Discussing Mei Mei

I picked up L-- on my own this afternoon. I spent the morning running errands sans children, and although I usually bring S-- to L--'s school in the afternoon, today I was alone. L-- and I enjoyed the chance to chat in the backseat of the van on the 20 minute ride home.

We discussed children, and who has children, and how many they have. She explained that her teachers all have children. Even Miss Yuko, her Chinese teacher. Really? I asked. I didn't know Miss Yuko had children. How many children does she have?

Daughter: She has one, two, three, four, five, six, seven children.

Mommy: Wow! Seven children is a lot! You know, Miss Yuko is Chinese and so she can only have 1 child. Chinese families are only allowed to have one kid in the family.

Daughter: You and Daddy have 2 kids in the famiy.

Mommy (sensing the right moment): That's right. Would it be fun to have more than 2 kids in our family?

Daughter: Um, sure. Yeah.

Mommy: Maybe when you're 4 years old we'll get another kid in our family. Maybe we'll call her Mei Mei and she can be your little sister.

Daughter: S-- and me could be her big sisters!

Mommy: Yeah! Would you like that?

Daughter: Yeah! But I want her to speak English, and not Chinese, okay?

We went on to discuss that Mei Mei will come to our family as a baby, and that we can teach her what language to speak. We will teach her English, but L-- could help teach her Chinese, too. L-- broke into one of the Mandarin songs she sings at school, which our driver got a real kick out of. The poor man must be bored stiff, listening to us speak English all day long - we deprive him of the ability to eavesdrop on our conversations. So whenever he hears Mandarin, he's pleased. And particularly pleased when he hears children's songs from the backseat!

I'm struck by her aversion to Mandarin - although I believe she understands more than she lets on, L-- is still quite uncomfortable being around people speaking Chinese. Neither L-- nor S-- has picked up more than a few words of the language. So much for soaking it up like a sponge! But at least she's keen to have Mei Mei join our family!