Bajs.

Uh huh, if you were ever a Swedish child (or are still one), you would know that the title of this post means 'poop'.

I am a barnflicka for 3 lovely Swedish children (which again, literally translates to children-girl, but is just as odd as us saying babysitter...I don't actually sit on any babies. Usually.)

Surprisingly, the 6-year-old is very well-mannered. The state would like to think it has something to do with its anti-spanking laws, however, these kids spent more time in Chicago than Stockholm. But he really just wants to talk with me in English about my (read: Stu's) video game collection. However, the 3-year-old girl is in a poop phase. And every other word out of her mouth has something to do with 'Bajs' (pronounced Bice, like Bo. Is that an American Idol reference coming out of me? Yikes.) And she is teaching her little brother all about it. We stroller from daycare to the oldest boy's school and back again, through the streets of Östermalm (read: rich people neighborhood) singing songs about Bajs. Both kids, at the top of their lungs. Strangers look at us funny.

And Swedish kids have all sorts of names for all sorts of bajs. My personal favorite is bajs korv, which means poop sausage. And when you walk down almost any Stockholm street, you can't help but run into the staple of Sthlm street food, the Korv vendors. I have looked at them differently lately. At your own risk, a YouTube song about Bajs Korv (It might also make you think about apple pie differently.)

I've been educated in bajs bullar (poop balls) and bajsig (poopy) and hallonbajs (raspberry poop). You get the picture. But the highlight of my week was bathing the littlest Swede on Monday. He was happily swimming, playing with a little whale, not singing or thinking about bajs at all.

And then he pooped in the bathtub.