I’m continually amazed at the words and phrases little L. is picking up.

Today, she talked on the phone with my sister Worthy, and she was having a ball responding to everything Worthy was saying.  “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” she said (I’m sorry to say that she’s learned that imprecise language from me).  I know little L. associates chocolate with Worthy, because when I told her I was talking to Worthy on the phone, she said, “More chocolate?”  Worthy has sent her a couple care packages now, and they both had her (okay, mine, too!) favorite chocolates in them (from Target…Lindt Truffles…they’re to die for, so what are you waiting for?).

I know other parents have said the same thing–astounded that their children are changing daily.

Let’s see.  We’ve been home from the Ukraine for almost five months, and Liliana is entirely able to tell us how she’s feeling, what she wants from the pantry, and what she needs from us.  She’s learned that she gets a rapid response from both Mama and Papa if she says “Help, please” instead of whining.  She’s learned that all those letters in books are “A-B-Cs,” and she wants to say them as she points to them.  I’m working on sandpaper letters now.  [For those of you who might not know what Sandpaper Letters are, they’re the basic form of the letters cut out of sandpaper…for tactile stimulation…and placed on a thick board.  The child traces over the letter, while repeating the sound of it.]  I know it’s really early to be doing this with her (at 2 1/2!), but still, if she’s begging me, I’m going to teach her.  Curiosity must be satisfied for it to continue!

How exciting it must be to learn these things!  How exciting to learn that there are words on the page, and that they can be strung together to form a story!  Oh, if only I could remember that transition!

It’s wonderful how our minds work, isn’t it?

[Post image: Alphabet by spekulator on stock.xchng]