Because I’m Older...

...said my daughter when we were talking about something she used to do and doesn’t anymore, or something she does now that she couldn’t before. I can’t remember exactly what we were talking about, but somehow it came up that a change in behavior occurred and Fiona declared that it happened because she is now “older”.

In my previous post I said she was starting to use prepositions, but what I meant to say was that she is using articles and conjunctions (sorry, I was so tired last week, and this week, and every week). She’s been using prepositions for a long time now, it’s the other stuff that is new. For example, she uses “and” all the time. In a story that has a girl and boy, Fiona will say “children, a girl and a boy,” or when she wanted her teethers today, she asked for “the blue one and the green one and the purple one.” When she wants to know what something is, she’ll say, “What is this?”

Her language is really blossoming every day. How many two year olds know what a water buffalo is? I know I keep saying, and those with small children know what I mean, it’s incredible how much more she can communicate every day and how the complexity of her sentences keeps growing. Soon she’ll sound like a real person. To me, her language development is especially amazing because she was sort of delayed at 18 months. There were other children her age with a lot more language and now I’m pretty sure she has surpassed most of her friends. In fact, a lot of her little friends don’t even really talk yet. Their moms tell me they think their children are delayed because at two years old, they can’t say more than a handful of words and even those are not very intelligible (I don’t think they are delayed, but I understand feeling the pressure that your child isn’t doing something that others can). Fiona is talking in sentences. I keep having to tell myself that my little preemie has more than caught up developmentally, and without the benefit of any sort of therapy.

On some other notes, Fiona has her first black eye. She did it spinning around in her crib. She tripped, fell onto the rail, then fell back and hit her head. She didn’t cry for long, but hasn’t done a whole lot of spinning since then. She also hit her cheek today on the edge of my bed (I think that’s why she said her teeth hurt and asked for the teethers). I am always torn between trying to prevent her from getting hurt and letting her learn the hard way why she shouldn’t do certain things. Her face right now bears witness that this week, it was latter.

It’s not really obvious in this picture, but her eye is really purple:

Fiona made another challah at school:

Challahs are usually braided, but I don’t think any of the kids in Fiona’s class have the fine motor skills necessary to braid dough. Someday.

Speaking of school, Fiona seems to love it. She talks about the teachers and the other kids in her class a lot. I think Ms. Kim must read to her a lot because she tells me that “Ms. Kim reads books with Fiona” although her “Fiona” sounds like “Fwona”.

We bought new PJs last week and Fiona wore these for a few days:

Then it got cooler at night again and now she is wearing long sleeves. It amazes me how much older she looks in a two piece pajama set than in a sleeper. My little girl is growing up, sniff sniff.

Last week was Rosh Ha Shana (Jewish New Years), so we dipped apples in honey:

We used a little plate that Fiona made in class. She didn’t really like the honey and prefers to eat apples whole, rather than sliced, but it was fun anyway and hopefully the start of a new tradition for our family. In Israel, we did this every year to celebrate the beginning of a new year that will hopefully be sweet. And yes, we read People StyleWatch Magazine, even though neither John non I shop for clothes or shoes very often and I am wearing the same work clothes I did five years ago. It’s shiny and glossy, and better than watching junk TV. Fiona has no interest in it.

I captured Fiona’s feet in my shoes:

Despite being only a little older than two years, she can already walk in high heels. I’m glad she still prefers to be barefoot most of the time.

Last, Fiona is lately obsessed with Panda. She carries him around everywhere, usually wrapped in her pink hoodie. She calls him Baby and tries to nurse him:

I think I figured out why today. About a week ago, there was a story in the newspaper about a baby panda born at the National Zoo in Washington, DC. Fiona saw the photos and we talked about it. I think the combination of baby panda and baby Kaleo, my friend Nicole’s son with whom Fiona is in love, created the idea in her head that her Panda was a baby that needed carrying and nursing, because that is what she sees Nicole do with Kaleo. That is my theory anyway.

On yet another note, I’m teaching Fiona a little Hebrew and she can say “Shalom” (hello/goodbye), “boker tov” (good morning), “erev tov” (good evening), and “lyla tov”. “Lyla tov” means “Good night” and she likes to say “Lyla tov, good night” when my mom goes home after dinner. I also put up the Hebrew alphabet in her room and. I cut up a poster that was too big and glued the letters to ribbon. I think it looks neat, even if the pictures are really dark.

Fiona knows some of her numbers in Hebrew too. As I’ve said before, I am sure she will not be bilingual because there is just not enough Hebrew around her for her to really speak it, but it will be easier for her to learn it when she gets older, if she so chooses.

Last, here is Fiona standing on a package of paper towels from Costco:

Have a great week!

It’s Been A While…

Well, school is really back in session. I feel like I never left. I REALLY like my students so far and I hope that does not change. Lots has happened in the last two weeks, and yet, probably nothing has really happened. Last I wrote, we got a new rug for the kitchen. We all love it, especially Fiona, who likes to twirl around on it until she gets dizzy. We sit on it and play a lot, and also just walk around on it because it feels nice and soft on our feet. Another advantage of this rug is that it looks sooooo much better than the old floor mats. I can’t believe I waited so long to get something.

Fiona is doing great in preschool and my mom reports that Fiona does not want to leave when she comes to pick her up. She keeps bringing home art work, and I don’t know where to put all of it. We are becoming overwhelmed with the amount of papers she creates at school and at home. I think I’m going to start giving the excess to my mother. She may soon run out of space as well, having created a little corner in her house for Fiona to make art:

Fiona ran right to it, sat down, and started drawing.

Speaking of school, last week was the preschool picnic. I could not attend because I was working, so my parents went instead. Fiona’s class ate in the garden:

Fiona ate a lunch that I made for her and my parents had their own lunch. The entire preschool ate lunch outside on Picnic Day. I am glad my parents were there because my mommy guilt was running high for missing it. There is a field trip coming up that John is going to take her too, but I am sad that I have to miss all of these events. I don’t think the world was designed for working moms.

Speaking of eating outside, it has been so hot lately, that we ate dinner outside one evening. I didn’t want to turn on an oven or stand over a stove, so we ordered pizza and ate it in the back yard:

We spent the entire afternoon in the backyard because it was cooler there than inside the house. I understand that 80-something degrees with some humidity is not hot compared to many places, but please consider that we do not have air conditioning at all. We have ceiling fans, but at some point, they just move the air around. Fiona enjoyed going au natural on that day:

 

Of course, she requested oranges.

She plops herself on the wall and asks for an orange. I think she can only eat them when she is sitting on the wall. We have been enjoying our grapes as well. Fiona loves them and I enjoy picking them off the vine, washing them, and eating them as well. Nothing like fresh fruit from the source, I say.

Here is Fiona playing with my mom:

And here we are, reading in the hammock:

 

We have been spending a lot of time in hammock lately.

Here is a picture of John and Fiona, both reading National Geographic magazines:

Two days a week my friend Amanda watched Fiona while I am at work. Amanda has a little girl about Fi’s age. The other day, Fiona decided she wanted a scarf on her head. Amanda sent me this picture:

Who can resist that girl?

After nap, Fiona wanted to wear the scarf again:

I’m not as good at tying it on, but as long as it was on her head somehow, Fiona was satisfied.

Fiona’s language development is amazing to me. She now makes specific requests for breakfast and lunch, and tells me all sorts of things. For example, today she asked for pancakes. Luckily for her, I was already planning to make them:

In the photo on the left, she was trying to get John to move to his old seat.

She has a sense of humor and sometimes makes jokes, but mostly laughs at our jokes and tells us “funny” when we are being funny. Her vocabulary is exploding. I can’t even think of the words she is using now. She is starting to use prepositions which is nice. We recently bought her new sippy cups and she tells us that she has a new sippy from Target (where we bought the cups). She told me how John put the cups in the cart and she put the cups on the belt (conveyer belt at the checkout). I told her that I was there when it happened, but that I am very excited for her. She can match up her matching cards, and can match numbers to each other. She still counts “one, two, three, five, three, five, six...” but her counting is very regular, meaning the numbers are always in the same order (1, 2, 3, 5, 6). I am not sure why she keeps skipping four, but she pretty much never says it. She knows all her letters, even the ones she can’t pronounce yet, like Z and L, but she still sometimes mistakes Ks for Xs and vice versa. We have conversations now, and she also talks to herself, which is really cute. She mutters to herself whatever it is that she is doing. I melt when she does it, which is often. I’ll try to get a video of it soon.

She can say “good morning” “hello/goodbye” and “good evening” in Hebrew, and is learning to count in Hebrew as well. I know that she will probably not be bilingual as an adult, but at least she will have the beginnings of the language for if she ever wants to become fluent in it.

I can’t think of anything else right now, but if I do, I will include it in the next post.

I am going to end on a sad note. My dear friend Katie lost her mom suddenly a week ago tonight (September 9). Jane was a wonderful woman who had a positive influence on all those who met her. She came to my baby shower and used to read my blog, giving Katie all sorts of updates on Fiona. It was really funny that Katie was learning about Fi from her mom, instead of me. She will be sorely missed and I am heartbroken for Katie. She has the long, difficult road of grief ahead of her. She is returning to work tomorrow. Please keep Katie and her family in your thoughts and prayers. This is a photo of Jane from Katie’s wedding last year:

Have a great week otherwise!

Summer is Really Over

It’s still hot, but summer is really over for me. I’ve been back at work for a week and we are all adjusting. Thankfully, Fiona is still sleeping until well past 6:30. I was worried that she will start waking up earlier, but the whole week John and I were able to get up and get dressed before she started stirring. I really miss my mornings with her, especially because she is talking so much and says so many new things every day, I’m afraid that I am missing out.

On Wednesday it actually rained here. My dad and I took Fiona to the mall to run around. We didn’t go into any stores, but we did ride the train:

We rode in the red caboose. I don’t think it was intended to carry anyone larger than I am. My poor dad was so squished. Fiona calls him Grandpa Mommy Daddy because he is Mommy’s daddy. Her other grandpa is Grandpa Don. She is starting to distinguish people based on their relationships to John and me. Grandpa Don is Daddy’s Daddy for example.

There was some sitting around at the mall:

And going around in circles:

Speaking of which, the other day I was chasing Fiona around her room and she declared “Running around in circles!” Totally unprompted. Today I wanted her to take her binky out of her mouth. I told her that I cannot understand what she says when she has it in her mouth and she said “I done talking” and popped it back in. These are just two examples in the last two days that her language is getting to the point that she is not just repeating what we say but really articulating her thoughts. It’s very exciting for all of us! Fiona continues to recall events, people, and songs from at least a month or more in the past. Even though I’m sure she won’t remember any of this in six months or a year, it’s really exciting when she mentions something that happened long enough ago that I stopped thinking about it.

In preschool she made challah, but she and I ate it before I took any photos. It reminded me a little of when I was in the Gan (from ages three until 6) on the kibbutz. We made challah every Friday. It’s when I learned how to braid things. We ate it with avocado because Fiona requested avocado for lunch. She made lunch requests for most of the week. The nice thing is the food she asks for is pretty good for her and she eats it. Who am I to deny peas to my little toddling daughter?

On another note, we got a new kitchen rug:

It feels really nice under our feet and looks much nicer than the old rugs we had.

Here is a picture of the fountain I mentioned in a previous post. I think it looks nice there:

 

On the work front, the first week of school went pretty smoothly. I like my classes so far and have no complaints. I hope it stays that way because we have a loooong way to go until the next summer vacation. At least Thanksgiving is only two months away.

Harvest

Yesterday we harvested the last tomatoes, then John ripped out the tomato plants. The keeled treehoppers ruined our tomato crop this year and brought our tomato season to an early end. I harvested what ever looked ok, which was really not much, and the quality of the tomatoes was on the poor side. I also harvested more beans (I can’t believe they are still producing!) and cucumbers, red and yellow bell pepper, and eggplant, so all was not lost.

John left the butternut squash because it has two squashes forming:

He planted corn where the squashes used to be:

The squashes produced for a long time, but they were nearing the end of their life span, so he took those out as well.

One advantage of fall is that the grapes begin to ripen:

 

Some of them are drying out because we didn’t realize they were ripening and didn’t pick them, but now that we know, we’ve been eating them every day.

Fiona made this in school last week:

I was told that she will be making challah next week. I know she will enjoy it because she already likes helping when I make biscuits. She gets her own little roll of dough and uses her play cookie cutter shapes to stamp out biscuits that we then bake and she eats for breakfast during the week.

During the weekend, John recessed the sandbox behind the wall. It is now underneath the grapefruit tree, next to Buddha. We are going to build a little path to it so Fiona doesn’t always have to climb the wall to get in and out, even though she does not mind the climbing. He also put a fountain in the back yard, but I did not take pictures. I will do that soon and post them.

 

We took a walk after dinner last night and saw rainbows:

There were many rainbows. First, there was one big one, then we saw two next to each other, then we saw another one in another part of the sky. It was a lovely end to a lovely evening.

Today was the first day of school for me. Fiona didn’t want me to leave. She draped herself on me and wouldn’t let go. When John peeled her off, she started crying. It was very sad.

Yes, I’m also clutching on. I can’t help it. It’s hard to let such a soft, cute little girl go, especially when she keeps saying how much she wants Mommy. Sigh. So will it go for the next ten months, less the weeks of Thanksgiving, winter vacation, and spring break. At least she had a good day at her own school.

Have a great week!