MYSTERY SOLVED!!

I FINALLY figured out Miriam's mystery quote from the Sound of Music.
Original version: "I want choo be like a diet."
More recent version: "My haw wannoo be like-a bode dat fie fum a lake a da twees."
Which of course when translated from Miriamese to English becomes: "My heart wants to beat like the wings of the bird that flies from the lake to the trees..." etc. which is from the movie's title song. I caught her singing the updated version, along with a couple other things about twips and falls and learning how to pway and that's when I figured it out. Mystery solved!

Some more quotable quotes from Miriam:

Okay, I'm sure you're all sick of Sound of Music quotes, but this one is just too cute. You all remember the part where Rolf and Liesl send telegrams to each other? Good. Well, Miriam has her own version of that scene:
[pointing her finger at one of us and looking VERY stern]: Liesel, stop! [now hugging us and saying happily]: Don't stop! Your Liesl.
[above repeated several times]

Once as I was changing Katie's diaper, I was explaining to Miriam that when she was a little baby, I changed HER diapers. Then Miriam said, "Yeah. And when you a li'l baby, I da Mommy, and I change YOU diapos!"

Once when I was nursing Katie, she got a drop down the wrong pipe, and flung her head back, coughing and spluttering. Miriam asked me, "Mommy, you got SPICEY moke?" I just about fell over. Where does she get this stuff??

Miriam has a couple all-purpose retorts that are designed to end effectively all attempt at further discussion, argument, or teasing. The first is:
"Boo!"
The second is:
"Poooooooooooooooke!" (while pretending to poke us from a distance)
An example:
Mrs, Pickles: Miriam, you need to keep your cup away from the edge of the table so it won't spill. Can you move it for me, please?
Miriam [whose eyes have been gradually looking more mischievous and her lips curling into a smile]: Boo, Mommy, Boo!
or:
[Miriam doing her usual dinner craziness thing]
Mr. Pickles: Miriam, you're nuts. Can you say "nuts"?
Miriam: Pooooooooooooooooooke!!
Mr. Pickles: Aaaaah, you poked me!
Miriam [laughing hysterically]: Ha ha ha! I poked you, Daddy! arrrrgle [trying to fit entire hand in mouth]

I'm sure she gets it all from her father's side of the family.


And a P.S. about Catherine:

Has anyone else noticed how gross and cute babies can be, at the same time? They really can be disgusting. Yesterday Katie got a bath in the middle of the day because she had a mother of all diaper explosions that must have emptied her entire intestinal tract. And the bodily noises she can make! Dave Barry spoke the truth when he stated that little tiny babies make noises that cannot be explained by the known laws of physics -- the kinds of bodily blasts that you would think could be produced only by a 350-pound man who had just won a burrito-eating contest. And I'm always embarrassed to burp her in church. I feel like it would be indecent.
The great mystery to me is that in all of this very earthy humanness, they're adorable -- and often because of it. It's just so innocent. Katie's beatific smile of satisfaction after she's performed a particularly resonating belch is priceless.