Anyone who has lived in or visited Sweden any time during the past six months has surely heard the song “Hej Hej Monika,” by Nic and the Family. For the uninitiated, let me explain that it’s one of those annoying pop songs that unfortunately has a catchy refrain–which makes up a good 80% of the lyrics- that sticks in your head and makes it impossible to stop singing.

Anyway, being the good mimic that most two-year-olds are, Tage has picked up on this refrain and was going around last night saying, over and over, “Hej hej, Monika.” I thought it was pretty cute and was trying to get him to say it for Olof this morning. He kept refusing and I kept cajoling, until, finally, he said in exasperation, “No … ‘hej hej, Monika’ is broken!”