Monday, May 18, 2015

Want some cheese with that wǒ ài nǐ?

In Mandarin, "I love you" is "wǒ ài nǐ." You run the words together quickly, "wuh-eye-knee."

Jacob has been running a fever off and on the past few days. He has needed lots of extra hugs, kisses, and I love you's. This morning, he also needed a "lecture" (how much can you really lecture a 2 year old?) on how whining will not get him what he wants no matter how bad he feels. Mommy had met and surpassed her tolerance for whine by 9 am this morning.

In the midst of my tirade of, "no more whining. Please stop being so whiny," Ava runs over with a big grin, and proclaims: "wǒ ài nǐ!" 

What is this? Is my daughter randomly and excitedly telling me that she loves me?!?!?!

No... bubble burst. 

She thinks I am telling Jacob that I love him over and over again (in an irritated and exhausted voice),  so she wanted to join in the fun of me whining "no more whining".

Now I need a synonym for whiny. Somehow thesaurus.com's suggestion of "obnoxious" doesn't seem to carry the same connotation. And while gripe and moan are pretty good synonyms for whine, they lack the wuh-eye-knee noise that sounds like an actual whine. Maybe I'm pronouncing them wrong. Maybe "stop being so gruh-eye-pee" would get the point across.

I guess I should google it first, though. It might mean "scream at the top of your lungs" in Mandarin.


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