When Akira was in Seattle for a week I got to really know K better. AND I got to appreciate all the hard work single parents really do. Kudos to single parents. Y'all are really AMAZING.

One day I took Kush down to this little panini shop I like called Toast. They have all kinds of things but the best thing is just the low-key atmosphere. It has that welcoming atmosphere like anybody at all can stroll in. So we did, literally.

Kush had to bring along his polar bear, by the way. That thing is HUGE, too. It's not like a little tiny cute thing that you tuck under an arm at night. Polar needs his own pillow. So there we are, me, Kush and Polar, having our lunch when the conversation grinds to a small lull.

D: So, hey.

K: ...

D: Where're your ears?

K points to his ears. He loves this game. Then he points to Polar's ears. Then he points to the nice lady who runs the place.

K: Eees!

D: ...

K: Eees!

And I go, "Yup, she has ears." Then he points to these two guys sitting at a table across the way from us. Two lads out having lunch, shooting the breeze, talking about ladies (I thought only women got together to talk about the opposite sex!), and confiding in one another. Kush points at their table.

K: Eees! Eees!!

The two guys stop, look over, and wave. "Cute." I, of course, had to translate.

D: He's saying, "You have ears."

 

Akira and I like to joke about the time Kush was 5 months old and we took him to El Gallito down the street from our place in Capitol Hill. That was last year, before we moved back to Durham, NC. It was pretty funny because Kush was just so little, and couldn't quite sit up on his own yet, but there we were, figuring since he was "eating solids" (that's parentspeak for starting to eat regular food and not just mommy's milk), that we could order for him. So we got him a quesadilla. Of course, he took like two bites. Maybe two and a half. But we thought, wow, we are ordering off the kids menu. We are Doing This.

D: More of that?

A: Of what?

D: The quesadilla.

A: That he ordered?

D: He ordered it, hehe.

A: I mean, that we ordered for him.

K: Sir-sy.

D: Hm?

K: Sir-sy.

A: Thirsty?

K: Sir-sy.

D: Where's your bapa*?

A: I. Don't. See. It.

D: ...

A: ...

K: Sir-sy.

D: We had it at that apartment we went to see.

A: Yeah.

D: But we picked it up!

A: Yeah...

D: You brought it to the playground, to get water.

A: And I set it somewhere.

D: ...

A: ...

K: ...

D: You wanna go get it? **

A: Found it!!!

K: Sirsy!!!

 

*"Bapa" is Kush for "sippy cup."

** it wasn't really a long drive. Really. But still...

Really enjoying this book.

H: You should check it out. A: Wait, what do they have the baby do?