Chopsticks

Julia, as you know, has been learning about China in school over the past few weeks. Today she came home with something extra exciting: chopsticks! She was so eager to use them, she decided to try them out on regular old finger food: apple slices and grilled cheese:





After starting out with limited success, she had this logical explanation for what was going wrong:

"Mama, using chopsticks is very hard if you're NOT FROM CHINA. But I still want to learn anyway, because remember on that Elmo's world there's a girl who uses chopsticks? She must be FROM CHINA. But Mama, is it only if you're FROM CHINA that you can use chopsticks?"

I explained that the two were not mutually exclusive, but she persisted in explaining their level of difficulty to me: "But Mama, don't you think it's a very hard thing to do for someone who's FOUR AND THREE QUARTERS to use chopsticks when I'm not even FROM CHINA? "

Happily, she was able to overcome her adversity, and was so pleased with herself she asked me to dial Daddy's number at work so she could tell him about successfully picking up an apple slice with her chopsticks. When I mentioned that I might blog about her chopstick experience, she was quick to dictate what she wanted me to say. So, here is the whole experience in her own words:

"Julia, after all that practicing, eating her apples with chopsticks, she finally got it so an apple didn't fall off the chopsticks."

Way to go, Jules!