a matter of BLATTERY capacity

"I have to go to the bathroom," Evangelina announced as she stepped away from the kitchen table toward the hall.  To pre-empt my retort that she was merely trying to get out of doing her assigned tasks, she quickly added, "I'm bringing my work" as she showed me the small lender laptop from her school.

Remembering that she had recently been watching YouTube videos when she was supposed to be working, I followed her to the bathroom and sat outside doing my own business on my own loaner laptop.  

Immediately after I got comfortable, Evangelina had already washed her hands and walked out of the bathroom.

As we returned to the kitchen, I chided her for all the trouble, "Next time when it's going to be so brief, you don't need to bring your work.  Just get your stuff done & get back to work."

Evangelina looked back at me and blamed her laptop, "Sorry, it was low on battery."

Come Thou Font of Every Blessing

The other day we were in the car when Evangelina commented, "Some words have more meaning when they're written in cursive, like 'joy.' 'Joy' doesn't look right when it's written regular."

Auto-Tattling

Back in March we were driving together long distance when we gave the kids their tasks when we had this exchange:

E: Mommy, Jadon's not studying...

D: Evangelina, are YOU studying?

E: Yes.

D: (Raised eyebrows)

E: I'm studying Jadon!

Straight from the Yakety-Yak's Mouth

The other day during our long drive to Sedona, Arizona, we passed though some pastureland where there was livestock to be seen, and I asked Evangelina in Chinese, "Na4 shi4 she2.me dong4-wu4?"  (What animal is that?)

Evangelina replied, "Na4 shi4 moo2."

I laughed aloud and asked her again, to which she obliviously replied again, "Na4 shi4 moo2."

I kept laughing until she realized her mistake... "Oh, I got confused between the name of the animal and what the animal says."

How interesting it was to me that she made that error substituting the (rather English) onomatopoeia "moo" (I think Chinese people tend to say that cows "uu") while preserving the correct tone of the Chinese word for cow (niu2).

Carrying on about Avalon in the Avalon

Not long ago we took a weekend trip to Catalina Island, which was overall a beautiful time of making memories in a beautiful place, even in spite of the COVID-19 fears and precautions we had to take (in addition to our masks, shields, and hand-sanitizer, we brought Lysol wipes for our hotel room, and we skipped out on swimming in light of LA County beach closures).  On our first full day we took a late morning hike from Avalon Bay to near the top of Mount Ada.  The beautiful views and the wonderful opportunities for conversation notwithstanding, our kids complained much of the way, enough for me to mentally re-name the mountain "Mount Queja" (Spanish for "Whining").   

Near the top I even had to carry Evangelina (my little athlete?!) on my back...

Thankfully, we did have some fun and even beautiful moments on that hike...

The next afternoon we rented one of the ubiquitous golfcarts which we'd so enviously looked upon the previous day, and the kids were hooting & hollering & smiling from ear to ear as we drove the same exact route we had hiked.  I had to admit that it was pretty fun driving that buggy up the mountain so much faster than we had trekked the day before!

Back on the mainland later that day when driving (our real car -- the Avalon, Evangelina pointed out!) home from San Pedro (our first time through that port), I asked the kids what was their favorite part of the weekend.

Jadon answered, "My favorite part was the pedal boat and the hiking."

I couldn't help but be surprised, "What?  Your favorite part was the hiking?  How can that be, with all that complaining?"

Jadon had an interesting way of seeing it: "Well, because it gives me bad memories, but then because it was with my family, it gives me good memories!"

Generating numbers

Recently Jadon was doing some calculations that reminded me of how much I longed to be a father (& believe or not, how I look forward even now to be a grandfather -- obviously I'm far behind "schedule"):

"I'll have my first child when I'm 19, and they'll have kids when they're 19, so I'll be a grandfather when I'm 38.  Then my grandchild will have kids when they're 19 too, so I'll be a great-grandfather when I'm 57, and a great-great-grandfather when I'm 76, and a great-great-great-grandfather when I'm 95!  Ha-ha!  I'll be a great-great-great-grandfather when I'm 95!"

He might have gone on with the numbers beyond 95, but what struck me is that he was excited about having kids and raising a large family, and was unashamed to share it with us.  At first he used 18 as his base number for calculating, but I had to remind him that he needs to marry first (I guess when he's 18) before his wife gestates and bears the child about a year later!

It also reminded me of an obituary I wrote for myself as part of a high school assignment: while I forget all the numbers, I wrote that I would be over 110 years old, surrounded by masses of great-grandchildren (possible great-great-grandchildren, too).

I love you too much to make you endure what I don't want to do anyway...

During our visit to Sedona, one of the "must-do" activities was to hike about the many beautiful natural land formations all around us.  I was tentative about the kids' readiness for hiking, but still felt it essential while we were amidst such inviting scenery (plus, I paid for a parking pass and, being a Wu, wanted to make the most of what we paid for!)... so I scheduled us to go on two (short) hikes per day.  The kids were already "tired" from the first hike, so when they discovered we were planning for a second, they were a bit alarmed.  They turned to their mother to see if what I planned was really happening, and she said yes.

Jadon decided to throw in a last ditch effort: "Aww, Mom, don't you still have that headache?"

(Epilogue: we never got to those second hikes of each day.)

Really punny

A conversation recounted to me from a few months ago...

Mommy: "[Coach] Paula said, 'In track, you run the fastest, you get first place.  In Rhythmic, it's different; it's politics."

Evangelina: "Yeah, it's politics, because it's in her name: 'Paula, Paulatics'."

It's all a "fatter" of perspective

A recent phone conversation with my daughter...

E:  Daddy, are you fat?

D:  Well I'm fatter than I used to be...

E (laughing to Mom and Jadon): Daddy admits that he's fat!

(Then, in a conciliatory tone): Well, you're thinner than most VERY fat people.