Been a While

It's been a while again since a post, so we might as well get some videos on. LS has enjoyed singing "Walking in a Winter Wonderland". This video was almost a month ago, and she's better at it now, but you gotta go with the original.



A few days after that we had our first snow of the season. Before even shoveling I went out to the garage, cut the old snow shovel down with a circular saw, and moved the handle down to the new end. It's still a tiny bit big for her, but it should last her this year and next. She has to earn her keep! I love this video because it has everything that the old Super-8's did. Lack of real sound and clarity. I think that quality does something good.

So here it is, her first snow shoveling experience.

8 Minutes Peeling a Clementine

LS decided she wanted to put together an Avant-garde piece, tentatively titled "8 Minutes Peeling a Clementine".

Note, we don't actually expect anyone but the grandparents to watch it to the end, or even watch it at all.

A few days ago she started peeling her own clementines. It seemed cute enough to get some film of those little fingers in action. She had already peeled and eaten her own, so this one was peeled for Papai to eat.

Naturally she ad libs some topics along the way, including a dissertation on how big Papai is.

This is also LS's first piece with English subtitles.

Linguistic Gymnastics

This happened a couple months back, but I've kept it in the back of my mind to write about when I had a chance.

LS and Mamãe were driving in the car, and LS says from the back "you is também".

This didn't seem to make sense at first, but LS repeated it and she seemed very intent on it as a fact. Not just some random playing with words.

It took Mamãe a few minutes, but she caught on to what was going on. When she relayed the story to me later on I didn't get it. Even on the first explanation I didn't quite catch on.

Here's how it plays out.

• "you" is "tu" in Portuguese


• "tu" sounds like "too" in English


• "too" has the meaning "also"


• "also" is "também" in Portuguese

So, "you" -> "tu" -> "too" -> "também".

Unlike losing something in the translation, this was kinda like adding something in the translation. Funny stuff learning is.

Catching Up

There's so much to catch up on from the last month. Not like anything big like a birthday happened or anything. Oh wait! LS turned two. We got this photo on her birthday, along with Sapo. Since it had been a while since Sapo had gotten into a picture.

Turning two was a good deal of fun. Lots of family around for a party, Memére came up from Florida and stayed for a long weekend, and Avô came back with us for Portugal and was staying with us for a few weeks. Wow - what a full house!

The highlights of this month include a trip up to Maine to visit Aunt Diane and Uncle Ken. This came complete with LS's first time touching a working wood stove. We're pretty sure she believes us about the whole "it's hot" thing now. Judging from the screaming, crying, and blisters on her hand anyway. She's a trooper though, and was down for her nap within the hour. A little less than a week later there was no evidence that it even happened. And in the meantime she wore gauze and kept a sock on her hand for protection with no complaint. A couple weeks later (this past weekend) we went to the pool to swim and the dead skin finally came loose after all that soaking.

Another recent highlight was LS helping us take down Mamãe's show display after a 3-day show she had this past weekend. The second picture here is her at home after the first day of the show wearing the boots that Mamãe had just taken off.

But the best part was helping us put things away at the end. Part of the display is 36 mannequin heads that each get put in their own Styrofoam bag and packed into a box. LS served as the go-between in our assembly line. It worked like this.

• LS would get a bag and give it to Mamãe


• Mamãe would put a head in the bag and give it back


• LS would bring the head to me to put in the box


• LS would go get the next bag, etc.

We had an awesome rhythm going, it would've been great to have an extra pair of hands there just to record it!

We also had some great time in the pool this past weekend. Since Mamãe was at the show, Papai had full duty and swimming was a good thing to do. The first day LS was a little nervous (since we haven't swum since summer), but she started to get the feel for herself in the water and enjoyed having a bubble on and playing with those flotation noodles. The second day she got to the point that I didn't hold her at all and she could paddle herself around with her feet with the bubble on and holding the noodle (and without the noodle for short stretches). It was so cute that we went back a third day in a row just so Mamãe could see how she was doing.

The first day at the pool there were a bunch of kids there, and she decided to give one a name. She pointed to one kid who was swimming around and going underwater and told me (in Portuguese) that his name was "Oose". What a name! She even told Mamãe later on that Oose was at the pool.

You're too funny kid.

Heading Home!

We're heading home tomorrow. It's really been a great couple weeks. LS got to enjoy time with so many of her friends, cousins, aunts, uncles, and her grandfather too. Too many good times to be able to recount and do it any justice. Hopefully during tomorrow's travels we'll be able to look as happy as we did here at the beginning of the trip!



A story from today definitely sums up how LS's Portuguese has progressed while we've been here. We went to have pizza for lunch today and at the restaurant there was a TV. Actually, this story also points out how we don't have a TV...

Suddenly LS points to the TV and says "Isso é um computador sem teclas". Which means "That is a computer without a keyboard". Too funny. She's used to seeing images on Youtube or Skype on Papai's computer, so that is her point of reference.

Well, ready or not U.S.A., here she comes. We'll miss you Portugal (but we'll be back)!

Janela (Window)

The house in Portugal that is in Mamãe's Father's side of the family has a wonderful window, that LS is just perfect for. The exterior walls of the house are about a meter thick, an aspect that keeps the interior comfortable in the cooler weather as well as the hot summer.

The house is reportedly around 300 years old. Its thick walls also came in handy as fortification when the house quartered an officer in the Portuguese military when they were fighting off the invasion of Napoleon off the nearby coast.

LS provides the perfect guage to measure this window by. It makes me jealous for being the size that she is! I've always loved this window (which is in the dining room), and these pictures just make me love it more.



Do you think she's having a good time?



As an aside, it also amazes me that within these thick walls I get a multi-megabit mobile broadband signal in order to access the Internet. Oh the things this house has seen...

Our Little Terror

We're at the beginning of a trip off to visit family in Portugal. Just had to share the fact that our little terror was made to take off her shoes before going through security. Yep, our 23 month old. I'm sure everyone feels a lot safer now. But anyway, we're through and waiting to take off. Having some fun roaming around the airport!