Boobies sound like Cooties?

We have a college student who lives with us this year. She blogs and this was a post she wrote after dinner 2 nights ago. I asked her if I could re-post it and here is a view of our little family from the outside.


Tonight at the dinner table the conversation was somehow directed towards the topic of cooties. Luke told the kids that Melinda had cooties before they got married, but he disinfected her so they could get married. I told Abby that at night her parents had to disinfect her from cooties too. So Luke starts into how only girls have cooties, and all that jazz. Now, Luke and Melinda are at the head of the table, and Timmy is right next to Luke. I am directly across to Timmy, and am watching him during this cootie conversation. Apparently, in his little mind, cooties are the equivalent of boobies. As the cootie conversation progresses, Timmy lifts his shirt up, tucks it under his chin, then proceeds to poke his nipples one at a time while chanting in a sing-song voice, "boobies, boobies, boobies, boobies, boobies." Then he lowers his shirt back down and refocuses on eating. Now, I am the only one to have seen this little production, and am laughing at the fact that neither Luke nor Melinda saw, and that Timmy is proceeding on, as if he was able to answer whatever questions he had in his little mind. By this point I am nearly peeing myself, and am bent over double. Timmy is still oblivious to the world, and pays no attention to me, even when I am whispering the story to Luke and Melinda. We arrived at the hypothesis that when we said "cooties, " Timmy heard "boobies." Without delay, we put this theory to the test. Luke said "cooties!" quite loudly. Timmy, again, oblivious to the fact that we are watching, pulls his shirt up again to do the boobie-chant. it is only then, when all of us erupt in our failed attempts at quenched laughter, that he realizes we are laughing at him. and then, of course, it is all staged from then on out, as he knows he has been funny, and attempts to keep us entertained. we didn't ask him about the cootie/boobie confusion (which might be a conversation for another day), but for now, the mental image of a 4 year old in his own little world, singing the boobie-chant, is enough.