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.