definition, please

I was reading aloud one of my favorite books, Ramona the Pest, by Beverly Cleary. I've read it to every class I've ever taught. All of them love Ramona--and love being nostalgic about the far distant past when they were in kindergarten. My class clamors for "Ramona time" and would even trade it for recess. My teaching assistant loves to listen and says she often wants to applaud Ramona's adventures.

Today Ramona's mother was "exasperated". We stopped to guess what that might mean, thinking about what had just happened in the story. Most of the definitions were, "Is it like _____?" and the student made a face to indicate their emotional guess. (I love the way they define things.)

After talking about it some more (with some examples of things in the classroom that might make their teacher exasperated) one of my little girls said, "Is it like when my mom is busy doing something or many things and my dad is just sitting on the couch and me and my sister say, 'Moooom. MOM!!' and my mom says, 'WHY CANNOT YOU ASK YOUR FATHER?!!?' "

I told her that was the best definition of "exasperated" that I'd ever heard.

(In case you're wondering the three words that most often pepper their writing after reading this book are reluctant, indignant and exasperated.)