Learning To Say It Better

Yesterday LS and I went to the pool for the first time in a while. She did a good job, doing a few laps back and forth (she wears a "bubble" and is mostly upright with her face out of the water), pausing at the deep end each time to watch the kids at diving practice. While we were swimming she said: "I'm so happy to be at the pool!".

On the way home there's a particular stretch of road when we're almost home where LS usually asks about where Mamãe is, and whether she's at the studio or not (for which in Portuguese we use the word (taken from French) "atalier").

Usually when I saw "atalier" (ah-tah-lee-ay) I say it pretty quickly and the first "a" drops out. LS has remarked before about how Papai says "talier" while she and Mamãe say "atalier".

So yesterday when LS asked and I responded I was pretty deliberate about not dropping the first "a". Upon hearing this, LS said (in English): "Papai, you're learning to say it better!"

It's true, and I have a good teacher.

Festa!

While in Portugal we shot some videos, but couldn't share them until now. These were from a few weeks ago while the town we were in was "em Festa". These were taken at the time before the party really starts each night, when the kids are there running around and the adults are just starting to mill around a little bit as they play some recorded music before the band starts. This first dance we think LS named "clip clop".



She was able to convince Papai to get in on the action too!



It was somewhat fun being there in town when the Festa was going on, although LS's bedtime dictated that we didn't take part in much. But it was nice seeing the decorations. The party starts each night around 10pm and goes until about 4am. The part that wasn't always so fun is they shoot off fireworks (that make a loud noise - nothing to see). Fireworks at 1am or 2am a mere few blocks away is quite a sound to hear. And one that LS wasn't always too happy about!

Maybe before long we'll visit during the Festa again and LS can participate a little better.

Heading Home

Unfortunately didn't have much time to post anything while we were in Portugal. But with our leaving tomorrow, this picture seems appropriate.



We had such a nice time seeing family and friends, enjoying wonderful food and great company. Papai still worked some crazy hours, but we managed visits and some good times with everyone. Looking back over the pictures, a couple of my personal favorites.



And:



In this last one you can see how much LS likes to help Mamãe in the kitchen, where a good amount of time was spent this vacation.

Watch out US of A, LS is on her way back!

Other Side of the Pond

LS is currently enjoying life on the other side of the Atlantic, visiting friends and family in Portugal. And, enjoying Pasteíes de Nata! Just had to share this moment.



Taken at our favorite local place to get them in Lourinhã: Café Central.

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I Did It!

So said LS yesterday at the lake. It was a great moment, the kind of which there are probably precious too few in a lifetime. I think it was how she would've sounded if she could've talked when she first started taking steps for the first time.

In this case, it was her deciding to really put her face in the water for the first time. She pinched her nose, closed her mouth, and painfully slowly lowered her face in, just about to the eyes. When she stood back up she was absolutely beaming, her eyes absolutely lit up with joy, and squealed "I did it!". I hope I always remember what that looked like.

Since it's been so long saying anything here, I'll randomly throw in a video. This was about two weeks ago, an activity that we do very occasionally after taking down her outside baby swing for a normal one. A video is worth 1,000 words, so:



I'll throw in a last thing for the family in Portugal. Tonight at dinner we had melancia (watermelon) which can be a messy undertaking at her age. As we were walking into the house, LS was remarking at how much of the juice she had on her and said: "Eu estou toda melanciada" (translated basically as "I am all watermeloned". I asked "melanciada?" and says, "Sim, é uma palavra inventada" ("It's a made up word"). And a good one at that.

C-A-T

I'll keep this much below the 1,000 words a picture's worth, because it probably says it all anyway. Last week LS and Mamãe were scoping out a possible pre-school (2 morning a week type thing) for next year. While there, LS got into some of the materials they have there, laid this out, and told Mamãe it was "cat".

We've been sounding out words for a little while now (cookies shaped like letters are a huge hit) so this isn't completely out of the blue, but I'm pretty sure it is the first case of LS arranging letters herself to spell out a word. And a pretty fun way to do it too.

Here's the artist with her work, looking fairly proud.



PS: I'll try to make the next post about an LS tantrum, just so you don't get the idea it's all sunshine and roses over here ;-)

Green Animals are not Mammals

A great bit of wisdom from LS today. Recently there's been discussion about what mammals are and which animals are in fact mammals. On a car ride today LS posed the question of whether butterflies were mammals.

She then inquired as to whether frogs were mammals. Followed by an inquiry as to whether crocodiles were mammals. She then laid the following wisdom on us.

"Frogs are not mammals."
"Crocodiles are not mammals."
"Frogs are green."
"Crocodiles are also green."
"Green animals are not mammals."

I loved that didn't just skip to that last sentence, but she laid it all out there for us. Like she wanted us to check her work.

We had to agree with her, she pretty much seemed to nail it. Although Mamãe pointed out one loophole. Sloths have a moss-like algae that grows on their fur and make them appear green. Always an exception to every rule I guess.