Something to Say

LS dropped some knowledge on Mamãe this evening. She said: "A chuxa branca não faz barulho e não parece uma borboleta." ("The white pacifier doesn't make noise and doesn't look like a butterfly").

This is in contrast to the *yellow* pacifier, which *does* squeak when she chews on it, and *does* look like a butterfly.

Adoro

A great moment with LS today (among many every day of course). After LS got up from her afternoon nap and had her time on the potty I was holding her. And out of the blue she says "Eu Adoro Papai", which means "I adore Papai". It doesn't get much better than that.

Good a time as any to share this video from a few days ago. Mamãe decided to shoot some film of getting Papai up out of bed one morning. This particular morning LS took an interest in practicing the word "Mongolia". Did we mention she likes her world map? Note the effects our camera is still randomly adding to our videos. You should have to pay good money for that.

Á and Zó

Meet "Á" and "Zó". LS has given her own names to something for the first time ("Á" is the one on the left). In English they'd be pronounced, roughly, "Ah" and "Zoh". Until recently these two little dolls (which are part of a hand-me-down Duplo set of blocks) were just referred to as "homenzinhos" ("little guys"). Maybe because one is obviously feminine LS decided they just had to have their own names. So now they do!

Their picture here is taken on what we call LS's "escrivaninha" ("desk"). It's really a little bench, but it has a nice slot for holding a couple books and it's the perfect size to put in front of the potty chair when LS is going about her business.

22!

Today LS hit 22. Just 2 months to go until the big 2! It had been a while since we got a picture with Sapo, so for the occasion we brought him outside for a photo shoot. LS was very excited to have him up and out of his usual place in bed, she immediately started pointing things out to him when we got outside. "Folhas!" ("leaves") "Peixe!" ("fish", a small sculpture of a fish we have in the garden).

If you ask LS to smile, this is what you'll get. So don't try it if you can't handle the freight train of cute that will be coming your way.

As we can see, although it seems LS and Sapo started out the same size almost 2 years ago she now towers over him. And loves him. When she saw Papai bring him downstairs she was wide-eyed and whispered his name almost in reverent disbelief. Having Sapo outside of the bedroom is quite an event.

Other than that, we can report that potty training has gone well. Almost always dry diapers (which she's also happy to report as we take it off) and no "#2" other than in the potty or toilet for at least a few weeks. (Not the kind of status report I had ever imagined giving). She likes the little dance that we do to tell her she did a good job. And if she's around when either of us uses the bathroom she's sure to tell us we did a great job and to do a little dance for us too. We're all just so happy in the bathroom.

It also seems she'll know the whole world map before we know it. She loves pointing out where places are on her placemat. Latest favorites are Tazmania, Solomon Islands, Egypt, and Saudia Arabia. Funny crazy stuff.

A few days ago was the last day they were officially open at a local lake that we've enjoyed going to this year. They were in the process of removing the boundary ropes and putting everything else away while we were swimming. Obviously LS enjoyed being wrapped up in the towel afterward! We went back this evening and it was pretty nice to be there and just have the lake in front of us with no ropes.

El Camino

Last week while driving we were behind a truck that was pulling a trailer which was actually the back-end of an old pickup truck. Mamãe remarked how from the back it kind of looked like an El Camino.

LS wanted to know what this word was, and it was explained that it was an old type of car. Of course, no English/Portuguese translation was possible or necessary.

Now, a week later, I'm spending the morning with LS and she's been saying "El Camino" for seemingly no reason.

Later I find her, undeterred by her inability to read, sitting down pulling out Mamãe's cookbooks, flipping their pages and saying "El Camino... Dicionário... El Camino... Dicionário..." over and over again.

Apparently she's determined to find out what this El Camino thing is, even if she has to flip through all the cookbooks in the house to find out!

Taste of Summer

We love summer meals of corn-on-the-cob and bruschetta (especially now that our own tomatoes are coming in). LS is right there with us!

ABCs for Visavó

A couple days ago, LS decided she wanted to give Visavó (great-grandmother) a fake call in order to sing her the ABC song. She didn't stop there though. She also wanted to get a couple of her stuffed buddies in on the action.