kid logic

The other day, on our way in to Target before lunch:

Me: Now, we're just running in here to get a few school supplies that are on sale. We are NOT buying any food.

Joaquin: Can't we just get one thing?

Me: NO. I have lots of things at home we can eat.

Joaquin: Can't I just get a grilled cheese?

Me: NO. I can make grilled cheese at home.

Joaquin: But, WHY can't we get something?

Me: Because I have all this food at home. Why would I buy it here, if I have it at home?

Joaquin: Well, buy something you don't have.

silver and gold

Isabela (at dinner): Mom, remember when I had that goldfish in my light in my room?

Me (looking quite confused): What? What goldfish?

Isabela: You know, it slithers really fast.

Me: Do you mean..... a silverfish?

Say...

Diego is in the cutest phase of repeating words. That can be dangerous depending on what you're saying...but usually we like to try out other languages on him.

I thought French might be fun.

So I said, "Bonjour!"

And he responded with the cutest little French accent, "Bonjour!"

The kids thought Chinese might be fun.

"Xie xie." And out comes, "she, she" with a precious little toddler voice.

Of course, we emphasize Spanish in our house, but some words are just better in other languages.



Take 'ball'. Diego's favorite word and one of his first. But in Spanish it's a little longer....'pelota'. So he prefers 'ball'.

This morning, while we were trying out all these languages on him, I went back to 'ball'.

Me: Diego, say 'pelota'.

Diego: says nothing

Me: Say, 'pe'.

Diego: 'Pe.'

Me: Say, 'lo'.

Diego: 'Lo.'

Me: Say, 'ta'.

Diego: 'Ta'.

Me (smiling proudly): Say 'Pe-lo-ta'.

Diego: BALL!

Well....at least he knows what it means.

"Mo!"

"Mo!" said while stomping his foot. An almost two-year-old's version of defiance. It cracks me up every time.

I'm sure it won't be funny to me forever, but for now I'm enjoying it. The fact that it starts with an "M" instead of an "N" makes all the difference.

And somehow, "hue" (which stood for 'jugo' or juice in Spanish) has now become 'foof'. I feel like Anne Sullivan when Helen Keller discovered that 'water' meant water. Diego has discovered words and is spitting them out left and right. And it's so CUTE.

Some things are cute only on little people though. Like he had a huge booger on his cheek yesterday in the bathtub....yep, still cute.

picante

Tonight we had green chile enchiladas. Joaquin comes to the table and asks if the food is hot.

Joaquin: Hot hot? Or spicy hot?

Dad: It's not spicy at all.

Isabela: Don't believe him. It's sooo spicy!

Joaquin: Dad likes spicy things 'cause in Bolivia they eat all that Mexican food.

name-calling

Here's a playground conversation Joaquin told us about yesterday.


Joaquin: Can I be in your club?

Third grader: OK. What's your name?

Joaquin: Joaquin.

Third-grader: What?!... Rocky?

Joaquin: NO! Joaquin.

Third-grader: What?! AhKey?

Joaquin: (sigh...) Just call me Joey.

a sesame street education

The other day in the car, Joaquin was telling us about a show they watched at school for the Chinese New Year. It was called Big Bird Goes to China. He was cracking up about these two guys that decided to dig a hole in the ground to get to China.

Me: Now you know, Joaquin, you couldn't really dig a hole in the ground to get to China.

Joaquin: Yeah, I know.

Me: Do you know why?

Joaquin (with complete confidence): Too many worms.

translation, please

Last night was science night! Too late at night, if you ask me (which they didn't)...but the kids had fun going from class to class doing different experiments. It was a little hot and tiring for the rest of us...I dragged the whole family along, including Julio who is visiting from Bolivia for two weeks. Here's a funny conversation that was overheard:

teacher: See how one grape has bubbles all around it and the other one doesn't? The one with no skin acted like a sponge and soaked up the bubbles.

Julio (to Isabela): That's called permeability.

Isabela: What?!

Julio: Per-me-a-bil-ity.

Isabela (to the teacher, as if to explain): He speaks Spanish.