways of asking him to make eye contact so he can actually connect his ears to his brain, a link that seems detrimental to six-year-old existence and is therefore bypassed as often as possible.
I have no doubt that the two-year-old Butter is listening, though. He’s fascinated by words and wants to use them all.
Especially if they get a laugh.
At breakfast the other day, Peanut announced that, through some fault of mine in the cutting and cream cheesing of his breakfast, his was a poopy bagel.
Butter laughed so hard I feared for his safety.
He’s been repeating the phrase ever since. Except that, since he doesn’t know the word “poopy,” he heard “poop pee.” And he’s reversed it in his mind. So several times he says, “Mom. Pee poo bage-o! Hahahahahaha!”
And I can’t stop laughing. Sooooo wrong, I know. But I can’t help myself. It’s so completely ridiculous to have pee poo bagels (though maybe now, because of the wild popularity of this blog, Trader Joe’s will introduce a sprouted pee poo bagel…)
This morning during my shower, the door opened and a little face worked hard to belt out “pee…poo…bage-o!” and shut the door quickly. I laughed, quite against my will. And for a long time. He repeated it three times and then was done.
I find it fascinating that his comedic timing includes a willingness to let a joke go after three or four tellings.
I’m sure that will change in a few years. Right about the time he stops listening.
NaptimeWriting 
I laughed so hard I snorted, coughed, then peed. Just a little. Well done, pee po!
@amomynous glad to test your stress incontinence. You passed!
@Justine sorry the potty talk is killing you. Tell her she can say as much as she wants in the bathroom but the rest of the house is poop free. It worked for us until Number Two (god I love poop jokes) was old enough to repeat Number One’s potty talk.
@Heather I’m right there with you. Because they are funny, then embarrassing (for the reason you mentioned), then boring.
I’m not so fortunate. My 3yo is really into poop and butt jokes lately and that’s all she says!
I wish the poop and fart jokes weren’t so funny, sometimes. At least funny the first time around. Because then we’d get a healthy sprinkling (beware the mixed metaphor) and not the deluge that comes when I laugh.
This is hysterical. And I suspect my teenagers would still think that pee poop and any other bodily function jokes are funny…
Gotta love ’em!
BigLittleWolf I have embraced the fact that most humans think pee poop jokes are funny. We often demand a bit more sophistication than bagels, but still…
Just when you think they aren’t listening….Today Mira blurted out, spontaneously, “It’s MIller Time!” We do not say this in our house, but she obviously listens while Daddy watches SportsCenter. :)
Miss M knows a thing or two about beer o’clock, eh? Well, at least she also knows a few things about a zone defense.
Um. First of all, I have a 6-year-old, too, and what is the problem with the ear-brain connection? GAH. Also, the youngest child? Mine is also a comedian. Seriously. If I wasn’t the parent around here I’d be the heart-healthiest lady around, with all of the cardiovascular strengthening hysterical laughter. Sometimes I have to GET UP FROM the dinner table so that I won’t spit out my own food. She is that funny. Here’s a smile: All of our kids together and us just sitting back and taking it all in. Ah, wishes.
Jen, that would be fabulous. Of course, the six-year-olds would actually pay attention then, because they’d have an audience.
So would the young ones, for they love nothing more than an audience.
So we’d have to, perhaps, lock them in a room while we go outside for some milkshakes.
Consider it done. I’ll leave my 8-year-old at home. He’d prefer that anyway. :) (Though it would be fun to have two same-named boys in the room.)
Ah, little boys! Gotta love them ;-) Mine is the same. Though what really puts a smile on my face is how they crack themselves up!
Cecilia, I agree. In the middle of a tense moment, one of my boys will often lick the other. And they think it’s hilarious. It breaks the tension, it makes everyone happy. I’d *like* to have a no licking rule, but you go with what works, right?
*giggling over the idea of a no-licking rule…also over the licking in the first place*
Cyn, do you not have constant goofball face licking over there? Ugh. I thought it was either childhood or XYs that caused it. Now I’m wondering where I went wrong… ;-)
Ha ha! Nope, no face licking. But it’s not you…it’s just…puppies. Yeah, those dang puppies everywhere.
So funny. And he already has one on my kids, who can’t let a joke go for anything once they get a laugh.
C, I am sorry they don’t let the jokes go. To be fair, this little guy brings it up several times a day, but if we don’t laugh he stops, and if we do he only repeats it a few times.
Why is it that boys have a fascination with any bodily function? My boys at 6 and 7 would hold onto that forever! Oh, and as the mommy of a 6 year old I must concur. There is truly little connection between the ears and the brain… Wonder if there’s a homeopathic remedy for that?!?!