Kids' Talk

Minda called Minkai at downstairs, "Minkai, it is your turn to play piano!"
"I am coming." Minkai went down from his bedroom.
"Minda, could you sharpen the pencils? There are many." Minkai probably found a box of 12 un-sharpened pencils.
"Yes. I will do it." Minda liked the job. We got a big Mickey Mouse sharpener from China.
"They are on the bookshelves in my bedroom." Minkai directed.
"OK."
"You promise?"
"I promise"
"Pinky swear?"
"Pinky swear!" Minda came upstairs and started to work.
What a deal!

I was in the study room for only ten minutes and heard all kinds of noise from downstairs. It seemed that Minda took or misplaced some stuff when Katie was playing piano. After a while, Minda came into the study room, crying, "Mommy, Katie hit me!"
"Oh, did you tell Katie that she should not hit you?" Minda climbed up to sit on my laps.
Minda put her finger in her mouth, which meant that she was nervous.
"Mommy, did Katie lose a chance?" I have a house rule for losing the privilege to sleep with me on one of the weekends after losing a number of chances.
I laughed. My little girl knew how to negotiate now!

孩子的思考

今天早上，霭琳问我，“中国也像美国一样失业率很高吗？”
“没有吧。”
“如果你们俩都没工作了，我会让你们回中国工作。”
霭琳曾经说过，回中国读书会让她失去对学习的兴趣。现在可得到她的批准了。

上星期，旻恺对我说，“我会给你带一个南瓜回来的。”一副当家作主的样子。他的班要去农场郊游。

感觉良好的琳儿

Katie小朋友是很会鼓励和称赞自己的：

这个星期一，她八点钟就已经把学校作业，阅读，弹琴，中文学校的数学作业，都完成了。我建议她把这个星期的中文字都认会了。鉴于周末有跳舞表演，她勉强同意了。二十分钟后，她把四十八个字的字经都念下来了。她激动地告诉我，这是她第一次这么高效率， 可不可以看电视作为奖励，我同意了。

星期三了，做完其他作业后，我建议Katie把这四十八个字的字卡都认一认。
“这怎么可能？这是我第一天认字卡。”
“认70%就可以了。”
“那我可以错十五个字。”她这会儿四舍五入学得不错。
过了一会儿，她又很激动地告诉我，“我把字卡都认下来了！”
“噢。”
"You should be proud of me!" （“你应该为我感到自豪！”）
“是吗？”我很好笑地看着她。