Ni-Hao, Kitty

After much pressure from Sammi's school, and us finally getting off our butts to do it, we got her a new, full-size backpack. I think a year ago, when we bought her her first backpack, there was no way she could carry a regular one. The little one knocked her over when she wore it as it was! Now my little girl is growing up (and up, and up, and a little bit out...) and it was time. We had to cram her notebook in the small one, and now that she rides the bus, she often has art projects or her wet clothes when she's had an accident to bring home with her. I've been holding out for a Ni-Hao Kai lan backpack, but can't find one anywhere, even though Target, Walmart and ToysRUs seem to be advertising them. I saw a few online, but wasn't prepared to spend $23 plus shipping. So I settled for an old, classic favorite, Hello Kitty. Samantha doesn't really have any experience with Hello Kitty, but I have very fond memories of being in a department store when I was a child (no more than 7 years old) and getting my parents to buy me some sort of Hello Kitty notebook or pen set or something that they had on a shelf display there. I had always asserted that I was reincarnated from a cat when I was little, as evidenced by the fact that I loved cats and that I was a Leo (albeit on the cusp, and only a Leo according to Cosmopolitan magazine and a Cancer by most others). When I was a bit older I lived in Okinawa for a year, and was astounded by the amount of Hello Kitty stuff there was everywhere! I quickly abandoned my childhood love in favor of "Namenayo" (just doesn't look right in English letters...), these real, live kittens that are dressed up in cute little outfits and posed for photographs, doing everyday things, like going to school, dancing, eating at a restaurant. Very funny, very cute, probably not so popular with the animal rights organizations (hey, I was only a kid and thought it was great!)... Apparently the Japanese are still into them.

Anyway, I digress. Hello Kitty has just recently celebrated its 35 year anniversary. It must've just come out when I saw it for the first time in that department store way-back-when, and I'm happy that my daughter can enjoy it as well. When I gave her the backpack, I told her it was Hello Kitty, but she said, "Ni-hao Kitty" instead. Every time I try to correct her and say it's "Hello Kitty," she says "Ni-hao Kitty." And it's not like she can't say "hello," because she does it all the time. Maybe she's started to think in Mandarin? On a whim, this morning as she was watching Sesame Street and eating her breakfast, I asked her, out of the blue, to say "1, 2, 3" in Chinese. Without missing a beat, and speaking with her mouth full of waffle, she complied. It really does show how malleable the brains of young children are, and how able they are to learn other languages.

Samantha's teachers, practicing good positive reinforcement, sent us an e-mail within the hour of her arrival at school that first day with the new backpack. They expressed how thrilled they were with the new bag, and how cute it is. Yeah, yeah, we get the hint!!! By the way, the 2nd photo is of Samantha ringing the doorbell. She loves to do that every time she comes in or goes out. Calls it "ding dong."