Hold it Right There, Mister

Here's a sampling of some of the phrases that we've been hearing a lot in our house lately.

"Hold it right there, mister!"
The twins learned this from their beloved Gospel Bill Show DVDs in which Dry Gulch's Sheriff Gospel Bill uses this line when he apprehends outlaws. Sometimes the boys will station themselves across the room from each other as if they are dueling, and slowly enunciate, "Hold it right there, mister" in unison. They sometimes pretend that their toy hammer is Gospel Bill's gun. They also have been known to say, "Hold it right there, Mommy!" while sporting a mischevious grin.

"Oh dear!"
They say this when they're having difficulty with something, such as when they're struggling to pull their size 2-3T Thomas underwear (which they are reluctant to retire) up over their size 4T butts, or when they're attempting to re-fasten the wheel onto the axel of their wooden car.

"Oh, baby sweetheart!"
They say this when they spill something on themselves or make some other kind of mess and want to enourage me to be sympathetic with them rather than angry.

"Good stuff!"
Used to describe a palatable morsel, the boys sometimes alternatively say "good duff", then proceed to correct each other, saying, "No, it's good 'STUFF', not good 'duff'."

"Where's my meat?"
They started saying this the week they went to Vacation Bible School, so at first I assumed it was something they picked up from another kid. Of all the things they could've learned from their peers, it didn't seem so bad, just weird. Then it occurred to me that a more likely source is the book "Snow" in which the characters say "we have our bread, we have our meat, give us something good to eat".

"Jo-na-than! Jo-na-than!"
This is said in a sing-songy chant, over and over and over again. It almost sounds like they are taunting someone named Jonathan, but it's actually an affectionate tribute to Joe's former co-worker who played in the pool with them at the company picnic a couple months ago.