watermelons

before i forget

After a brief resurrection of our older camera, it too has bit the dust. The first one died of sand poisoning in the dunes of Maspalomas. The new/old one was struck down on the playgrounds of Tartu.

With or without imagery, the children develop anyway. Anna's vocabulary is increasing. When we left for New York a month ago, Epp and I counted that she had around 20 words -- about average for her age. Now I have no idea how many words she knows. Some new ones:

"Bop" -- for Aap, Epp's brother.

"Beepo" -- "People"

"Bee/Mummi" -- English and Estonian words for 'bee.'

"Apu" -- "Apple"

" Mimi" -- "Mimi"

And her first sentences are coming too. She says very clearly "Beebi tuttub" -- "the baby is sleeping." Today, she picked up one of Epp's books and said, "Emme boop!" -- "Emme's book."

Marta too is developing. She has a new favorite TV show that she watches everyday. It's called H20: Just Add Water, about a trio of Australian teenage girls who secretly are also mermaids.

I am really happy to promote this, because there is no violence. 90 percent of cartoons and childrens programming is violent. It's not even made for kids, it's made for the sadistic animators who create it.

Marta though is internalizing some of these girl versus boy plots into her play. She had a conversation with some rowdy boys at the playground:

Marta: What is wrong with you boys? Did you have too much sugar or something?

Martin: I don't know Margus, did you eat any sugar recently?

Margus: I didn't have any sugar, Martin, did you have any sugar?

Martin: Not that I recall.

(More rowdiness)

Marta is also very interested in reading. At the supermarket yesterday she even picked out a little magazine with Tinkerbell on the cover called "Kumake," and insisted I buy it so she could read it. I have been reading to her more as well but finding that English spelling rules (or lack thereof) complicate things. For instance, I showed her a t-shirt on which was written L O V E.

Me: Marta, what does that spell?

Marta: L - o - v - e. "Lovey" (that's how she pronounced it)

Me: Not 'lovey,' but 'love'

Marta: The why is there an 'E' there?

I am sure the E does something special, like modify the sound of the vowel, but that's hard to explain to a 5-year-old who doesn't know what a vowel is. Oh well, if I can read and write in English, I am sure Marta Maria will learn to manage as well.

An added bonus is that Anna sees Marta reading and now points at letters on peoples shirts or signs and pretends she knows what they say. She is imitating us. She can't read, obviously, but she understands the concept.

liisa's birthday

Yesterday was Liisa's fifth birthday. We actually met Liisa for the first time years ago when her parents Ott and Tiina came to visit us in Belle Harbor.


Marta and Liisa were just little girls then. Now they have a highly developed little girl language, filled with references to farting, pooping, peeing, and a mixture of all (see below).


Marta is a big girl these days in that she doesn't need/want to be watched. I followed Epp and Anna into Ott and Tiina's house in Karlova, and checked up regularly on Marta to see if she was ok. She was. She is very social and is chatting up others just like an adult, even more so.


Marta has undergone a major development in recent weeks. She can read. Not big words or even sentences, but she can read, and she is interested in learning more. All the time she is pointing out things, and even writing words on her drawings. There wasn't much writing at Liisa's birthday party though, just a lot of climbing, as you can see:

Anna really likes being surrounded by such crazy girls, and she tried to participate when she can. But she is still small, so she spent her time playing with Liisa's little brother Kaarel, who is three months younger than she is. See, Ott and Tiina and us are on the same family creation schedule.

As you can see, Anna made short work of Liisa and Kaarel's swing set. She really thought that she could climb to the top and then down the otherside. Maybe she could, if left alone, but who would want to risk finding out?

Anna has also been developing lately. Her first English words are coming. Last month, when we went to New York, she finally said English words -- "fish" and "flower." Over the past few days, she has said "bee," "honey," and today she said "people." We were sitting on the steps and I said, "Do you see the people jogging?" and she answered by saying "people" and pointing at all the people who past our house.

This made me really happy. I understand how hard it must be for her to learn two languages at the same time. But she also knows the word for "bee" in Estonian -- she says "mõmmi" short for "mesimõmm" -- so she is actually bilingual.

The strategy we used with Marta was one parent, one language. So I told her that I say "bee" and Emme says "mõmmi." Anna even said "emme mõmmi" after I told her this. Epp said that the other night she said a sentence -- "Õde tuttub" -- sister is sleeping. So far Anna has just issued commands, like "Adn! 'ua" (Justin, juua/Justin! Drink!). She always calls Marta "Õde" -- sister. She knows Marta's name, but to Anna, Marta is "sister." Kind of funny that I am the only person in our little family who she calls by name.

Before I forget, I should also tell you that Anna is expressing her knowledge of popular culture. She knows how to say "Eloise, that's me" from the theme song to the Eloise cartoons, and tonight she pointed at the room where we have our TV and said very firmly "Pippi!" I thought she was saying "baby," but when I checked the DVD player, Pippi Longstocking was already in. She must have known that Pippi was still in the player, and she wanted to use it. So I gave her Pippi, which she watches with great interest.

Kaarel also knows pop culture. He mostly keeps to himself; I think Liisa and Marta were either born in an extroverted year or older siblings are just naturally more wild and crazy. But when Kaarel dropped a little toy Teletubby, he said, "Teletupsu kukkus" -- the Teletubby fell!. Here is a picture of Kaarel. He's pretty cute.

When we left the party, Marta made sure to tease Liisa one more time. "Farewell, butt!" yelled Liisa to Marta. "Good day, fart!" Marta yelled back. I couldn't help but laugh, but Epp said it doesn't sound as endearing to a native speaker.