I was cooking dinner one evening, and my sweet daughter Aya was helping me in the kitchen. Out of the blue, she asked me, "Nanay, what does bitch mean?"

I was taken aback, and immediately I worried about where exactly she had heard that word. Did she hear one of her classmates or friends say it (bad, baaadd children!)? Did she hear it on TV? The Internet? Or worse, did she ever hear me say it out loud? Well, at least my conscience is clear that I have never said that word in front of her. If you’re a responsible adult, it’s only natural and expected that you filter the vocabulary you use in front of children, particularly your own. Still, despite our best efforts, it is next to impossible to shield our children from the so-called evils of the real world. It’s all part of growing up in an imperfect society. Sooner or later children will find out that both nice and nasty things are out there in various proportions.

Anyway, in between chopping vegetables and putting meat to sizzle on the wok, I tried to explain to her the meaning of the b word. I said, "Well, it has two meanings. The first one is that it refers to a female dog. The other is a nasty one, and that’s what some people call nasty people who are mean and not nice. You shouldn’t use that word because it’s a bad word."

Aya looked thoughtful, the way she always did whenever I explain a word or idea to her. Then as if she suddenly remembered something, she immediately left the kitchen.

When she came back, she showed me the Illustrated Classics for Girls book I recently bought for her, the one she has been reading by herself recently. Gingerly, she opened a page and pointed at a passage on Chapter 3 of The Wizard of Oz:

But the scarecrow had an idea. "If the tinman chops down this tree, we could use it to cross the ditch."

Oh…my…gosh! It was ditch, not bitch, you hopeless schmuck. Trying to hide my embarrassment, I quickly explained to her the meaning of the word ditch.

Lessons learned:

1. Children ask simple questions, but adults make a big deal out of them.

2. Adults just need to listen carefully to what children say (if only to avoid blunders like this one).

🙂

"Why did the banana go to the doctor?" my six-year-old daughter asked me one day. Startled, I replied, "Well, why don’t you tell me?"

Grinning from ear to ear, she excitedly said, "Because he was not peeling well!" This was followed by loud girly giggles. Wow, I thought to myself. Did she just tell me a joke in English? I mean, she actually understood what the joke was all about: a word play on "peeling" and "feeling." I was so amazed. Just months ago I couldn’t imagine her telling me a joke like that.

She had another joke for me: "Why is 6 afraid of 7?" The answer is: "Because 789." A word play on homonyms!

And here’s another: "Why is Cinderella so bad at football?" "Because her coach was a pumpkin!" Oh, I see! I thought it had something to do with the dainty glass slippers not being suitable for football, bwahahaha.

She picks these things up from school, friends, TV, and the internet. As any normal child at her age would, I guess. But I could also observe that she really likes English as a language – in fact, nowadays she never talks to me in Tagalog or Japanese anymore. Even when I speak to her in Tagalog, she responds in English. And she loves to use "big" words in her sentences, too. Words like "wonderful," "recognize," and "realize," among many more. Maybe it’s no big deal for children whose native tongue is English. But considering the fact that we never really used English at home prior to coming here, and that she practically grew up in a Japanese environment, her astounding progress in English is a real delight to me as a parent.

Her reading skill is also growing in leaps and bounds. I encourage her to read me stories every night. It’s a great way to learn new words and increase one’s vocabulary. I remember that as a child I didn’t just read books, I devoured them. I’m happy to see that my daughter is also developing this affection for books. One of her most favorite hangouts in Cambridge is Borders, believe it or not. 😉

There was also a time when she recited out to me:

I hear and I forget,

I see and I remember,

I do and I understand.

I did a double take and blurted, "What did you say?!!" Where did that come from? Well, I’m sure she learned it in school, but dear me, it sounded so profound, so Confucius-like. It reminded me of the times when I learned how to operate a machine for the first time. Understanding only comes when you do it yourself. 🙂

Same way with language, I suppose. Use it to learn it. Guess I’ll have to be put up with Ms. Ingglisera’s* jokey jokes for a while. 😛

*Ingglisera = refers to a person (female; Ingglisero is male) who likes to speak in English even if it’s not one’s own native language. Sometimes used in a derogatory manner (but I’m not really sure why!).

Last month, the thing we had dreaded the most finally happened: Aya had started teething again. She was right on schedule, because children start losing their teeth around the age of six. Problem is, the milk tooth where the permanent tooth was supposed to move into was a stubborn one. It wobbled a bit, but it didn’t seem ready to give up its place yet.

I didn’t know what to do, honestly. I have very vivid memories of my Daddy wrapping a thread around my tooth and pulling it with all his might. I wailed with all my might in return – although it didn’t hurt that much, the thought of having my tooth pulled in brute force surely wasn’t a happy one.

I consulted Baggy. He only had one advice: go see a dentist.

I wasn’t so sure I needed a dentist to do the job. After all, as far as I remember, none of us kids (in my family) went to a dentist just to have our milk teeth pulled out. And actually, neither did Baggy. Still, he insisted that it was the right thing to do.

Anyway, I consulted my cousin, who is a medical doctor. Her advice was the same: go see a dentist.

Continue reading Milky Teethy →