Make yourself understood - Alexandra - May 2018

I think she gets Ps and Bs confused. However she tries her best to make herself understood. 

She put sunshades on and kept saying Bôco, bôco. 

I couldn’t figure it out, so she tried Falfa! Falfa!

Bôco? Falfa? What is that?

“Oinc! Oinc!”

Oh! Dear! Porco! Alfafa from the cartoon Luna is s pig that wears sunshades. 

Today she couldn’t get me to understand what she wanted to say, so when my mom called I told her to tell grandma what she was saying. 

With a sigh, she started “Vó!” Wheels turning. Then she added as many words as could gather to describe her intentions. 

Talk about your day - Alexandra - July 2018

Today Alexandra was very excited telling Dad on the phone what she did throughout the day. 

Of course she says it in her own way, using words that somehow describe whatever it is she’s trying to say. 

She’s getting better and better at making real sentences with the correct grammatical structure. But her use of prepositions and conjunctions. 

Also love her way of saying “gibberish gibberish Grandpa’s truck green gibberish gibberish gibberish”. 

Yes! Uh-hum

Valeria says “uh-him when she wants to give a positive answer to a y/n question. 

Last week I asked her if she wanted something I’d given Alexandra and she replied with a teenage-like attitude, hand on waist, “uh-hum!”

Alexandra to this day doesn’t have a word or sound for “yes”. 

Words - Valeria- June 2018

She’s historical when it comes to words. 

We watched Finding Dori and they both loved Dori, so we have bought plush Dori  and Nemo at the dollar store. 

Valeria calls it Oh-wii and Emo. 

Valeria does a lot of last syllables or just st cutting off the first consonant. Ah-woo for carro. 

She also loves singing along - the very last syllable of each verse. She does it with Jesus Loves Me (in both languages), and today did it with the Alexandra song. 

However she has words like “Saussie” for sausage. And she has plenty of full words. 

Cocó is chicken. Kiki is cat. Bubu is for pacifier. For more she signs. 

Água is perfect. Abi (abre) was one of her firsts. She can say Alexandra in a very cute way. “Axanda” I  think. 

Mamãe and daddy are the cutest things when coming out of her mouth

Faces - Valeria - June 2018

So Valeria has such amazing facial expressions! More than Alexandra ever had. 

Alexandra was always one of two things - smiling or focused/bewildered. 

Valeria has intense feelings showing. She frowns and shows anger or disapproval at you when you do something against her will. 

She makes a concerned face and says some gibberish either with her arms wide open or a pat on your back as if comforting you. 

When she is happy she will give you the most fantastic truthful smile. 

Puzzles - Alexandra- June 2018

Alexandra has been into puzzles for a couple of months now. 

Mom and I got her small 12-piecers with Minnie Mouse themes. 

And everyday I showed her a little bit how to solve them. 

“Here’s a part of her ear, can you find the other part?”

Eventually she wanted to try matching the pieces without help. It was very fun to watch her trying to figure out what went with what. And this past week she solved all 4 puzzles we got her - one at a time then eventually 3 at the same time - without any help. 

13 months later

I know I have not written anything in 13 months. Life got busy beyond what I could handle - I felt like was drowning most of the time; the app I used to type my blogs got buggy and wouldn’t work anymore, and I couldn’t find the time to look for one that worked; my computer time was reduced to when the girls were asleep or somehow accounted for and I wasn’t falling asleep, so usually I prioritized things like bill pay and other budget needs, which means I never really opened blogger; finally, I was in a dark place in my personal life ... well, still am, but this blog isn’t about my personal life. These were all the excuses that made me stay away from writing about my girls and keep travk of milestones. That does upset me greatly, but I was in survival mode and just hoping to make through the day keeping everyone alive and well. 

I enjoyed each second of every moment, don’t get me wrong. I just didn’t register them in writing with dates, the way I should have. 

So I’ll try to make up for it now as I review old videos and photos. 

Alexandra is 2yrs 8 mos. Valeria is 1yr 7 mo. 

Alexandra and Valeria are both developing beautifully and do not cease to amaze us with new skills they seem to acquire almost by the minute. 

Every new accomplishment is a little bittersweet. We cheer with the newly-acquired skill, but know that means some other cuteness is gone forever. 

See it’s a funny thing that we all wish those moments lasted forever, but if they did we’d all be wondering what’s wrong with our children. “They’re not developing!”

Anyway, this is it for explaining. Next few posts will be about the events themselves.