Little Bits of Random

So it's been awfully quiet around here - as quiet as it gets with a 3-year-old Shrieking Eel in residence, that is! Anita et al left on Monday, and Terry did too - he's in Vlorë for 10 days. We'll be joining him later this week. I decided the kids and I should stay in Tirana for a few days to relax at home before another trip. So far I think I made the right decision.

Gabriel is standing unsupported for longer and longer periods of time! He's up to about 30 seconds, I think. It's very exciting! The first day he really stood on his own was May 29, Sunday, in Durrës.

Valerie has about 20-30 angry red welts on her arms and feet from mosquito bites. Gabriel only got two! One on his hand and one on his forehead, and neither reacted the way Valerie's have - dime-sized red circles. She was looking at them yesterday and remarked "Got red spots on arms."

I introduced a new story into our repertoire - the Three Little Pigs. It totally cracks me up every time I say the iconic line, "not by the hairs on my chinny-chin-chin," Valerie responds "Pigs not go buy hair!" (It's very clear to me that she means BUY because "go buy" is the phrase she always uses for shopping.) She laughs too, not sure if it's because I'm laughing or because the idea of buying hair is funny to her!

I've started spelling out words very intentionally with her, using some alphabet cards Anita gave us. I figured she knows the alphabet backwards and forwards (quite literally)* so she is perfectly capable of memorizing how to spell her own name. Mostly I'm focusing on Val, Mama, Dada, Babi (she calls Terry Babi often), and some other simple words (dog, cat, sun, etc.). It's fun!

Anita also brought her a couple jigsaw puzzles and she's getting quite good at putting them together! They are 25 pieces and labeled for ages 3-7. One is of dinosaurs and one of balls and other sports gear (like baseball bat and glove, etc.). She refers to some of the pieces as "cats" and some as "dogs," depending on their shape, and to the wavy line of the puzzle's edge as a "river." When a "cat" piece (an edge piece with one bump, opposite the flat side) goes along the top edge, she says "cat hanging upside down."

And not to ignore little G - he's getting increasingly vocal and will "chatter" on and on about only he knows what! When he's very interested in or curious about something he will stare at it and say "Ta! Ta!" He calls me "Mama" and makes a "bababababa" sound with his fist against his open mouth. I should probably start working on baby sign language with him soon. I can't believe we are one month and one week away from his FIRST BIRTHDAY!!!!

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*I've seen her stack the cards from Z to A, in the correct order, starting with the Z on the bottom and working backwards through the alphabet to A. I've also seen her correctly name letters through a glass window, painted on the other side, that were backwards and lower-case!