Work is going to be intense for the next couple days, so I'll resume my college thread soon. One of our customers hit us with ten times the load that we ever expected, and yours truly has to do some fancy programming and slide it through the back door, under the radar so to speak, before the customer pulls out.
Yesterday morning, my five-year-old Jackson came into our bedroom at six in the morning. My wife and I were playing dead for our two-year-old Emmett, who was thrashing about and scrutinizing our faces for signs of being awake.
Jackson said, "Irkle finkle butt." In his hand was a racecar toy we bought him a couple years ago that long since stopped working, but had been the source of many strange noises in the past. A while ago, I heard an eerie bell, the kind of ringing that plays off the walls making it almost impossible to find, especially because it was intermittent and random. Of course it was the race car, which had another toy splayed over the top of it, triggering the bell to ring at odd intervals.
"Irkle finkle butt," Jackson said again.
Beth and I gave up our sleep charade as Jackson jumped up in bed with us and jockeyed with Emmett for a space between us. Jackson propped himself on a pillow and put the racecar on his lap, then pressed a button. The batteries were nearly dead. A recording of a man's voice struggled to be heard, and what resulted was probably every other syllable, as if over a phone connection that cut in and out, "...irkle ...finkle ...butt--"
Jackson had reproduced the sounds perfectly. We replayed it over and over again and laughed at each others immitation, the best of which was mommy's. Now we are saying it all the time. I have a feeling a new phrase has entered into the family lexicon.
I'll have this to refer back to when someone asks me what it means. It's one of those you-had-to-be-theres.
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13 comments:
That reminds me of a story a female author on NPR told once about listening to a baseball game on the radio with her father when she was a little girl. The broadcaster suddenly exclaimed, "Terwilliger bunts one!" which made absolutely no sense to her, but she thought it was funny and kept repeating it to the point where it became a family catch phrase. And it does sound kind of funny when you think of it.
LOL Scott...my kids have there own made up songs and sayings. It is cool to be in on the joke though.
I always think people are saying something other than what they're saying - it's provided me with much amusement and embarassment!
Too funny. We have one that involves our dad - so even the elderly can come up with some good ones. Too long here - maybe I'll share it sometime on my blog.
Fanmily in-jokes are always good for baffling outsiders.
what did the car used to say before it became Irkle Finkle Butt?
My daughter still thinks that "clothes" is the plural version of one "clo".
I used to tell my son to "behave" and then he would reply," I am being have."
My son also used to say," I square I didn't do it dad!"
Cute story. Looking forward to the frat continuation.
My son went to see his aunt who lived in the country and had cows. He came home, throughly surprised to find out milk came from cows. He just thought it came from the stores. He was about 5 but I thought he knew where milk came from. Quite excited, he told me "the cow's got 4 pipes!"
LOL! What a cute story. I too am looking forward to the rest of the frat story. It is right on par with the the Pledged book I read.
LOL! I love inside family jokes. It brings everyone closer... And I loved the heart warming vision of Dad, Mom and boys laughing on the bed early in the morning :)
Good luck with the work!
I'm not sure what that is, but I think I ate one last week in an Asian themed restaurant downtown.
Ben O.
Haha! Kids are the best. Now I have a billion things going through my mind that my son has done.
Yesterday, he said, "Mom?" I asked, "What?" He said, "Hmm, I forgot what I was gonna say." Long pause. Then he say's "I shouldn't be having senior moments yet."
I just died laughing. Where he gets it, I don't know. I've never said that.
Irkle Finkle Butt is going to be competing against Jen Beauty in professional racing one day.
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