Anthon and his Japanese

This post may only really be funny to those who speak some Japanese. Nevertheless, I want to share this story about Anthon, who is learning Japanese at his pre-school. The teacher gives the kids a set of words to work on and they practice talking to their teddy bears, which is kind of a cute visual. It's helping him be more proactive in using his Japanese around town. The other day with Shelley, Anthon approached a mother/daughter two-some and said, "Konnichiwa, guys." Then turning back to Shelley said, "I said Konnichiwa to them."

Anyway, One of the words they've been learning is the word "itadakimasu!" (pronounced ee-ta-da-kee-mahs) or basically what you say right before you eat a meal...it literally means "I humbly partake." It's like saying "bon apetit." The teachers explained how you pronounce the word to the kids by saying, "remember before you eat, you say 'eat'-adakimasu."

On Friday night we were eating dinner and had already said, "itadakimasu" when Anthon grabs his drink and said, "I'm not going to say eat-adakimasu again, I'm going to say drink-adakimasu." It reduced Shelley and I to tears of laughter. The kid continues to surprise me with his grasp of language and unique sense of humor.

Off 'Da Hook

It's always nice to get a little reinforcement from your kids so that you know you're doing the right things, and that they appreciate what you're doing for them.

In that vein, Anthon articulates his appreciation in his own, uh, special way.

Anthon, Santa Claus, The Easter Bunny and Jesus

So Anthon and I are watching the movie Cars while sitting on the couch. Well, we're not actually watching Cars. We're pretending to watch Cars on Shelley's pocket sized electronic Japanese - English dictionary. It's pretty useful, not just for looking up words. Anthon also uses it to 'check his email.' Anyway, it flips open kind of like a portable DVD player. I typed in "car" into the search field and the resulting Japanese translation served as our movie. Anthon kept shushing me if I would talk. And it wasn't over until he said it was over. And so we just stared at the screen for about ten minutes...not talking for fear of being shushed again by my son.

The movie "ends" and it's at this time that Anthon sees a framed needle-point picture of Christ in our room and we have the following exchange:

Anthon: "Dad, I got so many presents from the Easter Bunny. I got so many more presents from Santa Claus. What does Jesus give me?"

Me: "Well, you can get Eternal Life."

Anthon: "I like Eternal Life."

Me: "Me, too."

Anthonisms

As you may know, Anthon is quite a talkative child. Here are a few things he has said to us lately:

1. After slapping Grandma D on the butt, "What you doin' babe?"

2. "Cool shirt, Dad, cool shirt!"

3. Dad: "Anthon, do you have a poo bum?"
Anthon: "No."
Dad: "Bad gas?"
Anthon: "No, it's just right."

4. "Wow, cheerleaders...so so pretty!"

5. "Let's eat daddy's church clothes."