Amelia Bedelia and Spanish Lessons

We’re several days my father-in-law’s visit, and some of you have been nice enough to inquire how it’s going. I’m feeling a little like Amelia Bedelia – intentions are good…execution leaves a little to be desired. And let’s just say it doesn’t help that the kids make fun of me every time I start doing charades.

Here are a few Spanish phrases that could’ve come in handy so far:

Espero que te gusten las sábanas de “happy face”. Las opciones eran esas o pingüinos. I hope you like smiley face sheets. It was either that or penguins.

Te recomiendo que no veas debajo de la cama. I highly recommend not looking under the bed.

No, yo tampoco sabia que las perras hacian eso. I didn’t know girl dogs did that, either.

No le hagas caso al perico, dice mentiras. Don’t listen to the bird. He lies.

No le hagas caso a la Tortuga, no habla bien español. Don’t listen to the tortoise. His Spanish is no good.

No le hagas caso al pescado, no tenemos ningun pescado. Don’t listen to the fish. We don’t have a fish.

No, las cosas normalmente no son como ahora. Algunas veces es mucho peor. No, it’s not always like this around here. Sometimes it’s much worse.

At least I knew enough to take Amelia Bedelia’s approach, and baked a big applesauce cake. I know Amelia Bedelia baked a lemon meringue pie, but I don’t have a lemon meringue pie recipe. I still remember hearing this book read aloud for the first time when I was in first grade. The reader, a big kid who had to be at least in third grade, pronounced it lemon MER-in-gyoo pie. But back to my point: no matter how you say it, you can smooth over a lot of rough spots with awesome baked goods.