Carcussions

The discussions in the car on the way home in the afternoons are priceless.

The day before yesterday:

Little Missy: "I am left-handed now. I am cutting with my left hand."

Me: That is not a good idea. You are right-handed, and it is much better to be right-handed."
(Making a mental note to check with the teacher with the next report feedback. Just in case she has been trying to cut with her left hand...)

Little Missy: "I prayed to Jesus to swap my hands, and I am now left-handed."

Me: "It is very difficult for people who are left-handed, because everything is always for right-handed people..."

Little Missy: "I want to be left-handed."

Me: "ehhh..."

Little Missy: "I will pray for your hands to be swapped as well. Then you will be left-handed as well!"

Me: "Please don't do that! I want to be right-handed!"

Little Missy: "I'll pray for Dad to be left-handed."

Me: "I don't think Dad wants to be left-handed. Rather not!"

Little Missy: "He won't know that I have prayed for his hands to be swapped."

Me: "Rather not..."

Little Missy: "I'll pray for my sister, Grandma, etc..." (going through the whole family tree)

---


Yesterday:

She is non-stop busy asking for us to translate songs to Afrikaans.
I put on an Afrikaans radio station to get a bit of a translation breather, and there was an Afrikaans song about broken hearts.
The guy was singing that he stands in the dark, waiting for his love.

Little Missy: "Why does he stand in the dark?"

Me: "It seems he is a bit stupid. He should rather stay in his house." (Bad answer. Bad parenting moment.)

Little Missy: "You are not allowed to say stupid! You are hurting my little heart!" (The "stupid"rule comes from school, I think!)

Me: "I am sorry! I won't say it again!"

Little Missy: (Crying. For real!) "You must never say stupid!"

Me: "I am terribly sorry!"

Little Missy: "It is very scary in the dark. There are dragons and shadows of dragons. It is very scary!"
---

Are you really blind?

We now have an almost daily discussion about blindness in the car after I have picked up The Little Missy.

I have a blind colleague that I drop off in the afternoons near his home.

He turns his head and looks at her when she is speaking, and he takes the stuff she hands to him.
He does not look blind, and there have been many misunderstandings through the years...
Like people seeing him walking around holding onto different ladies' arms, and thinking him a Don Juan... Or when he walks without a stick in familiar surroundings, and bumping into unsuspecting people.

Little Missy got quite upset in the beginning when she waved at him when he was out of the car already, and he did not wave back. I had to explain that she should say bye before he gets out of the car, or else he would not know that she is waving.

She also wants to know about the walking stick and how it works. To her it seems like some sort of magic wand. That it tells him where he is walking...
I have to tell her each time the stick helps him to know where a wall is, or where the road is!

She comes up with these questions, which he has to answer.
"Why are you blind?"
"Because I had a virus!"

"Why can't you drive a car?"
"Can you see me?"
"How do you know where we are driving?"

The day before yesterday she loosened a shiny stud from her leggings, and tried to give it to him.
"I have a star to give to you!"
"No thanks, Mieka, you keep it!"
"It is very bright! It will help you to see!"
In the end she threw the stud at him! Luckily it is small and did not hit him!

Later on she said:
"Oom J, jy moet vir jou 'n brilletjie kry!" - You must get glasses!
He just said yes, he will do it!