Friday, February 21, 2014

Anecdote

Yesterday, we were all at the playroom table when Ellie got in a fit about something—I think it was my taking a sip of milk from her cup. I got her more milk, but she was standing there stomping her feet, whining, throwing a fit. I was taking a mental deep breath, readying myself for the “we speak kindly here” talk, internally gauging my irritation to see if I needed a few moments alone first, when Eric leaned over from the other side of the table towards Ellie and said, “nee3 shu4 hen3 guai1”—roughly, “you are good.” But really it means, “I still love you. You’re still a good person to me.” It’s what she always wants to hear when she gets really upset and knows she is acting up. She actually calmed down. I was so dang proud of him.

A little later on, she walked over to his side of the table and said, “you’re a good person, Eric.”

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