The girl and I were self-checking our books out at the library, all the while she was chatting to herself. "I have eight books. I am checking them out myself! Wait! I will count them! 1-2-3-4-5, oh wait, gotta start again, 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8! Now I will put them in my bag! Hey where's my bag? Oh there it is! I'll put my books in my bag!" The whole time this stream of consciousness was going on, an Asian lady was beside us, watching the show. She finally asked, "Is she your daughter?" And I said, "Yes, she's adopted from China." And before I could get another word in edgewise, the Suz shouted out for all to hear, "MY MOM'S TEACHING ME TO SPEAK ENGLISH!!!!!"
And aren't I doing a great job.
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I got after the Suz for playing with her glasses. Her reply? "Oh, that's right! They're so expensible!"
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The boys spent part of one afternoon seeing how many times and how fast they could say "Uncle Andy's Undies." And giggling like a couple of goofballs at their attempts.
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Back when the Suz was having such a hard time learning her colors, I started her on the Signing Time videos. She loved them, of course, because they mix learning with movement and songs. So when it came time for her to learn her letters and her numbers, I was sure to put the ABC / 123 DVD on repeat and voila, she was signing and singing her facts with ease.
Fast-forward a year or two, when the Suz is learning to add. She worked very hard one day to come up with 6 + 1, with her answer being "4." Took me a long time to figure out how she could be so far off on what (to me) seemed like a pretty simple problem. And then I realized she was using her "sign language fingers" to add--in sign language, the number "6" is the middle three fingers raised on one hand. So, three fingers ("six") plus one finger equals, YOU GUESSED IT, "FOUR."
Huh. Who else but the Suz would take me down such an interesting path with math?
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I was doing a little tracking of our field trip group's outings over the past four years, and as part of that, this random conversation came up:
Me: Do you guys remember the trip to the art place where you made crafts out of scrap materials?
Boys: No.
Me: Oh, you know, you made magnets and name badges and stuff like that.
Boys: No.
Me: I stayed home with the group of little kids and you rode with your friends so-and-so, remember?
Boys: Nope.
Me: That's when your friend so-and-so got carsick and puked out the window.
Boys: OH!!! WE REMEMBER THAT TRIP!!!
Yep. Makin' memories.
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We were talking one lunchtime about the ladies we know who are pregnant. From the Suz, "When someone's fat, that means there's a baby inside!"
To which I replied, "Do NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT say that the next time we're out and about."
Which means she absolutely will.
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During piano lesson:
Me: Well, you got the notes right on that song but why'd you skip all the rests?
Campers: It saves time.
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Me: Do you guys remember the trip to the art place where you made crafts out of scrap materials?
Boys: No.
Me: Oh, you know, you made magnets and name badges and stuff like that.
Boys: No.
Me: I stayed home with the group of little kids and you rode with your friends so-and-so, remember?
Boys: Nope.
Me: That's when your friend so-and-so got carsick and puked out the window.
Boys: OH!!! WE REMEMBER THAT TRIP!!!
Yep. Makin' memories.
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We were talking one lunchtime about the ladies we know who are pregnant. From the Suz, "When someone's fat, that means there's a baby inside!"
To which I replied, "Do NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT say that the next time we're out and about."
Which means she absolutely will.
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During piano lesson:
Me: Well, you got the notes right on that song but why'd you skip all the rests?
Campers: It saves time.
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