People Downstairs Marching

The people downstairs chop. A lot. And by a lot I mean almost constantly. And loudly. In fact, if you watch the video of Nicholas climbing the stairs that I posted a few days ago you can hear the chopping when he gets to the second floor. and that is from halfway across the apartment and through a closed door. I really don't want to know what they are doing down there.

Anyway, at one point last fall the chopping was so loud that it was scaring Nicholas. He was in the kitchen and came running out almost hysterical. I can understand because it basically sounds like there is a monster in the kitchen cabinets trying to get out. At that point I tried to explain to him what it was, with very little success, so then I decided to drown it out and started marching in the kitchen, my rapid and loud steps on the tile masking the chopping sound. We did this a couple different days and then he forgot about it.

Sometime later they were at it yet again and Nicholas looked around thoughtfully and then pronounced, "people downstairs marching." He had apparently conflated the events so that instead of us marching to cover up the chopping, it was the people downstairs who were marching.

And it has stuck. Every once in awhile Nicholas will pick up the noise of the chopping above whatever is going on in our apartment. "People downstairs marching!" he proudly proclaims. And sometimes he marches along with them.