A Fish Out of Water: Chapter 3
Chapter 3: Life Lessons
Right after Keoni crawled out of bed, he decided to get some ingredients from the kitchen, then go out in the hallway and express his culinary creativity.
She pulled the offending diaper off and tossed it in the trash as quickly as she could, then replaced it with a new diaper.
Leimomi emerged from the bathroom, and Hokulani went in. Leimomi was finally able to get around to mopping up the mess Keoni had made earlier. Malie finished fixing the sink, and then she went to clear the empty bowls from the high chair and dining table. With all the grown-ups busy with other things, Keoni decided it would be a good time to bop and dance to some little tune he had in his head. When he'd had enough bopping, he went to his toybox to play. Meanwhile, Leimomi had finished mopping up the mess, and she turned her attention to mopping up the puddles that had been left behind by the leaky sink.
Malie finished washing the dishes and began to watch Keoni play with his toy triceratops. Hokulani emerged from the bathroom. "I need a coconut."
"What?" Malie asked, confused.
"This odd job post," Hokulani explained to her sister, holding up her smartphone. "This guy Travis got into an argument with some other guy Bob about whether or not coconut milk counts as real milk, so he's willing to pay someone to go pick a coconut from a tree and mail it to him. Kinda stupid if you ask me, but I need the money."
"All right. The most likely place to find a coconut tree that hasn't been picked already would probably be on Mua Pel'am. Kapena likes to go fishing over there, and he's going to leave work soon, so I'll let him know about your odd job when he gets back and then maybe he can go with you. Leimomi and I will stay here and keep an eye on Keoni."
Malie went over to Keoni. The toddler put his triceratops back into the toybox, and then his mother helped him change out of his pajamas and into his everyday clothes. Kapena walked in the front door, Malie explained her sister's situation, and Kapena agreed to accompany his sister-in-law out to Mua Pel'am. The two of them headed out, leaving Keoni at home under the watchful eyes of his mother and grandmother.
When they got home, Kapena headed straight for the bathroom, while Hokulani stayed outside for a few minutes to put some postage on the precious coconut cargo she had brought from Mua Pel'am and to shove the coconut in the mailbox. Meanwhile, Keoni headed into the bedroom for a chat with his large teddy bear. But before he could start chatting, something occurred to him -- that bear didn't have a name, or at least, not one that Keoni had given him. The bear was big and blue, friendly and comforting, like the lagoon that bordered the beach at Ohan'ali Town, so Keoni decided to call him Beach Bear.
Keoni had a pleasant babbling conversation with Beach Bear. The big teddy was such fine company and such a good listener, Keoni felt like he could just wrap his arms around his plush friend and give him a huge squeeze... and thus, Keoni learned how to give hugs.
Keoni said goodbye for now to Beach Bear, then he headed back out into the hallway, grabbed another toy from his toybox, and started to play with it. While he played, his parents and his aunt stood in the hallway behind him making small talk for a little while, and then Kapena headed out again. While Hokulani sat down with a book, Leimomi walked up to Keoni. "A bright child like you should start with a good foundation for his future schooling. How about some flash cards?"
Keoni put his toy away and went out to the living room with his grandmother, and he sat down on the floor while Leimomi knelt on the floor across from him. "Let's start with Basic Needs," she told her grandson as she picked up a pack of flash cards and held one of them up in front of Keoni. "What's this?"
Keoni's burbled answer seemed satisfactory, so Leimomi picked up the next card from the deck and held it up. However, Keoni found that flash card more difficult -- difficult enough to make it frustrating, and frustration meant that when he finally was able to give the answer, he was rather grumpy about it.
Still, his answer seemed satisfactory enough for his grandmother in spite of his grouchy tone. Leimomi pulled out another flash card and showed it to Keoni, and he leaned over slightly, trying to subtly take a peek at the back of the card; even though he was nowhere near able to read yet, he thought he might still be able to get a hint of what the right answer might be. He still couldn't quite figure it out, so he made his best guess. Luckily, his best guess was a fairly good one, and Leimomi moved on to the next flash card. That card was fairly easy for Keoni, and he answered it with enthusiasm.
Leimomi and Keoni kept on going through flash cards, some of them fairly easy for his grandmother's little scholar, while others had him stumped. Eventually, Keoni got tired of doing flash cards -- studying was no fun, and it made him feel sad.
However, apparently the grown-ups thought Keoni wasn't done learning things just yet, and his mother walked up to him as soon as he was done with flash cards. "Keoni, it's time for potty training!"
Keoni responded with cranky defiance. Couldn't those grown-ups tell he'd had enough already?
Malie looked to Leimomi, clearly dealing with some parenting stress over her defiant toddler. "What do I do now?"
"Don't overlook problems, but try to be kind," Leimomi advised her daughter-in-law. "Children often don't know what's good for them. They need gentle guidance."
Malie picked Keoni up and carried him to the bathroom, where the potty awaited. She put him down, he sat down, and the training commenced. When Keoni had done his business, Malie concluded their training session with "And please don't be defiant like that again, okay?"
Malie went to the kitchen to set the table, and then Hokulani came in. "I know we're both trying to learn stuff, but all studying and no relaxation is totally boring. Come on, kiddo, we don't live on a beach for nothing." They changed into their swimwear and went outside. Keoni waded into the shallows, sat down in the sand, and started splashing around like crazy!
As Keoni continued to splash, his imagination conjuring an underwater world and all the wonderful creatures that lived there, like pink starfish, Malie came swimming towards him, ready to supervise her son while also enjoying some beach time.
However, Malie didn't stay outside for long; she watched Keoni play in the water and chatted with her sister for a bit, but then she went back into the house. Keoni got out of the water, and he and Hokulani changed back into their regular clothes. Hokulani headed inside, and Keoni began to follow her, but then he noticed a stranger standing on their front porch, holding some kind of unusual device. He seemed to be investigating their house for something. Whatever he was doing, Keoni didn't like it; he thought strangers were suspicious.
Malie came to pick up Keoni, carried him inside, and placed him in his high chair, where a bowl of peas was waiting for him. Kapena sat down next to Keoni with his plate of dinner, and then Malie went back out to the porch; Keoni hoped she was telling the stranger to go away.
Kapena and Keoni finished their dinners, and Malie came back inside and got herself a serving of... well, Keoni didn't know exactly what the grown-ups were having for dinner. The sound of running water in the bathroom seemed like the sink in there was busted again, and after Kapena had finished washing his dinner dish in the kitchen sink, he went into the bathroom to fix the plumbing problem.
When Kapena was done with the repairs, he came back out to the dinner table and lifted Keoni out of the high chair. Then Malie brought Keoni into the bathroom, put him in the tub, and gave him a bubble bath. Keoni liked splashing in a bubbly tub almost as much as he liked splashing in the ocean. After Keoni's bath was over, Malie dressed him in his pajamas and brought him into the bedroom. He snuggled into his little bed, and his mother read him a story until he drifted off to sleep.
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