Thursday, September 24, 2009

5 new things I'm proud of in Alina

Alina has gotten way too big.

#1) She doesn't go to sleep when it's bedtime. She reads and plays quietly in her room. Last night she played quietly until midnight. I wanted to go tell her to go to sleep but figured I might win the battle but definitly not the war.

#2) She is speaking French!! That's right! French! Brent is taking French lessons on CD to get ready for our trip to Paris (in like 2 or 3 years). Alina rides with him to work so she's taking them too. We are encouraging her alot to use the words she's learned. We make her say "Oui" (yes), "Bonjour" (hello), "S'il vous plait" (please) and "merci" (thank you). She's also learning to say "comment allez vous" (how are you?) and "que voulez-vous manger" (what do you want to eat?). Brent and I want to incoperate French and Spanish into her vocab early on so that she's got a broader spectrum to learn. Brent thinks its not acurate but in teacher cadet we learned about small children having bridges and pathways in their minds that will shut down if they're not used. This is why many adults have a hard time learning a language - foreign languages are rarely introduced before the age of 14 and by then, in theory, those pathways have shut down from non-use. Brent calls me crazy but I think it's a great thing to incorperate languages so early on in her life.

#3) She knows Tamari is coming in April (well we think that's when she's coming anyways). We finally had to discuss it with her because she was asking every day if Tamari was coming that day and if not then would she be here on Thursday. This was adorable but we realized she had no idea that Tamari will be growing for another good 5 or 6 months before she's here and Alina would drive us nuts asking us that every day. Now she will inform you Tamari is in Mommy's tummy and she'll be here in April. She also hugs and kisses Tamari (or my belly, rather) every morning when I leave for work and tells her "I love you Mari"

#4) She recognizes places. She knows the difference between Walmart and the Grocery store. She also congradulates me when I get gas (this is hysterical) by saying "good job." She also is aware of where she's going for the day; "am I going to Miss Berely (beverly)'s today?" "Not today, Alina." "Oh!! Can I stay home with Daddy all day?"

#5) She is aware of safety factors! "Stop, Mommy, Raziel's not in his carseat!" "Stop, Mommy, my carseat is broken!" (it slid over onto its side because it wasn't in tightly enough). My absolute favorite was when I was driving down the road and she goes "Stop the car Mommy!!" So I stopped because I wasn't in a hurry and was interested in what her reasoning was. "You didn't buckle! Buckle up Mommy!" I was astonished that she is so observant!!!

No comments:

Post a Comment