e- c(h)o - py

Special occasions always call for a ritual that has become familiar to Cerise - ringing my family in Manila.
She knows she gets to talk to three people one by one - Papa (my father and her most favourite), Popo (my mother) and Auntie Carla (my younger sister) for an hour, more or less.
Now you know how sometimes when you're on an overseas call and the sound or voice transmission is not so great so that you hear your own echo? Everytime you speak, you hear yourself back and it 's almost like having a conference call... or talking to yourself?
That's exactly what happened yesterday when we rang to greet grandma a happy mother's day. The terrible echo was there. But I ignored it and didn't really think much of it. Sometimes I kinda enjoy hearing my voice, to be honest. A few minutes into our conversation, I passed the phone to Cerise and watched her indulged herself and happily caught up with them; saying I love yous and I miss yous, and inviting them over to New Zealand. When I thought that she'd said enough, I asked for the phone back. She quickly said her goodbyes to my family but handed the phone to me with an impatient gesture and said vehemently, "Somebody's copying me!"
I laughed heartily but the look on her face told me she did not find that funny at all. Two things I should warn you about 5 year olds... they always want to be first... and they do not want to be copied.
Oh, she's priceless!