Thursday, May 22, 2008

Yi, Er, San...or E.R. Son?

Jimmer was pretty excited to be able to count to three in Chinese. He came to me after watching Ni Hao, Kai-Lan, a Chinese learning show...

Jimmer: "I know how to say something in Chinese...'E.R. Son!' Do you know what that means?"

Me (referring to the number of times we've taken him to the hospital): "Is that how you say your name in Chinese?"

Jimmer: "Nope, that's how you say, 'One, two, three.' in Chinese."

Me (hospital thought persevering): "Good job! Don't you think it's funny that it's the same number of times you--my son--have been to the E.R.?"

Jimmer: (silence)

For the record, the real way to pronounce the numbers 1, 2, & 3 in Chinese is:
1-Yi
2-Er
3-San

However, the only way I'll ever remember how to say these numbers is "E.R. Son."

Maybe we should refer to Jimmer as "E.R. Son II" since he is the son of another E.R. Son, Joe, whose mother took him to the E.R. so frequently she felt she had to dodge questions from the E.R. staff so as to avoid any CPS red flags!

I guess this picture of Jimmer isn't close up enough to notice where he had 12 stitches above his right eyebrow. The foot he had x-rayed certainly isn't in view, but he's holding up the same hand that got slammed in our van sliding door!

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