We have had something going around our house from time to time and I haven’t been able to figure out who caught it or where it came from. Typically when things like this happen I turn to the viral environment of school for the direction in which I throw blame. It’s not always the case, and I’m never upset when children catch something from one another, it’s just how things happen when little bodies are around other little bodies all day long.
This particular thing started showing up after the holiday break. From time to time one of my children would use the words “boody butt” when describing something. Typically this would be a humorous description of their friend or my husband or me. Sometimes the description was used in anger when something was seen as bad. However it was used, we never encouraged it and tried to discourage it without making so big a deal about it that it encouraged use instead.
Then, there was a mutation. The phrase, “boodie butt” was accompanied by a dance in which the child (usually my daughter) would stick her butt out and smack it. If you’re imagining a dance wholly inappropriate for a four-year-old girl to do as you read this, you’ve got the picture correct. It was both silly and horrifying to watch as an adult.
Where did my daughter get this from? Did she make it up? Who else has she shown this dance to? We didn’t know and hadn’t gotten a phone call or email from the teachers and since it was infrequent, we let it go with a, “let’s come up with a different dance” and a change of direction.
Saturday night we were at a dinner with other parents from our school. I’m not sure how we got on the subject—I blame the bourbon tasting—but we found out other parents were experiencing the same thing. Our hosts told us how their daughter (who is close friends with ours) likes to hold on to the oven door handle and do the butt spanking dance while naked. Their reaction mirrored ours when they first saw it.
None of the parents knew who’s child started it. It seems like any other virus—you don’t know where it came from, who started it or when it’s going to go away. For now, we’re still infected with the “Boodie Butt” here at our house.
The Big Boy Update: It’s been since mid-April that my son has been on a wait list to get in with the occupational therapist to help with his grasp and writing. A fellow parent spoke very highly about the therapist we’re waiting for and said she’s worth the wait. Today, I called and since we were almost up on the wait list was able to finagle an evaluation on July 6th (it pays to keep on top of things). After that, we’ll hopefully be able to get on Bethany’s schedule in short order. When I picked up my son today I told his teacher and she said she thought Bethany’s personality was the best fit for my son. On the home front, every day we practice drawing and writing with my son, I see improvements in his grasp and control.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter was inconsolable about going to the pool for swim team today—until she wasn’t. It was a sudden change of mood, not directly associated with food consumption (or lack thereof). If I could just read the minds of these children, I would be such a more effective parent.
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