Stream of Consciousness

C-Pop had night duty the other night with C-bao, meaning that he was the one putting her down after the nightly Scripture and prayer session ended.*

The other night, however, C-bao had napped only a few hours earlier, so she started chatting to herself aloud while trying to fall asleep. C-Pop had the opportunity to hear a little bit of what's going on in the little one's head, stream-of-consciousness style. This is what he heard:

1. Chinese poetry excerpts.  言师采药去，只在此山中， 云深不知处 ("Teacher has gone to pick medicine in the mountains, but at this time, the clouds and fog are so thick that no one can know where exactly he is"). C-bao has been learning some Tang dynasty poems lately, and now can rattle off quite a few. Clearly the words are floating around up there in her semi-conscious state, because C-Pop heard her repeat the above lines several times, which are of course an excerpt from a well known verse by Tang poet Jia Dao.

2. Select Biblical concepts: 仁爱还是盼望?  仁爱还是盼望? ("Love or hope? Love or hope?") C-bao apparently has been wrestling with the supremacy of certain biblical concepts, because one theme that was repeated several times while she was rolling around trying to get comfortable:  These are concepts found in 1 Cor:13 and Gal 5:22, which C-bao is able to repeat when asked...though we would be shocked if she had any idea what she was actually saying.

3. The Big Bad Wolf. 爸爸不会让大野狼进来的!爸爸会保护的! ("Daddy won't let the Big Bad Wolf come in! He will protect me!") This unsavory character shows up in many of the little nursery books C-bao has consumed over the past year, and clearly has assumed a prominent role in the little C's imagination. Luckily, C-Pop was brought in appropriately to the situation.

There were many more scattered thoughts throughout the 30 or so minutes it took C-bao to fall asleep...both encouraging and sobering, of course, is that the little one is clearly listening, all the time, and is soaking up the words around her like a little sponge. 

* Note: Somehow in the past 8 months or so, C-bao has developed a bad habit of needing a parent to be with her until she falls asleep; how it was developed C-Pop shan't say - can't throw wifey under the bus! Luckily, the little one is normally so exhausted by the time 7 p.m. rolls around that she is generally out within 60 seconds.

His praise

While C-Pop was away on a business trip recently, the girls gathered for their nightly scripture reading. The memorization verse of the week was Psalm 34:1, and both K-bao and C-Mum handled the English version from memory with aplomb: "I will extol the Lord at all times; His praise will always be on my lips."

When it came to the Chinese version though, K-bao recited the first half ( "我 要 時 時 稱 頌 耶 和 華...") but then got stuck. C-Mum was similarly perplexed. Mother and daughter looked at each other blankly. 

Suddenly, the littlest one piped up. "讚 美!" she cried. By George! That was it. 

The rest of the verse flowed out, and C-bao even finished the sentence for them: "口 中!" she inserted, at just the right time, while pointing to her lips. "讚 美 他 的 話 必 常 在 我 口 中!"

Amen! shouted C-Mum. "C-bao! I'm so proud of you!" chimed in K-bao.

What's the big deal, Mum?