Duck tales

Ma ma has been naughty. Very very naughty. And almost inevitably, this following story also involves Mr. Beanie Duck. Enjoy this final published tale of my niece.

Despite repeated warnings, 慧 had left some of her toys, including Mr. Beanie Duck, on the living room floor again. Gong gong had wanted to wash the floor, so he picked up her "mah sah" and threw them all back into the huge "mah sah" container.

Shortly after, 慧 came back and couldn't find her best buddy on the floor. She searched her table and other areas (but somehow excluded her mah sah container) but he was nowhere to be found. That naturally got her anxious,

“鴨鴨在哪裏？鴨鴨在哪裏？Ma ma，鴨鴨不見了！” (Translation: Where is duck duck? Where is duck duck? Grandma, duck duck is gone!)

Hawk-eyed ma ma spotted Mr. Beanie Duck the moment she stepped back into the living room. She distracted 慧 into searching for him in the room whilst "pocketing" Mr. Beanie Duck secretly. Ma ma had thought of an idea to teach 慧 a lesson in keeping her toys.

“慧慧naughty。玩具亂亂丟。鴨鴨被bird bird抓走了！抓去temple了！” (Translation: You have been naughty, leaving your toys on the floor. Duck duck has been captured by bird bird! He is now locked up in the temple!)
(Some background info: There is a chinese temple near my flat and 慧 liked to visit it when she was smaller. There is a pond there full of koi and we would bring some fish food there to feed them. The above pic is taken at the koi pond, about one and a half years back.)

慧 looked despondent.

“走！跟ma ma去temple喂魚，去找鴨鴨。” (Translation: Let's go to the temple to feed the fish and look for duck duck.)

“好！” (Translation: OK!)

At the temple, whilst 慧 was busy looking at the koi, ma ma took Mr. Beanie Duck out from her pocket and exclaimed,

“慧慧！Ma ma找到鴨鴨了！” (Translation: Look! Grandma has found Mr. Beanie Duck!)

慧 was understandably overjoyed to find back her best buddy and grinned widely. For the rest of the day, she clutched tightly onto him and did not let him once out of her sight.

At this point in time, I chided ma ma for undoing our good work thus far of reducing her reliance on Mr. Beanie Duck. But wait, there is more to the tale, she tells me.

That night, 慧 went to bed with Mr. Beanie Duck in hand. In the course of tossing and turning whilst asleep, Mr. Beanie Duck ended up at the edge of the mattress.

Midnight. *Sounds of rustling*

Ma ma awakes to find 慧 feeling around the mattress. Spotting Mr. Beanie Duck at the other end of the mattress, she returns it to 慧's hands,

“在這裡，鴨鴨在這裡啦！睡覺！睡覺！” (Translation: It's here, duck duck is here! Now go back to sleep!)

“嘻嘻。。。” (Self-conscious laughter from 慧.)

I asked ma ma if 慧 was still hanging onto Mr. Beanie Duck the next day. Her reply was no.

I couldn't decide if that was a good thing or not.