Right On Time

It's funny the way you seem to be right on time with all your milestones. For instance, at almost exactly one year decided your white blanket was what you needed for sleep and when you were upset. Now you have begun saying words, and it started at almost exactly 17 months. And now that you've started saying words you practice all the time. You copy what we say for a lot of words and you're getting pretty good at it. And, at 18 months, you want baby dolls and want to put them to sleep and hold them and feed them. At Good Will, I tried to get you interested in trucks and purses and books, but you would not let go of the baby doll. In the store, you put her to sleep on a set of drawers and carried her around upside down through the store. When I was holding you, you kept putting the doll into the car seat in the cart ahead of us. I couldn't make you stop, even though the little 5 year old with the cart kept (loudly) pointing it out. Fortunately her mother and grandmother thought it was cute. They talking in Spanish, but I got the gist from their expressions.

You still have times where you babble and look at me like I should be understanding what you're saying. Sometimes I can guess and sometimes I can't.

It's funny to be so attached to such a little being.

Fine Mexican Dining

My student from the ESL class, Sergio, had invited me and my family to come and have Mexican food at his house. He is from the state of Chuahua in Mexico and is very proud of the food from there, and rightly so I found out last night. Sergio and his wife, Yolanda, made us two types of chili rellenos (one with cheese from Chuahua), one with meat), soup made from white dried corn, and quesadilla's made from a special type of cheese they make in Chuahua from the whey left over from making other cheese. We also had 4 different types of salsa.

The meal was amazing. It was delicious. I was sooooo full.

And Sergio showed me right way to drink tequila, with lime and salt. Now I can fit right in down in South America :-)

You were a bit of a hellion, running around and grabbing anything that looked breakable. I ran around after you for part of the time, taking all the cute ceramic sculptures out of your hands and putting them on high tables you couldn't reach. You had a few small tantrums, kicking and screaming and making it hard for us to eat. Other than that, you were good. And you were the center of attention for part of the night, with everyone saying how beautiful you eyes and eye lashes were. Sergio did note that you were a lot like a wind-up toy, running around in circles. It's a pretty apt description. They tried to distract you with candy and playing ball and dolls with Victoria, their 8 year old daughter, but you ignored the dolls got tired of playing ball. And you wouldn't sit still and watch cartoons with her.

Yolanda was a lot of fun to talk to, and her English is very, very good. When a friend of hers came over to eat some of the food, she translated anything that was said in Spanish so Robert and I wouldn't feel left out. I actually found it nice to hear Spanish again and to see if I could follow some of it. I really need to do another Spanish lesson with our Rosetta Stone.

Time To Talk

About 3 weeks ago you started to talk. I knew you were going to be a late starter, but hadn't started to worry. I figured that because you were such a physical child you might start speaking later, but you were doing so well at signing that I knew you were going to be fine. You were associating things with the signs and almost every day gained more understanding about what the signs meant. In fact, it's been awesome to watch you begin to understand the world around you.

Your words aren't really clear yet, they don't sound like the words as an adult would say them, but your dad and I know what you mean.

You say

1. Isbre (Isbe)
2. dog (woof woof)
3. mama
4. dada (sometimes daddy)
5. belly button (beba)
6. bubble (bubu)
7. shoe (doo)
8. more (moe)
9. bike (buk)
10. thank you (dadoo)
11. hot (ha)
12. cold (brrr)
13. blah (for yucky stuff)

You sign

1. water
2. dog
3. cat
4. play
5. milk
6. tree
7. sheep
8. baby
9. dance
10. more
11. done
12. no more
13. wait
14. please
15. thank you
16. bird
17. duck
18. horse
19. owl
20. bug
21. bee
22. tree
23. hot
24. cold
25. help
26. flower
27. smelly
28. squirrel
29. yes
30. no
31. up
32. down