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Libro!

My little daughter surprised me by wanting to read this little book to me, in Spanish:

 

 

As a parent trying to teach my daughter Spanish in an English-dominant environment, it most often sounds like I'm the only crazy person speaking in an alien tongue.  Everyone in my kids' lives (other than their teachers in school) speak to them in English, and my kids have complained that "daddy should speak English at home, because everyone else does."

It has often been discouraging (see crazy person/alien tongue reference, above.)  Despite it all, tiny little moments have helped me keep going:  seeing my son have a brief, 10 second conversation in Spanish with my parents; hearing my kids suddenly point out random objects and use the Spanish term; and this video.

I just have to remember that it's a marathon of a process, and not a sprint, and that sometimes being the crazy person speaking in an alien tongue will pay off.  Eventually.

Butter

On an airplane flight home, our boy finally discovered that he liked butter.  REALLY liked butter.

 

First Fish!

Really proud of catching his first fish, with help from his grandma.

Happy!

I want her to stay little, smiling, and innocent forever.

Happy birthday, little one!

 

Autumn is here...

Central Park and Columbus Circle.

Summer trip: Oregon and San Francisco

It was a whirwind 12 days, but somehow we managed to see all of the family in Oregon, take a day trip to the coast and ride a steam train, and fly off to San Francisco to catch up with our good friends and visit our old haunts.  We didn't take as many photos as we should have, as we were just plain enjoying ourselves and the moment too much.  And yes, we were tempted to move back to San Francisco, kids and all.

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First album:  Oregon and Family

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Second album:  San Francisco and Friends

Teef!

For those of you how haven't seen us in a month, just wanted to share this delayed update:  baby girl has had her two bottom teeth since San Francisco!

 

Big Bambú

In lieu of the backlogged posts, summer trip photos, and back-to-school stories, I will instead devote this quarter's blog post to the awesome bamboo structure that's being constructed on top of the Met in New York.  It's a temporary installation (until October 21st) built by the Starn brothers, and quite an amazing ad-hoc art piece.

 

NOTE:  The following photos were taken by an amazing designer and my good friend, Terri. Check out more of her graphic design and writing when you get a chance at:  http://www.terrifalvey.com !

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The best part about the installation is that one can actually WALK inside it (groups of 15 at a time, gotta sign up and get a time slot early.)  The artists are there every day with their crew, adding to the piece until October 21st, when it's time to take it down.  Being able to view this thing from my office window, I had been trying to motivate myself to go before the exhibit ends and, luckily, a work activity took us there.

All I can say is, the details and moments within the spaces are amazing.  The Starn twins hired 15 non-builders, on purpose, so that there were no pre-conceptions of design and construction.  Orthogonality was something the explicitly tried to break from, and the organic form of the piece reflects their intentions well.

Here are a few more details from the piece.

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Stairs where the tour groups get to experience the installation from within:

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Forest of columns:

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Bindings:

 

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Circulating through the piece:

 

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Detail of walkway:

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Ceiling of piece from rooftop:

 
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View of piece through the Met's rooftop trellis:

  
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Looking up through the void:

 

Milestones Galore

Too much!  Too soon!  Baby girl's vocal exercises are progressing fast - she randomly utters "hola" and "dada."  And yes, "mamama" has come too.

She's a great, healthy eater, gobbling down everything Jasmine makes.  Thank you, hand blender!  Oh, and she can feed herself solids, like cereal.

She waves hello and goodbye, especially when someone vigorously waves at her first.

Remember our last post, all about her mobility?  Here is the latest video, shot tonight:

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Too much, too soon!  Meanwhile, our boy is also growing very fast.  His verbal communication, once a worry of ours, is coming in torrents.  He asks so many questions, most of it in the form of "what does that say?" and "why?"  "Why?"  "Why?"  He is still an English-dominant boy, even through my now more consistent attempts at speaking to him in Spanish.  Hope he does OK in pre-K at his Spanish immersion school.

Mobility!

Gosh, that was quick!  We got back from Costa Rica, and the week after, our little girl started sitting by herself.  A week later, she was scooting backwards while sitting.

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 A week later, the rudiments of crawling clicked.

Jasmine and I are officially tired.  More videos forthcoming!