sleeping, speaking

It's amazing what some sleep and proper nourishment can do. I feel much better since Tuesday's nosedive into the abyss. I forget sometimes that my children are children and that they need attention and a soft touch. I missed Marta's "kuupidu" (this is a monthly presentation, for lack of better words, at the Waldorf School) because I was sitting at EMT for two hours getting my new smartphone. She was sad that neither of us came. We made up for it by going to her music concert at he Viljandi Music School. Maybe I am biased, but I think she has a stage presence. And she plays well, with feeling.

Anna is my little "speed demon." She rides her Like a Bike to and from preschool everyday. She doesn't want to be called "speed demon" though -- she wants to be called "princess stallion." Anna hasn't gotten the whole act under control. She's run two people off the sidewalk in the past two days. And she doesn't seem to think there's anything wrong with that! Her language is always improving. You remember that she couldn't say the letter 'k' until she was about three years old. Pink was 'pint,' milk was 'milt.' She speaks Estonian just fine, but she relies on Estonian grammar to construct her English sentences, ie. 'What this is?" (Mis see on?) But ever since our trip last October to the US, she has completely switched to communicating with me in English. It's not easy being bilingual.

Maria Leena is happy because we found the little bouncy chair that you hang in the doorway, so now she has something to do. This was also Marta's chair and Anna's chair. Her hair is coming in, it has a slight reddish tinge to it, and it seems coarser than the other girls' hair. She crawls everywhere, but still has no teeth. This is interesting because Mingo (our friends' son, who is a month older) has eight teeth and doesn't crawl. Bottomline: children develop differently. We shouldn't expect them to all develop at the same rate.