Pretty much the second word out of Lexi's mouth after she says 'Daddy' is 'airport'. Poor girl thinks Dad is stuck there I guess. I try to explain that he is no longer there - but she just doesn't get it.
Lexi is also tall enough to easily get things off the counters/tables, especially if she stands on her toes. The other day I had put yogurt in her bowl and placed it on the counter. Next thing I knew the bowl was on the floor and she had yogurt all over. Must remember to push things BACK from the edge!
We went and played in the park after church on Sunday. It was quite hot so we didn't stay too long. She was interested in the swings but didn't want to sit on them herself. If I sat and put her on my lap, she was ok.
March 10, 2009
March 6, 2009
At the neighbor's
The last two days I have had meetings at work where I wouldn’t be home at the usual time to let Jane leave on time. As it takes her an hour to get home, I try not to keep her late. I made arrangements with the Coopers in #7 for Jane to take Lexi there when it was time for her to go home. You can tell that Lexi spends a lot of time at the Coopers with their 3 kids (one is 4 months older than her and they get along great). When I arrived to get her yesterday, she was happily sweeping the floor. (Yes, she does that at home too.) And then she runs around after Freddie or he after her and they play with this and that and just seem to have a ball. Freddie has a bath every night at 5:30 so as Wednesday is Lexi’s bath night, too, they thought the two kids could have their bath together. Jane tells me that Lexi was not interested. But she did get cleaned up anyway.
Tonight when I arrived they were just sitting down to dinner. So I ate with them. I felt like quite a mooch but it was nice to have dinner with some adults. I have only cooked 1 meal for myself since Stephen has been gone and have had leftovers otherwise. Then the next two nights we have dinner ‘dates’. Lexi happily goes wherever. Now she is sitting on the floor reading magazines – another favorite pastime.
Tonight when I arrived they were just sitting down to dinner. So I ate with them. I felt like quite a mooch but it was nice to have dinner with some adults. I have only cooked 1 meal for myself since Stephen has been gone and have had leftovers otherwise. Then the next two nights we have dinner ‘dates’. Lexi happily goes wherever. Now she is sitting on the floor reading magazines – another favorite pastime.
March 2, 2009
Daddy. Daddy. Daddy.
Last night, Lexi and I took Stephen to the airport. Today, Lexi has been asking for Daddy all day. I keep explaining that we took him to the airport; that he is going to visit Baba and Lolo. (Stephen's parents - he will be with themin Seattle for 2 weeks before heading to DC.)
The conversation goes like this:
L: Daddy?
S: We took Daddy to the airport last night, remember?
L: airport
S: Right
L: Daddy?
S: He is going to visit Baba and Lolo.
L: Lolo.
S: Yes, you remember them?
L: Lolo.
A few second later.…..Daddy. Daddy. Daddy. (all in a calm tone but obviously inquiring about him)
Etc, etc.…..
Poor kid, she really doesn’t understand.
The conversation goes like this:
L: Daddy?
S: We took Daddy to the airport last night, remember?
L: airport
S: Right
L: Daddy?
S: He is going to visit Baba and Lolo.
L: Lolo.
S: Yes, you remember them?
L: Lolo.
A few second later.…..Daddy. Daddy. Daddy. (all in a calm tone but obviously inquiring about him)
Etc, etc.…..
Poor kid, she really doesn’t understand.
February 24, 2009
In la la land
Lexi’s favorite word these days is “la la,” which is Kiswahili for “sleep” (although I’ve also heard Desmond Tutu use it to describe himself going into retirement). I’d say it’s a concept bordering on obsession with her these days, but perhaps her grandparents (Sarah’s parents) had something to do with it when they visited Nairobi recently. She taught them the word when they were here, and perhaps that’s why she has taken great delight in it. It could also be that when Jane has trouble getting Lexi to fall asleep for her nap, she sings a little la-la-by that is just the words “la la, Lexi, la la” repeated over and over.
She is very good at identifying la la and people engaged in it (or supposedly doing it). However, strangely, she says it sometimes as soon as we go into her room in the morning (after she’s been la la all night). But at church the other day, a man a few rows back had his eyes closed while we were singing a hymn (clearly we weren’t at our usual Lutheran church). Although he was standing at the time as well, Lexi identified it with a “la la.” We were out somewhere recently, and Lexi saw a poster with a bunch of people on it. One of the people was lying horizontal, to which she declared, “La la.”
She also shows a tender, caring side when people really are appearing to sleep. A couple of weeks ago when I was ill with my mild case of typhoid, the afternoon I was feeling the worst, I had camped out on the living room couch under a blanket and in front of the TV. Lexi approached me several times, not quite sure what I was doing. But once or twice she patted me gently on the shoulder and said, “La la.”
She is very good at identifying la la and people engaged in it (or supposedly doing it). However, strangely, she says it sometimes as soon as we go into her room in the morning (after she’s been la la all night). But at church the other day, a man a few rows back had his eyes closed while we were singing a hymn (clearly we weren’t at our usual Lutheran church). Although he was standing at the time as well, Lexi identified it with a “la la.” We were out somewhere recently, and Lexi saw a poster with a bunch of people on it. One of the people was lying horizontal, to which she declared, “La la.”
She also shows a tender, caring side when people really are appearing to sleep. A couple of weeks ago when I was ill with my mild case of typhoid, the afternoon I was feeling the worst, I had camped out on the living room couch under a blanket and in front of the TV. Lexi approached me several times, not quite sure what I was doing. But once or twice she patted me gently on the shoulder and said, “La la.”
February 3, 2009
Diagnosis: Good Kiswahili speaker
Lexi had her 18-month check-up at the pediatrician’s office yesterday afternoon. Perhaps the most telling thing I heard during the visit about her development wasn’t from the doctor himself, but from the receptionist. As she called us in to the doctor’s office, she asked me, “Where did she learn all that Kiswahili?” I told her that Jane, our nanny/house help taught her and that we had instructed Jane to speak only Kiswahili to Lexi. The receptionist said that she is speaking very well. She had heard Lexi speaking to me while we were playing with the toys in the waiting room. I replied that Sarah and I don’t know what Kiswahili words Lexi is saying, much less when she’s actually speaking it because we know so little of it (anything other than the several English words she speaks to us is just gibberish). The receptionist just laughed but seemed delighted and amused that such a little girl was progressing so well on her African language skills. Lexi seems to be doing better at 18 months than we were in our early 30s in learning French while living in a non-English-speaking country.
Health-wise, Lexi is doing well. She got two more immunizations yesterday and cried for each of them and then was shy with the cashier, as if she was angry at me for allowing someone to poke her with needles (OK, as someone who hates needles himself, I can understand if she was angry). Her vitals:
Height: 81.5 cm (32 in.)
Weight: 10.3 kg (22.7 lb)
She has shot up in height a few centimeters since her last doctor visit six months ago. Will she be a tall girl? Looking at her growth over time, for her weight, she has been at or slightly below the 50th percentile (although she’s just above the 25th percentile at 18 months, so she’s now skinny for her height) and, for her height, at or above the 50th percentile. So much for being an above-average Lake Wobegone child.
Health-wise, Lexi is doing well. She got two more immunizations yesterday and cried for each of them and then was shy with the cashier, as if she was angry at me for allowing someone to poke her with needles (OK, as someone who hates needles himself, I can understand if she was angry). Her vitals:
Height: 81.5 cm (32 in.)
Weight: 10.3 kg (22.7 lb)
She has shot up in height a few centimeters since her last doctor visit six months ago. Will she be a tall girl? Looking at her growth over time, for her weight, she has been at or slightly below the 50th percentile (although she’s just above the 25th percentile at 18 months, so she’s now skinny for her height) and, for her height, at or above the 50th percentile. So much for being an above-average Lake Wobegone child.
January 15, 2009
Taking after Sarah?
Lexi has really taken to the word book. It’s one of a handful of words that she really knows the meaning of. She knows where in her room the bedtime reading books are (behind a door in one of the built-in closets), and she gets excited at the mention of the word as we change her diaper and get her into her pajamas. She will hopefully take after Mommy and be a good reader, enjoying it as a relaxing pastime (unlike Daddy, who reads some, but it tends to be newspapers, magazines and online news).
Last night, I read Lexi a book at bedtime about a cat and dog that fight and cause chaos in the house and yard while their little girl owner tries to maintain order. It’s a book Lexi really enjoys because it has two animals that she knows the sounds of. She can see a dog and say “woof, woof” and see a cat and say “meow.” So she has fun following along in this book as it’s read to her. This morning, as we were changing her diaper, she insisted on a “book,” and so we gave her that one. She proceeded to “read” it with the “woof, woof” and “meow” sounds while adding plenty of other noises as “words” in between. It was so cute. She seemed to enjoy the book even more reading it herself.
Last night, I read Lexi a book at bedtime about a cat and dog that fight and cause chaos in the house and yard while their little girl owner tries to maintain order. It’s a book Lexi really enjoys because it has two animals that she knows the sounds of. She can see a dog and say “woof, woof” and see a cat and say “meow.” So she has fun following along in this book as it’s read to her. This morning, as we were changing her diaper, she insisted on a “book,” and so we gave her that one. She proceeded to “read” it with the “woof, woof” and “meow” sounds while adding plenty of other noises as “words” in between. It was so cute. She seemed to enjoy the book even more reading it herself.
January 8, 2009
Discovering a world of words, birds and babies
Several months ago, when Lexi was younger and wasn't saying actual words, she made "friends" with a group of large black birds with long, curved beaks that lived high in some trees on the edge of the compound where we live. Because she spent a lot of time outside with Jane passing the hours each day, she used to see these birds flying overhead and making a loud and distinctive "caw" like a crow. Lexi soon learned to "speak" to them by imitating their call.
Lexi has grown and moved to higher pursuits like walking and talking, and fortunately her bird friends have grown along with her. One set of these birds, a family, has for some reason taken up residence in our small back yard and recently hatched a baby bird behind some of the bushes lining the grass. It cannot fly yet, so it spends time walking around our yard, much to the delight of Lexi. The mother visits it regularly to feed it. She still "caws" at the birds occasionally when she hears their relatives flying overhead and calling out. But more importantly, the new bird has given her a chance to practice some of her most favorite words: "bird" and "baby." Indeed, we point out to her, the new small bird is both a bird and a baby.
"Baby" is one of Lexi's most-used words. With it and others, she's starting to figure out that words can express things and have meaning. Wherever she is, or whatever she sees, such as a magazine of Dad's, she is trying to identify the baby. She sees children walking along the street when we're out in the car and will point and say "baby." Yesterday, we received several photo Christmas cards from friends that have pictures of the parents and children - several chances to identify the "baby" in each (even if the children are beyond that stage). To experiment, I held up the back cover of a magazine showing an elderly person and waited several seconds. "Baby," Lexi said after some thought. So she's still working on her accuracy, but maybe she deserves some leeway in this case because, to her credit, she didn't know the term "elderly man" or "senior citizen" but was probably trying to think of it in those few seconds. For her, all people will just have to be "baby" for now.
Another word that she knows and uses with much greater accuracy (and an impressive amount of it, given her age, I believe) is "pretty." She's much more discriminating with this word because I thinks she has really nailed its meaning. Often when she sees a flower-print piece of clothing, she'll point and say the word. I can't even prompt her to say it by pointing out things that I think (or that she should think) are pretty. Good that she's thinking on her own now and isn't swayed by our suggestions one bit.
Other recently acquired words and terms since the last report on this topic:
* all gone
* "up above" [the world so high], the phrase from "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star," taught to her over the holidays by Stephen's mother when his parents were visiting us; she probably picked this up quickly because it has a word that she already knew: "up"
* book: This one gets her excited for her bedtime story
* "monk" (monkey)
* woof, woof: Sometimes used for dog
* Freddy: Her "baby" friend at No. 7 in our compound
* up: doubles for "open"
* cow: We haven't quite figured out what she's calling a cow or what she means by it, since she says it a lot.
Lexi has grown and moved to higher pursuits like walking and talking, and fortunately her bird friends have grown along with her. One set of these birds, a family, has for some reason taken up residence in our small back yard and recently hatched a baby bird behind some of the bushes lining the grass. It cannot fly yet, so it spends time walking around our yard, much to the delight of Lexi. The mother visits it regularly to feed it. She still "caws" at the birds occasionally when she hears their relatives flying overhead and calling out. But more importantly, the new bird has given her a chance to practice some of her most favorite words: "bird" and "baby." Indeed, we point out to her, the new small bird is both a bird and a baby.
"Baby" is one of Lexi's most-used words. With it and others, she's starting to figure out that words can express things and have meaning. Wherever she is, or whatever she sees, such as a magazine of Dad's, she is trying to identify the baby. She sees children walking along the street when we're out in the car and will point and say "baby." Yesterday, we received several photo Christmas cards from friends that have pictures of the parents and children - several chances to identify the "baby" in each (even if the children are beyond that stage). To experiment, I held up the back cover of a magazine showing an elderly person and waited several seconds. "Baby," Lexi said after some thought. So she's still working on her accuracy, but maybe she deserves some leeway in this case because, to her credit, she didn't know the term "elderly man" or "senior citizen" but was probably trying to think of it in those few seconds. For her, all people will just have to be "baby" for now.
Another word that she knows and uses with much greater accuracy (and an impressive amount of it, given her age, I believe) is "pretty." She's much more discriminating with this word because I thinks she has really nailed its meaning. Often when she sees a flower-print piece of clothing, she'll point and say the word. I can't even prompt her to say it by pointing out things that I think (or that she should think) are pretty. Good that she's thinking on her own now and isn't swayed by our suggestions one bit.
Other recently acquired words and terms since the last report on this topic:
* all gone
* "up above" [the world so high], the phrase from "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star," taught to her over the holidays by Stephen's mother when his parents were visiting us; she probably picked this up quickly because it has a word that she already knew: "up"
* book: This one gets her excited for her bedtime story
* "monk" (monkey)
* woof, woof: Sometimes used for dog
* Freddy: Her "baby" friend at No. 7 in our compound
* up: doubles for "open"
* cow: We haven't quite figured out what she's calling a cow or what she means by it, since she says it a lot.
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