Random Bits…

Little M calls baby J “little buddy.” It’s adorable to hear her say “you want to play, little buddy? Come on!” or, if he is upset, “It’s ok, little buddy, don’t be sad!”
I love her…

We have been trying to praise little M for being such a good sister…she really is doing so well, probably much better than I would do if one day a two year old came into my life and wanted all of my things, and I had to share. She is really very sweet with him, and I love watching them have fun together.
We know it has to be so hard on her, so we have been praising her a lot. Last week while we were in China, I told her she was such a good big sister, and she said “mommy, being a big sister is super hard! It is a LOT of work!”

Today she told me, after helping baby J reach a toy, “I am a GREAT big sister!”

Baby J has picked up the sign language we have taught him very quickly, and he is quite good at them…he also says whatever he is signing, so when he is done with something, he signs and says “all done.” One of the first signs we taught him was “more,” and he picked it up in a day. But when he says it, he says the chinese word for more, instead of the english word. I think this is funny (and interesting), because we never said it in chinese. We said and signed it in english, and he said it a couple times, and them changed it to Chinese.

For a special treat I bought little M some yogurt that had chocolate candies that look like m&ms. When she opened it up, and went to eat the chocolate, she exclaimed “these little m&ms don’t have the m on them! I can’t eat this candy, it’s broken!”

In speech therapy, and at home, we have been working on gender specifics, like he, she, him, her, them, they, mr., and mrs.
This is a confusing concept…a group of girls might be them or they, but a single girl would be a she, her, or mrs., or miss.
The other day we were in the car, and little M saw a deer on the side of the road in a field. I giggled when she asked “mommy! Is that a mystery or a mrs?”
It was a mystery…

On the way home from China, in our many hours of travel, little M was noticing all the “no signs.” You know, the signs that have a circle with a line through them? She would look at the picture, and say “that sign means no kids on the conveyor belt,” or ” that one means no kids pushing the trolly.”
She noticed a sign in one of the security lines that looked like a candle, and the husband told her that it was a lighter, and matches, and meant that you couldn’t bring those things on the plane. When little M asked why you couldn’t take a lighter, the husband told her they didn’t want anything that could start a fire on the plane. Little M looked at him for a moment, thinking, and then said “oh no! We forgot to pack a fireman!”
Next time I’ll remember…

All the pictures are from the playground at our hotel in Guangzhou. The kids LOVED it!