My father flew in from Michigan today.  A short trip.  Only today and tomorrow.  My father is the most devoted doctor I've known in my life.  He spent most of his life putting his patients before his own life, his friend's lives, and his family.  I could be hurt, upset or disappointed, but I am not.  I admire my fathers passion and dedication to his patients.  So my hat goes off to you dad.

My father doesn't change much.  Every time I see him he looks like, well..."Dad."  Handsome, always in shape, confident and positive.  This time he came to see his granddaughter and boy did they have fun!  Vanessa doesn't open up to people when she meets them.  Sometimes not at all.  And most of the time, only hours and I mean HOURS of meeting them, will she open up, and even then, only a little bit.  You can imagine my surprise when I saw her opening up to my father after about 10 minutes.  It was wonderful!

She was talking and singing her ABC's and counting and jumping up and down to her favorite kids show (hi5).  But the sweetest thing I witnessed was when when she told grandpa, "baby sick."  Baby is her doll.  My father said to her, "Vanessa, do you know your grandfather is a doctor?  Here...bring me your doll, I'll fix her."  Vanessa put her doll delicately in my father's arms, as if she were a real baby, and went to her playroom and got her doctors kit.  Grandpa and granddaughter proceeded to fix whatever it was that ailed little Vanessa's doll.  Before you knew it, she was good as new!

Another sweet moment was when my father kept saying, "Vanessa, come on, let's go on a walk."  Vanessa only repeated.  "No.  Baby Sleepeen."  Finally after one of his many tries, my father succeeded in getting Vanessa to go on a walk with him.  I ran to get her shoes and her little umbrella and raincoat and off they went.  A while later, I saw them walking back up the street.  She looked very happy, and grandpa was content to have this valuable time with her. 

Throughout my life growing up I was pretty much alone.  That is for the exception of the days when I was raised my my grandmother whom I love dearly.  Mom was always in her own mental state of pain and hurt and didn't have much time for me.  Dad was always working and fixing patients (as I used to call it).  But sometimes, my father would take me outside on my sled or swing me on my swing.  Little things like that which made me feel I was not as invisible as I felt. 

One of my fondest memories of growing up was when my father noticed I had a great fear of the rain and thunderstorms.  He waited for a storm one day.  One without lightening of course, and he took me for the best walk of my life.  We jumped in the puddles and he recited "El Rinrin Renaquajo" as we walked down the streets of our little town in connecticut. To this day, rain is one of my favorite things.  And EVERY TIME it rains I think of my father. 

Last week the rainy season started here in Florida and I rain to get Vanessa's raincoat, boots and umbrella.  I wanted her to have my same experience.  She enjoyed it but not like I did. See, for me it was my chance not to be invisible.  It meant much much more than just a walk or puddle hopping.  However, she did enjoy

herself.  I could only walk for a moment because I was not well, but I said to her, "Vanessita, one day maybe you can walk with grandpa in the rain.  He is the best rain walker in the world!  Would you like that?"  She nodded her head and had this sweet expression in her big brown eyes.  Well, my dream of seeing my father walking with my little girl in the rain, came through today.  I still don't think she felt what I felt when i held my small hand to my fathers and we walked down the road under his umbrella, but her smile told me all I needed to know. 

I wanna dis  -  Translation= I want this.

Oh Maan!! -  We have no idea where she got this from because none of us say this.  I think it's from the Dora      the explorer character "Sniper." 

Guata - abuelita

O ma Gosh!  - Oh my gosh!

Me make - Means I'm cooking or, I want to cook.

I'll say "Vanessa Vamos a la iglesia ha ver tus amigas, yaaaay!"  And she will look at me with all seriousness and say, "NO!  Me casa, aqui! cook."   Which means, absolutely not mom.  I'm not going anywhere, not even to hang out with my friends.  I am staying home and making dinner."  (aaahhh what a dream daughter lol)

Whenever she does something wrong and she sees I have caught her red handed, she will look at me and say, "shhhhhh mommy, baby sleepeen."  And begins to put her finger on her lips as she continues to say, "shhh, shhhh."  This is her excuse to get out of EVERYTHING.  That her baby is sleeping.  I will say, "NO Vanessa.  That was wrong or not nice or whatever,"  and she'll turn and face me again, put her finger up to her mouth and say, "shhhhhhhhhhhhh mommy!  Baby sleepeen!!!  Shhhhhhhhh." She for some reason is smart enough and manipulative enough to know that when a baby is sleeping we should respect that above all else and be silent.  So therefore mommy now knowing her baby is asleep, (her doll), will have nothing to say and will have something else to focus on and forget the wrong thing Vanessa has just done.  Pretty smart if you ask me, as she has never been around a baby and I can't figure out how she knows we are to be silent around sleeping babies.

I do it!  -  I can do it!  Vanessa says "I do it! I do it!"  To everything.  There is nothing she says she can't do and nothing she doesn't want to do.  From the moment she was born she was like this.  Didn't want to be held and coddled all the time.  Needed her alone time.  VERY INDEPENDENT up until today.  Won't let me hold her hand crossing the street.  That is until I start reciting the "Safe" poem by Shel Silverstein, which teaches her how to cross the road.  She loves it, holds my hand is learning the poem and laughs and enjoys it and THEN crosses the street.

                                                   SAFE, by Shel Silverstein

                                                        I look to the right,

                                                        I look to the left,

                                                        Before I even,

                                                        move my feet,

                                                        No cars to the left,

                                                        No cars to the right,

                                                        I guess it's safe,

                                                        to cross the street.

            

Com on, Com on (with the 'o' pronounced as a soft a like in Spanish) - Come on, come on.

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star- She can sing the song in full.  Its the first song I used to sing her to bed since she was a little baby.  We would lay in bed and I would cuddle her and do hand motions to it.  Then later she would do the motions with me.  Now she sings it around the house.  The cutest little voice and pronunciation I've ever heard!

Ai Fi - Hi Five.  One of her favorite shows on TV.  It's two girls and two boys that make the show and they sing and dance and teach them all sorts of things dressed as characters and such.  Vanessa's favorite shows have always been those with humans and characters.  Her other favorite is the Wiggles. 

Ameecaan Ido  - The TV show, 'American Idol.'

This list can go on and on, as she is saying so much more now.  I'll continue adding on, but for now, this is where the buck stops lol.  I'm exhausted and need some sleep!

Posted by Adriana at 3:34 AM 0 comments

Labels: 2009, Vocabulary

If you look back at my post regarding the things I wanted Vanessa to learn for 2009, you will see that I wanted her to learn the alphabet, which she surprised me by learning in its entirety in about 2 weeks time.  Since that lesson was out of the way, I wanted to go ahead and teach her the numbers.  I thought I would start today.  I knew she could count from 1-4 in English and Spanish, but I wanted her to learn up to 10.

Vanessa has gotten very attached to me and so sweet.  Always kissing mommy (but not in a mush way) and wanting to hold hands and spend time together.  So this evening before bed, we turned on Dora the Explorer (one of her all time favorites). 

Dora and Boots, (Dora's monkey) were admiring the night sky when they saw a little star fall to the ground.  They quickly ran to its rescue.  The star was crying uncontrollably.  Dora and Boots sang a song to comfort the little star and soon they were all smiling and singing, "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" together. 

Dora and Boots vowed to get the little star back home to the sky.  She pulled out her map to see the way home for the little star.  On the map it showed that they would have to go over a bridge, past a big Oak tree and up a mountain to get her there. (I kept repeating bridge, tree and mountain to  Vanessa in Spanish because I want her to learn both languages). 

So Dora, Boots and the little star headed down the path to get the little star home.  But when they came to the bridge, a mean troll who lived beneath the bridge, wouldn't let them through.  The only way they could get passed him was if they would count from one to ten for the troll.  

I saw my opportunity to teach my little one how to count.  And what better motivator than her favorite cartoon?  I was about to start counting with Dora and Boots when I noticed there was a very clear third voice that chimed in with them.  I turned to look at my daughter, and there she was,  counting 1-10 with no problem.  Loud and clear.  It was unbelievable!  I couldn't believe my ears.  I had thought she only knew how to count up to 4!  I had to rewind my Tivo twice to make sure she was actually singing along with them. 

The question is "how did she learn to count?"  "When?"  She is never around other children, I hadn't started teaching it to her seriously until today.  She doesn't even go to day care or anything.  The only access she would have had to numbers may be on her cartoons.  And if that's the case, who has the nerve to say TV is bad!  It really does depend on what we watch I suppose. 

 and since I Tivo Dora the Explorer, I rewound the show to the counting spot two more times.  I was amazed!  When did she learn all this?  She has never been around other children and doesn't go to day care.  The only access to the outside world she has really had (at least an outside world that involves kids), is the television.  So there we have it, who says TV is bad?  So here I am  March 22, 09, my little girl is two years and 2 months old.  In Feb she learned the alphabet and in March she learned to count to ten! 

Now that the alphabet and the numbers are out of the way, I am going to teach her to count up to 15 and her colors as well.  In my last post a few days ago she knew blue.  Yesterday she was pointing at pinks as well, so it looks like we are on a roll.  She now knows blue and pink!  Lets see what color she learns next. 

Congratulations Mariposa!!  Mommy is so proud of you!  You are so quick to learn and so eager too!  Bless your heart.  I LOVE YOU!