A Valentine's Day post...
We all love our dog Toby, and have so many nicknames for him. Yesterday, I heard Jiji saying, "Hello Toby my little Love Fuzz Bucket." My husband calls him things like "Love Penguin" and "Captain Cuddles." I call him "Tobiliboo" or "Herr Toblepooper", etc. We make up many new nicknames all the time, in a similar vein.
Valentine's Day news from kidland...
My big son recently had to do a standardized test involving writing a fictional story (among other things). The start-off picture was of a shadow of a man or something. He made it into a Valentine's day story, which also involved a mysterious living shadow, and proudly told me that the very last word of the story was "love". I was happy he finished the story, because last year (or 2 years ago?) he took the same test, started a rambling story, got only half-way in the time allowed, and got a very bad score for that part of the test! This time I told him, "Just try to make it a *normal* story, and FINISH IT IN TIME!!" It sounds like it was maybe pretty good this time. He seems to have romance on his mind a lot lately.
Report from no. 2 kidland...
I was driving my younger son back from his karate class last night, with a Japanese friend from his class (3rd grade in Japanese elem. school). They went into Seiko-mart to get some snacks, and were talking about something. When they got in the car again, the friend, "Ryota" (who claims to be receiving about 5 Valentine's chocos from girls in their class!), said,
Ryota - "Nee, kitto... Mika ni 'suki' tte yuttara, Mika mo Jiji no koto suki ni naru to omou yo." (I'm pretty sure if you tell Mika you like her, she will start to like you, too.)
Jiji - "Sou? Doushite?" (Do you think so? Why?)
Ryota - "Datte, ningen tte souiu mon da." (It's human nature.)
Jiji - "So na no." (Oh.)
It just sounded really cute... does this mean he likes Mika now? Before, he liked Emi and Natsuki (names have been changed!)... All of them are small, cute girls, and Jiji is the second tallest in his class.
For about 2 years he was the tallest kid in his class, but on the last measuring day (in Jan.), he came home and said a girl classmate called Kokoro (=heart) had edged just taller than him, and he is now the second tallest! Everyone was surprised. He was happy to not be the tallest, for a change. I told him he is now entering the stage where girls grow faster than boys, and a few more girls might pass him in the next couple of years. Three times a year, they are all measured to the millimeter, and they figure out the exact height order for the whole class. Then they frequently line up or stand in that exact order, for a multitude of reasons (standing on bleachers to sing, standing in line to walk somewhere, etc.). So every child who is anywhere near either the shortest end or the tallest end will be able to tell you, "I'm the 5th shortest in my class," or "I'm the 3rd tallest in my class."
