American in Spain

Denise, ¡Patadas No!

November 16, 2010
Denise, patadas no (screencap)

by erikrasmussen, on Flickr")A couple weeks ago, as her mother was drying and dressing her after her bath, Nora began kicking. Her mother told her "¡Patadas no!" (No kicks!) She then told Nora, "Tomorrow, at daycare, you can tell your friend Denise. Denise, ¡patadas no!" For whatever reason, Nora really liked this idea, and she's since taken to saying "Denise, ¡patadas no!", particularly when it's time to go to daycare. As far as we know, Denise, who is about a month older than Nora, has never once kicked Nora or anyone else, but it's pretty cute. Today after Nora's lunch, she started saying it as she was slowly falling into a post-lunch stupor (that's siesta in Spanish), and I got out my iPhone to record her. Her performance has all the drama of a hipster poetry reading.