Open: Well young lady, have you been good to your mother?

[biteybaby]

Sunny Baudelaire has been having quite an exciting time lately. For once, "exciting" means "filled with fun" and not "filled with terror, pain, panic, and an inordinate amount of running and hiding". Without the threat of Count Olaf and his associates finding her in an attempt to steal the Baudelaire fortune, Sunny has had more time for her studies. "Her studies" is a phrase which here means, "catching up on learning how to do things most people take for granted".

She has finally learned how to walk. She thinks the amount of words she is now able to say has increased. Magnu has even taught her a few things in sign language, which she finds is a little easier than speaking. The biggest news is that she now has five very sharp teeth, as opposed to the four she started with when she arrived.

Shortly before she arrived, Mr Poe had told the Baudelaires about an aphorism: It takes a village to raise a child. She wonders if that is why she has had so much time to grow. Her days are spent rotating around between several different guardians, babysitters, and friends, and it has been lovely. She hopes her siblings are having just as good of a time in the village of V.F.D.

Unfortunately I must report that her siblings are not having just as good of a time in the village of V.F.D., nor are they even still in the village of V.F.D. Sunny does not know this. It would probably be for the best if nobody tells her.

Comments

[biteybaby]

"Okay!" She thinks that sounds like fun. She signs, Galahad you Magnus brother, making sure she gets the sign for 'brother' correct this time.

[onthewillowsthere]

"Do you want to walk?" Magnus brother, he agrees.

[biteybaby]

“Esh,” she says, at the same time she signs Yes!. “Sunny walk! Sunny strong!” she explains, a phrase which here means, “I would like to walk, my legs have recently become strong enough for me to do so, I would like to use them today”.

[onthewillowsthere]

"Okay," he says, signing along. "I think he's at camp right now."

[biteybaby]

Magnu taught Sunny how to say, Let's go! in sign language, so she signs that now, then holds her hand up for Galahad to take as they walk. It is safer for people Sunny's size to hold someone's hand while they walk, and even though there is not a parking lot full of cars or a street full of cars or a sidewalk full of cars for her to need to cross to get to Magnu's camp, she still thinks it would be nice to hold Galahad's hand.

[onthewillowsthere]

Galahad immediately takes her hand, pleased by how well it fits in his. He's never been around a baby before, but so far she seems like anyone else, only small. As they walk towards the camp he says, only a little shy, "Magnus says you play in our old room. Do you like the way I painted it?"

[biteybaby]

Sunny gasps. She did not realize that Galahad painted the flowers. She smiles and excitedly says, "Flowers!" which here means, "Oh yes! I love the flowers! They are quite beautiful!" She signs Pretty! at the same time, a sign which here means, "Oh yes! I love the flowers! They are quite beautiful!"

[onthewillowsthere]

"I used a field guide. They're all flowers from Boston," he explains. "That's where Magnus used to live."

[biteybaby]

Sunny thinks that 'Boston' sounds familiar. Perhaps she heard it mentioned somewhere before. Maybe Magnu told her that's where he is from. Maybe in a film adaptation of her life that is the city she is also from, and she heard it mentioned there. Maybe it's a famous place and she heard it mentioned as a result of that. Maybe none and/or all of the above.

"Book?" She asks, which here means, "A field guide is a type of book, right? My brother likes to read books to find out information that is helpful."

[onthewillowsthere]

"It's a book about what kinds of things you can find somewhere. There are field guides about different kinds of animals and plants. I'm collecting field guides about arthropods and insects. So I can identify the ones that are here."

[biteybaby]

Sunny signs Bug. She had Magnu teach her that sign one day when a bug got on her shirt while they were playing outside. She wonders if Galahad is a bug scientist, like how Uncle Monty was a herpetologist. She hopes nobody poisons Galahad and blames one of his bugs for the murder.

[onthewillowsthere]

Galahad nods seriously and signs bug as well, touching his nose and wiggling his fingers.

[biteybaby]

Sunny is pleased they have come to such a deep understanding. She knew that meeting one of Magnu's friends would go over well. She then signs Sunny help Galahad find bug? which she thinks might be one of the longest sentences she has ever put together. She thinks that, as she is closer to the ground, where most bugs live, she might have an easier time finding them.

[onthewillowsthere]

"Yes. I would like that," Galahad says, in his usual serious way. "I can give you a jar."

[biteybaby]

"Okay!" She's excited to hunt for bugs.

[onthewillowsthere]

He has special jars in his messenger bag, with squares cut out of the lids and covered over with mesh so that air can get in and out. "You can only put one kind of insect in a jar, because otherwise they might try to eat each other," he explains.

[biteybaby]

“Bite,” she says with a little nod, committing that fact to memory. One bug per jar.

[onthewillowsthere]

"Sometimes. Some insects have a proboscis that can pierce another insect's body and draw out its insides like a drink."

[biteybaby]

"Probos..." Sunny tries to repeat. She signs bug again, thinking of her fingers in the sign as very long teeth that can bite into something and slurp it up like a straw. "Gross!" she giggles. She then, very helpfully, adds, "kah ay-tay moh-moh," in a quiet voice. This means, "I once recently bit a terrifying monster to death. I didn't drink the insides though, the insides were mostly wires and machine parts."

[onthewillowsthere]

"Will you please say that again when we find Magnus? I don't know all of your language yet," Galahad says seriously.

[biteybaby]

“Okay!” She says with a nod. She would have signed the story, but there were a lot of words she doesn’t know yet.

[onthewillowsthere]

"Thank you." He is pleased that they're communicating so well thus far. "I can help teach you sign language if you would like."

[biteybaby]

She hops a little, excited. Please, she signs. Magnu is a great teacher, but he has many activities he has to attend to throughout the day, such as his secret sword time with Lancelot, spending time with Alex, growing all of the various plant body parts, and lots of other things too. If Sunny has two teachers she can maybe learn twice as fast. It is frustrating when people don't understand her.

[onthewillowsthere]

"I know a lot." This is both a fact and something he's proud of, although his voice is inexpressive enough that his pride might be hard to detect. "Sometimes when I'm overwhelmed I can't speak, but I can sign." He's still holding her hand, so he can't sign all of these words, but the ones he can do one-handed he signs along as he speaks. "I like being able to talk this way."

[biteybaby]

Sunny wishes she knew how to sign ‘I like signing because most people cannot understand most of what I say’ but as she does not know all of those words, she simply nods in response to Galahad.