A Fish Out of Water: Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Play and Learning

Keoni woke up in an angry mood, his need to use the potty unmet. He got out of his little bed and toddled out of his bedroom and across the hall to the bathroom, where his grandmother had luckily just finished getting dressed after her morning shower. None of that mattered to Keoni right now. All that mattered was the potty. Leimomi left the bathroom, and Keoni sat down on the toddler-sized throne.

When Keoni was done with his business, Malie came into the bathroom to brush her teeth. Keoni watched her until she left the room, but a few minutes later, she came back in, scooped up her toddler, and carried him out to his high chair, where a bowl of cereal was waiting for him. Then Malie went back into the bathroom as Keoni wolfed down his cereal.

Keoni finished his cereal, and then Hokulani sat down at the table across from him. "What's up, kiddo?"

"It's pwaytime!" Keoni exclaimed.

"Okay... um... Leimomi? Could you please give me a hand with this?"

Leimomi walked over to Keoni's high chair, picked him up, and gently set him down on the floor in front of her. "I thought I heard that someone over here wants to play..."

"Me, Gwamma! It was me!"

Hokulani picked up Keoni's cereal bowl and took it to wash in the kitchen sink as Leimomi gave her grandson a mischievous smirk. "Well then, I hope you don't mind if I... getcha!" Leimomi scooped the toddler off the ground and lifted him up in the air as he laughed with joy!

Leimomi spun her grandson around and around in the air, then dropped him onto her back and looked around, pretending to be confused. "Hmm, where did Keoni go...?"

Meanwhile, Hokulani went into the bathroom, and a few minutes later, the sound of running water indicated that she was taking her morning shower.

When Leimomi's old bones had had all the roughhousing they could take for now, she gently set Keoni down on the floor again, and then she went to put away a book that someone had left out on the living room coffee table. Then Leimomi went back to Keoni and picked him up again. "It's time for your bath, little minnow."

Hokulani walked out of the bathroom looking like she felt ready to face the day ahead, and Leimomi and Keoni went in. After he'd finished his bath, he started to boogie down right there on the bathroom floor. Why not? Taking a bath was something worth celebrating in his book.

While Keoni was dancing, Kapena walked into the bathroom. "Good morning, son. I'm going to teach you numbers now." Keoni followed his father out into the hallway, and Kapena knelt down on the floor and got out a set of flash cards. "All right, Keoni, what number is this?"

However, Keoni just wasn't feeling the flash cards right now, so after several long minutes of trying to settle down a squirmy toddler, Kapena just sighed. "All right, we can try this another time."

Keoni went back into his bedroom, and Malie followed him. Under the watchful eye of his mother, Keoni gave Beach Bear a big hug!

Then it was Malie's turn to bring her son out into the hallway and kneel down on the floor. "Keoni, if you get into a fight with someone, it's very important to say you're sorry afterwards. Getting along with others is more important than being right all the time."

Malie continued her talk on the importance of conflict resolution, and Keoni listened intently.

By the time Malie eventually finished her talk and stood up, Keoni was feeling pretty good about being able to smooth things over if any of his friendships hit a rough patch. To be fair, the only friend his age he had right now was the neighbor girl, Nani, but he might make more friends sometime in the future.

Keoni toddled over to his toybox, grabbed a toy from inside, and started to play with it. However, not long afterwards, Hokulani walked in the front door looking disappointed. She put on a smile for her nephew, though. "Hey there, kiddo! Wanna build a sand sculpture?"

"Yes pwease!"

Keoni put his toy back in the toybox, and then he followed his aunt outside to the beach that was the front yard. Together, they made a pile of sand and began to shape it.

Sand sure was fun to play with, but Keoni could think of something that was even more fun to play with. He toddled around to the other side of the house and found the tub of water -- which just so happened to be exactly the right height for him to splash in!

Keoni was having a good time splashing in the water, until Malie came along. "Keoni," she chided her son, "I'm disappointed in you. You shouldn't splash in the laundry water."

Keoni went back inside to find that a whole bunch of strangers had invaded his home while he'd let his guard down! Well, at least they'd brought food. And, upon further examination, he noticed that they weren't all strangers -- Makoa Kealoha was there, standing near the kitchen table, looking at the fish on the wall. "What's the point of taking a sea creature out of its habitat just to have it stuffed and mounted on the wall?! What a waste of marine life!"

Keoni didn't understand what Makoa was talking about, but there was food to be eaten, and it looked and smelled yummy.

While he was eating, Keoni figured he should at least try to be hospitable. "Uh... soo soo..." he greeted his family's guests with a shy wave of his hand. Maybe telling a story like one of his grandmother's stories would put him more at ease, especially if he made the story extra silly. "Once upon a time... dere was a fishy... and one day he went fo a walk... and he saw a sea turtur fwying in da sky wike a birdie..."

Nope. Keoni was just too nervous around strangers. He made a tactical retreat outside to the front porch, where Hokulani was schmoozing with some of the other guests. Keoni watched his aunt socialize for a while. How was it so easy for people like Grandma Leimomi and Aunt Hokulani to just talk to other people outside their households without any fear of stranger danger?

Further pondering of the deep philosophical questions of shy toddler life would have to wait. The potty was calling.

When Keoni finished using the potty, he toddled out to the kitchen and began investigating the drawers beneath the counters to see what he could find.

 

 

However, Keoni's fun was interrupted by a talking-to from Leimomi. "Keoni, you shouldn't just rummage through the drawers like that."

"Why, Gwamma?" Keoni asked.

"Because it makes a mess," Leimomi replied. Then Leimomi got up from her chair, picked Keoni up, and placed him in his high chair. "Would you like to hear a story, Keoni?"

"Yes, pwease, Gwamma!"

Leimomi went back around the dining table and sat down in her chair. The rest of their guests who weren't already seated at the table gathered around to listen; Leimomi Ka'aukai had a well-deserved reputation as a skilled storyteller. "Long ago, the peace of our ancestors' lives was shaken when pirates came to our island home looking for treasures to steal. The pirates were terribly mean and cruel, and their ships were far bigger than any boat our ancestors had ever seen..."

Leimomi continued to weave an adventurous tale about the pirates and their golden plunder, until she reached the conclusion. "...And to this very day, no one has found the hidden treasure that the pirates buried somewhere on the island of Mua Pel'am."

"Wow," Hokulani commented, "if that was a true story, I'd like to find that treasure."

"The real treasure of Mua Pel'am is the island's rich ecosystem," Makoa replied. "Unfortunately, not everyone understands that."

Kapena bristled slightly. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Dear," Malie said softly to her husband, "isn't it past Keoni's bedtime?"

"Huh? Oh. Right," Kapena acknowledged. He went over to Keoni's high chair, picked the toddler up, and set him down on the floor.

Then Malie picked Keoni up again, carried him into the bedroom, put his pajamas on him, and tucked him into his little bed. "Good night, Keoni. Sweet dreams."