ʻuku - flea
lele - To fly, jump, leap, hop, skip, swing, bounce, burst forth
The guy at the Hawaiian village at the Polynesian Cultural Center said that when the Portuguese machete de braga was introduced to the islands in the 1870s, they were amazed by seeing how fast the players were able to move their fingers around on the instrument. It was so fast it looked like a flee jumping around, hence their name for the little guitar: jumping flea. So there is some fun history for you.
I don't know or can't remember when it started, but for many moons Lily has said she wants a pink guitar. Corey said she's so little, she should play a ukulele first, it's like a small guitar. So Lily wants a ukulele. And Corey's put it off for several months, convincing her that she wanted to wait until we could get her a real ukulele from Hawaii! So she waited. We saw some at the PCC but I wanted to wait until we could find some that were less expensive. Then, as we browsed through the stores in the Waikiki village shops, there it was - a pink ukulele. Only $30, vs. the ones at the PCC starting at $60. So, ok, you have my approval. It's just a toy ukulele, but that's okay cause we're going to let small children have free reign with it. Corey decided to go with the natural colored one with "Hawaii" painted on it instead of the pink one. But we might need to get a few more of them now... the kids have all been having fun with it but Lily's not too eager to share. If you're not going to let the other kids play it, YOU better start playing it Lil, not just carry it around like a trophy prize. So yesterday I gave her a lesson, and gave myself a lesson as well. Soon she was frustrated and said it was too hard and she'll play an instrument when she's older. I told her it takes practice, but let her go play cause I was eager to use it myself, it is really fun! In the simplified hymns book we have, it has along the tops of each song the guitar chord you can play, so we've been practicing, I can kinda do like 5 songs, it is really fun. We all want to try and are all having to be patient to wait for our turn. (Do you like how Hyrum is accomanying Mel on the toy piano? Nice touch.)
(Well, I guess I have to share with Natalie...)