9.28.2008

Conversations with ZP

ZP the linguist

Backround:  Our nanny has been teaching ZP spanish lately - numbers, letter, and words.  She's teaching him that, "for Mommy, it's cow, but for Tia, it's vaca!" or "in English, it's one two three, but in Spanish, it's uno dos tres."  He knows "mine" is "mio" and "cat" is "gato" etc.   I've been trying to stick to it too, not only to help him remember, but to help me remember/learn. So, the other day, I was asking him about his eating utensil:

me: "What's this?"
zp: "It's a fork!"
me: "Yes! that's right!  And what is it in Spanish?"
zp: (pause to consider and then tentatively) "Forko?"

*******************************************

ZP the engineer

Background:  ZP's high chair has a toy attached to it that is in the shape of a crab with a plastic globe filled with little beads.  He enjoyed shaking it but what he really wanted was to break it open and get the beads out.

zp:  "Mommy, open it."
me: "I can't open it.  It's stuck."
zp: "Get the scissors."
me:  "No way!"
zp: (serious expression on his face): "They dangerous.  You get hurt."
me: "Yes, that's right."
zp: (little wheels in his brain turning): "Get the hammer."

*******************************************

ZP the medical practitioner

Background:  I was hungry after fasting all day and my stomach started growling and I automatically covered my belly with my hand (as though this would stifle the sound).

zp (concerned look on his face):  "Mommy, wha happened?"
me: "My tummy is making noise."
zp:  "You got hurt?  It's okay.  Medicine is upstairs!"
me:  "It's okay.  I don't need medicine, but thank you."
zp: (note: for some reason, this kid LOVES medicine, both in "lotion" form or in sweet cherry-flavored Tylenol/Motrin form)  "Aw, Mommy got hurt.  Look, I got hurt.  (shows me his completely unblemished finger).  Medicine is upstairs!"

10 comments:

wayfarer said...

:-) Cute. Love the things that come out of babes mouths.

baj said...

certainly more pleasant than the things that come out of other places. ;)

HijabMan said...

i believe it is pronounced... ham-mo

:)

baj said...

you are absolutely correct.

Anonymous said...

He is still working that finger/arm ruse?! The kid has one fully-functioning long-term memory.

yasmine said...

hahahaha i love capt.zizou.
dude, the engineering section hella made me laugh.
GET THE HAMMER! STAT! emergency!

re. 'forko':
that sounds just like every other amreekan who tried to learn spanish =)

re. yummy medicines:
when i was little, our ummy made us take this one cough syrup whenever we had coughs. it was called St. Joseph's something or other, and it was YUMMY. i loved that estuff.

at the grocery store the other day, i saw it again, and got all excited for a minute (even though it is, i believe, still only made for kids), and was so tempted to buy it and stash it in the medicine cabinet. i refrained. but now i'm thinking about it again. mmm, st. joseph's cough syrup, you were ediblicious!

baj said...

gjr - aye, he hasn't strayed from the tried and true "finger/arm ruse" and has only enhanced it by arranging his facial features to highlight the severity of the hurt (i.e. furrowed eyebrows, slight pout of the lip, injured expression in his eyes). what a drama queen.

yz - if zp ever got a hold of that st. joseph's something or other, he'd down it in one gulp. and hey, eid is coming up - treat yourself to some nice cough syrup as a reward for fasting all month!

Anonymous said...

awww he's multi talented!

Anonymous said...

love zp......

baj said...

lb - and multi-lingual!

ywb - me too. ;)