Things Kelli can do in April of 1982: count to 30 in English, and to 10 in Swahili, Japanese and Spanish. She can say "¿Cómo estás?" (How are you?) in Spanish and "Ni macho" (I am eyes = I can see) in Swahili.
Abbi could do that counting, too. I thought it was so cool that my girls were learning to count in so many languages. Eventually, they could count in French, too. (Though not at the time of this journal entry, since it wasn't on the list.) And I thought they totally got what they were doing. But one day, there was this conversation:
Abbi: Hey mom, what does mojo mbili tatu nne tano sita saba nane tisa kumi mean?
Me: That's 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10 in Swahili.
Abbi: Oh. Well, what about ichi ni san shi go roku shichi hachi kyu jyu?
Me: That's 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10 in Japanese.
Abbi: Hmm. What about uno dos tres quatro cinco seis siete ocho nueve diez?
Me: That's 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10 in Spanish.
Abbi: Okay...what about un deux trois quatre cinq six sept huit neuf dix?
Me: That's 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10 in French.
Abbi: (as though the light bulb finally came on) Oh! I get it!
And here I thought she got it all along! :o)
Ni macho was a book (by Leila Ward) that we checked out of the El Cajon Library. We were frequent (as in regular; we always went) library story time attendees, and probably read 15 or 20 books every night. You can buy your own copy of Ni Macho on amazon, if you want to. We really liked it.
April 10, 1982 -- Uncle Bruce and Aunt Judy came from Tucson, and Kelli and Abbi were excited to see them, but they really missed seeing Heather, Mindy and Carlie [who were spending the Easter weekend with their dad, Joe]. We all went swimming in our pool [with also Arlene and her children, but without Uncle Michael and Bruce our daddy, who both had to work]. Kelli is getting to be a very good swimmer. She can swim the width of the pool. She isn't afraid of jumping into the water, but is leary of sliding into the water!
[Do you notice that I quite often remarked when my children were not afraid of doing something? That I was delighted when they were not afraid? This is because I was afraid of everything when I was little, and my fear really got in the way of enjoying myself in life. I was afraid of the dark, my own shadow, going outside alone, dogs, swimming, skating, riding a bike...if it was fun, I was probably afraid of it. Maybe I emphasized this too much with my kids, because I really didn't want fear to rule their childhoods like it ruled mine. It is so not fun to be unable to do things other children invite you to do because you are immobilized by fear and everything makes you cry, and then people call you a baby. That was me.]
April 11 -- EASTER
Abbi could do that counting, too. I thought it was so cool that my girls were learning to count in so many languages. Eventually, they could count in French, too. (Though not at the time of this journal entry, since it wasn't on the list.) And I thought they totally got what they were doing. But one day, there was this conversation:
Abbi: Hey mom, what does mojo mbili tatu nne tano sita saba nane tisa kumi mean?
Me: That's 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10 in Swahili.
Abbi: Oh. Well, what about ichi ni san shi go roku shichi hachi kyu jyu?
Me: That's 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10 in Japanese.
Abbi: Hmm. What about uno dos tres quatro cinco seis siete ocho nueve diez?
Me: That's 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10 in Spanish.
Abbi: Okay...what about un deux trois quatre cinq six sept huit neuf dix?
Me: That's 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10 in French.
Abbi: (as though the light bulb finally came on) Oh! I get it!
And here I thought she got it all along! :o)
Ni macho was a book (by Leila Ward) that we checked out of the El Cajon Library. We were frequent (as in regular; we always went) library story time attendees, and probably read 15 or 20 books every night. You can buy your own copy of Ni Macho on amazon, if you want to. We really liked it.
April 10, 1982 -- Uncle Bruce and Aunt Judy came from Tucson, and Kelli and Abbi were excited to see them, but they really missed seeing Heather, Mindy and Carlie [who were spending the Easter weekend with their dad, Joe]. We all went swimming in our pool [with also Arlene and her children, but without Uncle Michael and Bruce our daddy, who both had to work]. Kelli is getting to be a very good swimmer. She can swim the width of the pool. She isn't afraid of jumping into the water, but is leary of sliding into the water!
[Do you notice that I quite often remarked when my children were not afraid of doing something? That I was delighted when they were not afraid? This is because I was afraid of everything when I was little, and my fear really got in the way of enjoying myself in life. I was afraid of the dark, my own shadow, going outside alone, dogs, swimming, skating, riding a bike...if it was fun, I was probably afraid of it. Maybe I emphasized this too much with my kids, because I really didn't want fear to rule their childhoods like it ruled mine. It is so not fun to be unable to do things other children invite you to do because you are immobilized by fear and everything makes you cry, and then people call you a baby. That was me.]
April 11 -- EASTER
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| Uncle Bruce holding Kelli ; Auntie Judy holding Abbi, on Easter Sunday, April 11, 1982 |
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