Excuse me

I, who cannot burp on command, have produced offspring who are pretty good at it.  Especially that sweet small pink one - even as a newborn, she could belch like a fat man in the pub on a Friday night.  At times, Buzz and Jessie sit on either side of Mr de Elba at the table, and take it in turns to take a swig of lemonade, extend a finger commanding him to "Pull-my-finger" and then burp on cue.  Not terribly charming, but really quite cute.

At our house, we accept the following 'Pardon-mes' following a burp:

• Excuse me
• Pardon me
• Pardon (in a French accent)
• Pardon a Piglet
• and I once mentioned to Buzz, "Pardon me, it was so rude, it was not me, it was my food" but he doesn't often say it.

Recently, I asked Jessie what she said after doing a burp.  In reply, she took a swig of milk (milk!  milk?) and this is what happened next:

"Burrp!  Burrp!  Burrp!  Burrp!  Burrp!  Pardon a piglet, Pardon a piglet, Pardon a piglet, Pardon a piglet, Pardon a piglet."

Which I thought showed remarkable auditory memory, counting and one-to-one correspondence.

A few days later, Jessie tried to combine some of the family's accepted "Pardon-Mes" after a particularly loud belch.  It wasn't awfully accurate and I hope she doesn't bring it out at Grandma's house:

"Pardon a Piglet, it was rude, it was not my bottom, it was my mouf."