Vocabulary avalanche!

These past few weeks we've been hearing a lot of new words every day. Sometimes we wonder if they're in Spanish, or we're just misunderstanding. But it's been a lot of fun to be able to communicate so much more.

We've been hearing a lot of menu requests, especially for: pizza, hummus, sushi, and 'bucha (= kombucha). He knows the word eat, but goes about asking in a different way. First, he indicates the food he wants. "Pizza." And we say something like, "yes, that box does have a picture of a pizza on it" (in the freezer case of the grocery store, say). If he isn't given any pizza to eat at that point, he'll add, "mouf" and point to his mouth. It's so funny and cute.

There have also been a lot of attempts at words for exciting vehicles and technology devices: airpane, fire truck (= any emergency services vehicle with sirens and flashing lights), bus, ipod, 'mote (= remote) ... and yesterday a really ambitious one: ewe-wator (= elevator). We were astounded.

Feeding Ty-Ty's Bear

Yesterday we had an extremely thrilling visit to Grandpa Ty's house. We spent time coloring, playing the piano, and blowing bubbles, but the best game of all was feeding the bear. Xander invented a game in which he goes to the fireplace, picks up a pinecone from the bowl there, sets it on the red plate on the coffee table for a moment while blowing on it, holding his hand over it and saying, "hot," and then brings it over to the end table and sets it in front of the bear, saying, "eat." Then of course this is repeated over and over and over. So cute!

Xander has been talking about going back to "Ty-Ty house" every time we put his jacket on since then.

"How's your diaper?"

The only answer I have ever heard to this question: "Nice."

Feather/Leaf

Last night as Xander and I were taking our daily post-daycare walk around Luciana's neighborhood, we saw a feather on the sidewalk. I showed it to Xander and told him that birds have feathers instead of hair. He informed me that I was wrong, and that this item comes from a tree. He pointed to a nearby tree, bare of leaves for the winter, and asked me to put it back on the tree. I smiled and tucked the feather into the bark of the tree at my eye level. He told me that the feather needed to be higher, up in the branches of the tree. He did seem to understand that Momma isn't tall enough to put it all the way up there, and accepted a compromise: I put the feather as high as I could reach.

A blankie fixes anything

Xander's favorite game lately has been pinching our noses, asking us to repeat words he says, and then laughing at how nasal and unfamiliar our voices sound. Last night he pinched my nose really hard and messed up my nosering, ignoring my instructions to be gentle. When I told him, in my best sad voice, how much he hurt Mamma's nose, he immediately shifted into comforting mode, offering me his blankie to help me feel better. How sweet!

I love you, my sweet hungry bear

We have recently been treated to larger and larger glimpses of Xander's emerging sense of humor. His favorite game lately is to ask me to sit down next to him and read him a storybook. Moments into the story, he will surprise me by turning to me, raising his hands like claws, and roaring like a hungry bear. My part in this game is to spring up terrified from the chair, run around behind the chair and hide, peeking cautiously out after a moment to see if the coast is clear. At this point, Xander will say, "Mama? Mama?" in a neutral tone of voice, pat the chair next to him, and give me a look like I'm crazy. Then back to the beginning. He finds this endlessly hilarious.

Xander-speak

It is such a delight being able to communicate more and more with little Xander, and getting to see more and more, each day, of what's going on inside his little brain.

Many Spanish words are part of daily conversation at our house, especially Si, Mas, and Agua.

Other words we understand through context and repeated use.

Nonnie = Johnny
Yoyo = Zorro
Doctor = 'Copter or Airplane