Monday, June 27, 2011

Time is like a river, or is that an ocean?

In honor of Ada's birthday, I offer one of the poems she wrote recently:

The Ocean

In the ocean the jellyfish is swimming.
The ducks are in danger because the shark is there.
The turtle is happy because the water is warm.
There is three happy sea stars in the water.

-Ada
May 2011

Ada enjoying "happy birthday" sung by 3 good friends (small party; everyone got a candle

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Watch their language

A friend of Chris's likes to collect phrases he has never heard before. When he gets a good one he'll mention it to Chris. A few years ago he heard a girl in the cafeteria say to her friend "every time I barf at night..." This jumped out as something new, a phrase Greg had never run across in his prior 40-some years.

I was thinking about this phenomenon in the context of two year olds. Two year olds are amazing. For instance, Ian points at the yellow rectangle under his bowl and says: "my place mat!" Which, sure, not such a big deal, but considering that I have never heard him utter this before it feels immense. Ian and Mira are literally learning new words every day. Those of us who are not toddlers do come across words we have not known before, but not with the intensity that is a young child's language development process. The world is a fire hose aimed at them, and they stand delighted with their mouths wide open.

Father's Day
Mira's all purpose happy salutation is: "Happy Dir Day" 

Ian at the farm
Ian, after learning he can make adults insane by getting too close to a horse's back legs

Mira Stone Walking
Now talking in paragraphs, only a fraction of which is comprehensible

running to the dangerous hay loft
The day they learned to say "hay loft"

Ada, Oaks Bottom
Amazing in her own right. Did I mention she can read?