Calla Update!

I haven't posted anything other than photos or videos in a while, so here's a Calla update.

She continues to learn new words and signs. She's been attending Bilingual Tots Spanish classes for about five weeks, so she's added several Spanish words to her vocabulary. She's understanding a lot of Spanish, which is pretty neat. I can ask her something like "Where's your nose?" in Spanish, and she will point to her nose, for example. The classes consist of singing songs, listening to stories, eating snacks and having little conversations all in Spanish with a native speaker, Sra Karlinda. They are a lot of fun for her, mainly because she gets to see other children, I suspect! She loves the songs, which we sing at home. She prompts me to sing the Spanish version of The Itsy Bitsy Spider by making the hand motions at least three or four times a day.

I have been making an effort to talk with her in Spanish a bit each day. It's really helping me remember a lot, and I learn something new almost daily (which is always a good thing, right?). I also let her watch an adorable cartoon from Spain called Pocoyo. Each episode is about seven minutes long, the dialogue is simple, the stories are really cute and fun and they are easy to find on YouTube, so it's perfect! She gets very excited about watching Pocoyo. I admit that I like watching it, too!

She also likes to play a little game called "Donde esta Calla?" She covers her face, as we ask "where is Calla" in Spanish a few times, then she will shout out "Aqui" (Here!) at full volume.

In her English-speaking pursuits, she's using articles! She says "a Mama" or "a dolly" now. Also, now all women are referred to as "a Mama" and all men are referred to as "a Daddy" - young children, however, are all just "a baby" - she knows the words and signs for boy and girl, but still... She knows her name and calls herself... "a Calla!!!" So cute!

She continues to improve with the fine motor kinds of things in her life: self-feeding (she's not bad at this at all, surprise surprise), drinking from a real cup, drawing with crayons or chalk (when she's not trying to chew on the crayons, mind you), taking her socks off, putting on her hat and her "shit" (that's "shirt" she's saying, I hope, but she's referring to her favorite dress, which she's taken to wearing around the house like a lab jacket), and even peeling clementines after I get them started for her.

For those gross motor kinds of things, she's becoming more comfortable with climbing down off the (really high) bed and the sofas and chairs. She has a very unique way of sitting down on something (like her bean bag chair), where she sort of bends over like she is touching her toes, then while in that position, backs up to whatever she wants to sit on and then lowers her bottom onto it. It's a lot of effort! She's still a bit unsure when it comes to climbing up on stuff or figuring out how to straddle something like her little car or her rocking caterpillar. I don't encourage this much, either, I confess.

Her current favorite book is called Ready! Set! Skip!, but the Raindrop, Plop! is still very popular with her. She also loves a little bilingual book called Siesta. She has been learning her shapes, she knows heart and star. She can say "circle" but not quite positive which one that is, yet. She can reliably identify about 10 letters of the alphabet, and is absolutely obsessed with letters. She loves the alphabet song and will sing "A-B-C-B-E-G" over and over again. She's interested in numbers, too. Loves to have her fingers and toes counted, and cheers when we confirm that she does indeed have ten of each.

She still loves to listen to music and dance. She likes to play with her drum, maracas, dad's guitar, and a harmonica I found. Also likes to play with her baby dolls or her little lamb, Sheepy - as well as her good friends Ms. Aimee and Ms. Anna (they come and play with Calla about three times a week so I can tidy up around the house, write updates like this, make phone calls, etc). Playing with water (or "I want wash" as she puts it) is a favorite past time, too, whether at the sink or in the tub. She's always happy to "go" out for a walk, to the park, to the store, to Spanish class, out for dinner, to the zoo, even to Dr. Stiles' office - she just loves to get out of the house.

She's very affectionate with lots of hugs, kisses and cuddles, but also a total clown. Loves to pretend she is sleeping, complete with snoring sound effects. She also has a devious laugh she employs for effect when she gets something she wants. This child has a rich appreciation for silliness.

She's growing so quickly... I know she'll change so much so fast and I'll be just as in love with her then as I am now, but I hope I'll remember all these little things, so I post them here!