。。。在哪里？

看这些文章，日子看起来挺有趣，是吗？其实，一天里，最常做的事之一就是。。。帮他找东西。他不见的东西可多着呢：
“我的纸在哪里？”
“我的纸长长的在哪里？”
“我的木在哪里？”
“我的帽子在哪里？”
“我的water bottle在哪里？”
“我的golf club在哪里？”

生日派队那一天

靖恒第一次参加生日派队，我和建明都很兴奋（注：是我和建明）。生日派队很简单，没有娱乐节目，很随性，好像平时带他去教堂玩那样，是我们预料到的。不同的是，多了好多食物。我想，靖恒吃了大概9块点心吧。刚开始，他似乎很生疏，不太愿意玩（奇怪，又不是第一次来这里）。后来才像平时那样到处跑。真拿他没办法，要回家了，才不舍得回家。

It is Ethan's first birthday party - no, not his birthday, of course. Someone's celebrating his third birthday, and being a regular of the playgroup, Ethan was invited (parents included). So we went. And it was nice. It's just like another day of the playgroup, but getting the balloons up and the foods out were enough to keep the parents and the helpers of the birthday boy busy. Ethan must have eaten nine or so pieces of biscuits, rolls and pies. Without guessing, it must have been a happy day for him. What I am worried about now is the next time we go to the playgroup, how I am going to explain why there isn't so much food any more.

傍晚，我去准备晚餐。不知道是不是因为建明就在旁边（虽然没有跟他玩，但也是惯性地看着电脑，打着字），还是说睡得饱（午觉睡了大约3个小时），吃得爽（看前一段落），靖恒竟然没有跟我到厨房去，自己静静地玩玩具。这是他接起来的火车‘铁’路，还挺像样吧。

I went to the kitchen to prepare dinner. Surprisingly, Ethan was not following me like usual. Maybe because Jianming was nearby typing away. Or maybe because he's had enough sleep in the afternoon and was not so grouchy, and he also had some fantastic food earlier (at the birthday party) and the memory (and taste) lingered. When I came back to the room, I saw a train track (of some sort) and him playing with it. Not a train track for this world, but might work for some other worlds perhaps. Still, something to be commended.

值得一提

今天早上他说要'画crayon'。我给他选了一支蜡笔，让他在那里画画，自己走开做别的事。之后，我回去那儿，靖恒已经在另一边玩别的东西了。我看不到蜡笔盒，发现他已经把蜡笔‘挤’进盒子里，再把盒子放回原来的地方了。自动自律收东西，少见，当然值得一提。

父子

建明在做功课，他就是不放过。

Jianming was working on his paper, Ethan just insisted on doing the same.

建明常和他玩Mega^® Bloks。这还是靖恒第一次尝试自己做一个比较像样的东西。他说是骆驼，还指出哪里是头。后来加多一块砖，唱起一首圣诞歌来，是关于三个智者从东方骑着骆驼去看刚出世的耶稣。骆驼不在歌词里，但是书总是这样画的。建明说那多加的一块砖就是智者。还没问靖恒那是什么，就给建明说了，那当然是。

Father and son were playing Mega^® Bloks. Ethan actually pointed to a contraption he made and told us that's a camel. Wow. He even pointed to the head. Then he put another on and started to sing 'We three kings of Orient are, Bearing gifts we traverse afar, Fields and fountain, moor and mountain, Following yonder star. Oh, star of wonder, star of night, Star with royal beauty bright, Westward leading, still proceeding, Guide us to thy perfect light.' Of course, he did not pronounce every word, nor all perfectly. Jianming said the additional piece was the wise man, oh well, he said it, of course it must be.

Ethan's Dictionary

Huggle
A cross between 'hug' and 'snuggle', invented probably out of the difficulty of pronouncing the 's' in 'snuggle'.
E.g. 1. 'Mama, huggle, huggle.' 2. 'Huggle Do--y, Huggle Do--y...' (Used as in a chant for sound effect.)

一天的雪

1月3日，冰冷的寒风终于吹出雪花。 雪一阵一阵地下，还来不及染白所碰之处，就被偶尔亮相的太阳给吓走了。直到下午，雪开始猛攻，这里才变成白皑皑地一片。只是，还不够让你玩雪人，丢雪球，它又融化了。带靖恒去看雪，感受雪冰打在脸上，打在手上。

I do like snow, the only bright spot of a dreary, almost sun-less winter. The snow that fell on 3 Jan did manage to cover the city in white, draping the trees with fluffy cottons. However, by the next day, it had all but melted away, leaving dirty slushes, muddy paths and hopes for a longer lasting snowfall.

火把游行

直接从英文名翻译的，爱丁堡每年庆祝新年的到来的其中一个方式。去年是在12月29号举行。人们拿着在街头买的火把，傍晚6点半随着乐队和抬着一只木船走上Carlton Hill，然后，燃烧起木船，放起烟花，还有耍火杂技表演。我们只跟着游行队伍走到靠近山底下的一个交叉路，便回家了。还得吃晚餐。在吃饭时，烟花声响起来了，从我们家，可以看到一点。

We almost carried Ethan all the way to the fire procession on 29 Dec 07. There were some bagpipes playing, and when the procession started, we followed the torchlight carriers all the way to the crossroads of Princes' Street and North Bridge road. We did not go further up to Carlton Hill, where they would burn the ship, and put up fireworks. However, we caught a glimpse of the fireworks when they burst into a myriad of colours from our kitchen.

晚上，躺在床上，又不肯睡觉。已经10点40分了。
他从他习惯趴着睡觉的姿势，高难度地抬起头，转过来看我: “我放下 fire... 我放下 bagpipes... 我关住 fire... 我关住 bagpipes... 没有 fireworks 了 hor?”
躺回去。
“妈妈，读另一本书！” 指着他后面的书架放着的儿童故事书。
无奈，我放下我正在读的 Peter S. Beagle 的 'The Innkeeper's Song'， 选了一本 Bedtime Stories.
他坐起来：“我要看。”
我回道：“不行。10点45分了。躺下睡觉，不然打屁股。”（最近，我常给这些办不到的威胁。不管那些育婴/儿童书怎么写，现在管用就用吧，真没精神想出别的有效又新鲜的答复了。）

圣诞外一篇：
(在玩 Mega^® Bloks)
靖恒：“妈妈，你做 Santa Claus 和 reindeer.”
我:“不要。我不会做 Santa Claus 和 reindeer。”
靖恒：“妈妈，你做 Santa Claus 和 reindeer.”
我:“不要。我不会做 Santa Claus 和 reindeer。”
靖恒：“妈妈，你做 Santa Claus 和 reindeer.”
我:“不要。我不会做 Santa Claus 和 reindeer。”
靖恒：“你不要一直讲‘不要，不要’。”
我听了有一点吃惊，这竟是他自己发明的回复。
他看着我，很沮丧地：“不要紧，是这样的。。。” （从建明那儿学的口头禅。）
我累了，转开话题，摸摸他的肚子：“你是 Santa Claus 啰。”
靖恒摇摇头：“I no Santa Claus. I no beard. I no Santa Claus. I too heavy.”
我：“Santa Claus 是 light 的吗？你可以啦。Santa Claus 是 heavy 的。。。”
当然，以上不是模范语文课程。而我，打出这些，在英文和华文输入之间换来换去，也花了不少时间。。。（所以拖延到现在才记录下来。）

The one without Ethan

Rainbow taken from the kitchen window:

"The mouse ran up the clock,
The clock struck one,
The mouse did not want to run down..."

"The animals went in two by two..."