sesame street, back in the days when we watched it, always had a vocabulary lesson to kick off the show. they called it "the word on the street" and murray monster (relatively new to the scene, in case it's been a while since you've tuned in) would explain what it meant. and then it would pop up several times during the hour-long episode, almost always featuring a cameo by a celebrity. colin farrell introduced "investigate". wanda sykes took on "journal". jason bateman talked about "comfort".
the word on the street in the mann house right now is actually a phrase, but the words are always said together and always so quickly that it tumbles out of the mouth as one. the word is ButMommy. "ButMommy" precedes just about every single thing that comes out of liam's mouth. it needs no definition, but here are a few examples:
me: "liam, we're about to get in the car, so you go ahead and put on your shoes."
liam: "ButMommy --"
me: "liam, please put your tennis racket back in the toy box and go upstairs to take a shower."
liam: "ButMommy --"
me: "liam, i need you to stop reading that book and put your baseball uniform in the hamper."
liam: "ButMommy --"
i've become so accustomed to this that it barely registers with me anymore. i expect it just like i expect someone to answer the phone with "hello?" or the cashier at the grocery to tell me to "have a nice day". and liam has grown so accustomed to saying it that he'll utter the phrase when he doesn't even mean to. case in point, this happened last night:
me: "liam, since you've done such a great job on your homework, you get to pick out which cookie you'd like for a treat."
liam: "ButMommy --"
me: "yes, liam?"
liam: (the fact that i responded caused him to pause. he looked up at me, and then around him, as if he were snapping out of a reverie.) "oh. umm ... what did you say? something about a cookie?"
this opportunity was too good to pass up.
me: "i asked you to go clean up your room before having a cookie."
liam: "ButMommy --"
aah. back to normal.
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