Yesterday was quite noisy in the car.

Have you ever noticed how children can change subjects on you without any kind of segue what-so-ever?

One moment my daughter was telling me something about something. I would be more specific, but I can't because I couldn't hear her over the talk radio show I had on and the noises my toddler was making.

Then she stopped mid-sentence and said all of a sudden, "Ian is merming."

I said, "What? He's squirming?"

"No. He's merming."

"He's murmuring?"

"No! He's merming!"

"What in the world does that mean?"

My daughter sighed indignantly as if to say to some unknown companion ,"Do you see what I have to put up with?"

Then she said, "Mama! He's going 'merrrr....merrrrr...'merrrr."

And indeed, that's exactly how the sound he was making could be described.

I imagine that all children have their own vocabulary for things. My daughter comes up with new words all the time. One time her brother wiped his nose and drooled on her all at the same time. She said, "Aahhh! Ian snobbered on me!"

Snobbering is a pretty common occurence in our house.

And I have no doubt that until a new term comes along, merming will be a frequent noise heard in the backseat of the car.

I think my son learned how to merm from my husband. I think he merms in his sleep.

I bet I merm in my sleep and I