Black-Eyed Monkey *Updated Again*

Lucy is a climber.  Not the occasional climb on something to explore, she climbs on anything and everything.  Our kitchen chairs have taken up a permanent place on top of the table for the mer fact that she will use the chairs to climb on top of the table.

This afternoon I caught her trying to climb out of her crib after her nap.  Mind you, she may be 15 months old but the size that Olivia was at 9 months.  She's too little to be doing this sort of thing.

At snack time today I strapped Lucy into her high chair.  I always use straps.  I was standing right next to her when she wiggled her way out, stood up and tumbled onto the tile floor below.  She quickly calmed down to reveal a bloody tongue and the start to a black-eye.  Lovely!

The start of a black-eye

She will be my child who ends up with broken bones and stitches.

How is her eye looking a few hours (first photos are a few minutes) after her fall?

Yep, I'm expecting it to be black and blue tomorrow morning.

Saturday morning:

It's actually not as dark as I thought it would be, thankfully.  Hopefully it doesn't progress any further.

Lucy's black eye is finally starting to turn that yellow/green color.  You can see how big it actually got.   Thankfully it didn't end up as dark as I thought.

Happy Chinese New Year!

This year I am focusing on making some fun family traditions & memories and with that why not celebrate Chinese New Year!

I made some felt fortune cookies last month that I've been so excited to use.  But with being sick I completely forgot to pick up some Hershey Kisses to put in the middle.  So we didn't use them.

I wanted to see what they would look like filled so I stuffed them with tissues.  Lucy quickly thought it would be fun to empty them.  At least they got a little use out of them until next year. 

Our decorations:  The girls have loved looking at the dragon above the table all day.

Chinese New Year wouldn't be complete without the children opening Red Envelopes.  Olivia was excited to see that it held money.

Dinner of course was Chinese food.  Olivia loves using Chopsticks and these made it super easy for her.  If you look closely they look like giant clothes pins.  Genius idea!

Lucy wanted to have a try with chopsticks too.

Children learning a Foreign Language in FS

Recently in a FS Blog Round up the topic was on learning the language.  I had asked one of my FS contacts this same question several months ago and want to share her reply.  Not just to be helpful for someone who is going through the same search as I, but also so I have a place to refer back to what I learned.

My question for her:

I've been thinking about learning languages at each post.  I know from your blog that your husband spoke Spanish prior to the FS.  So I assume that you probably didn't get to go through the training programs in DC to learn Spanish.  How much were you able to learn while living in South America?

I have kind a similar situation.  My husband is fluent in Spanish.  It's actually his native language.  I would hope that if this all works out for us that our first post would be somewhere that speaks Spanish.  I want desperately to learn Spanish as well as my two daughters.  My in-laws speak little English so it would be great to converse with them and have my girls be bilingual.  I figure that since my husband is fluent he wouldn't need the language training and I wouldn't have the chance to go through any programs either.  What kinds of options did you have to learn Spanish other than Rosetta Stone (that is what most people seem to mention on their blogs)?

Did your boys pick up Spanish pretty easy?  What are you doing to keep them from losing it?

Her Reply:

I did not speak any Spanish before we went to our first post.  But, just before we left I took a class at night through a university in DC.  Then, when we arrived, I had a private tutor and then later I was in a class with one other student.  Also, we had a live-in maid so that helped with my Spanish.  It was hard because I had a baby and didn't socialize much with other locals, but having the tutor was the best thing we ever did.  The Embassy offered language classes for spouses, but for only a couple of hours a week...and that's just not enough.  My Spanish is pretty good.  I have a reasonably large vocabulary and I can usually understand what is being said and/or get my point across.  My subjunctive usage is pretty poor and I don't always conjugate properly in the past tense, but I feel very comfortable conversing in Spanish. 

The kids are another story.  They are only 4 and 2 and have spent their entire lives, except for the last 4 months, in Spanish speaking countries.  We had them in Spanish preschool and now my oldest goes to a bilingual school and my youngest has a babysitter who only speaks Spanish.  We also try to speak Spanish at home as much as we can and we have them watch television in Spanish and read stories in Spanish.  You have to be vigilant though, because it is so easy just to revert to English.  We do know lots of FS families who have bilingual kids and kids who speak nothing but English.  It is clearly a choice for those families.  We choose bilingualism, but that is not common.  And, if you want them to learn, they will.  Their minds are so agile, it is amazing to watch them go from one language to two right before your very eyes.  Having said that, we will be in China in 1.5 years, so we'll see what happens then.  Our plan is to send the kids to Chinese schools and for my husband to speak Spanish exclusively to them and for them to get English from me and the other Americans we will interact with.  I want them to keep their Spanish, but I also know that Chinese is more important for them to have in the long run.  I'll let you know how it goes in a couple of years.

Groundhog Day

Today is Groundhog Day.  I know some people who say that it really isn't a holiday, but for children it is a fun day.  It was actually a day that I looked forward to as a child so naturally I planned some activities for my girls to do.

I wasn't about to let our colds get in the way today. (We've all been sick!)  We started off watching this year's prediction from the Groundhog celebration in Punxsutawney Pennsylvania.

What did the Groundhog predict today?

An early Spring!  This has been a long and COLD winter.  I don't remember this many days being below freezing.  It's another cold day today so hopefully he's right.

We have several Groundhog Day books that we enjoy reading or listening to on CD.  We made it through most of the books.

Then a craft.  Last year we made Banana Groundhogs and this year we made a Groundhog coming up out of his burrow.

Olivia and Lucy working on their puppets.  This is our new school room that I just finished putting together last week.

Olivia with her puppet.  There is a craft stick that moves the groundhog up and down in the cup.

For my foreign friends you might be asking what Groundhog Day is.  This is what Wikipedia says:

Groundhog Day is a holiday celebrated on February 2 in the United States and Canada. According to folklore, if it is cloudy when a groundhog emerges from its burrow on this day, it will leave the burrow, signifying that winter will soon end. If it is sunny, the groundhog will supposedly see its shadow and retreat back into its burrow, and winter will continue for six more weeks.


The largest Groundhog Day celebration is held in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. Groundhog Day, already a widely recognized and popular tradition, received worldwide attention as a result of the 1993 film of the same name, Groundhog Day, which was set in Punxsutawney and featured Punxsutawney Phil. (the name of the groundhog).


The holiday, which began as a Pennsylvania German custom in southeastern and central Pennsylvania in the 18th and 19th centuries, has its origins in ancient European weather lore, wherein a badger or sacred bear is the prognosticator as opposed to a groundhog. The holiday also bears some similarities to the medieval Catholic holiday of Candlemas. It also bears similarities to the Pagan festival of Imbolc, the seasonal turning point of the Celtic calendar, which is celebrated on February 1 and also involves weather prognostication and to St. Swithun's Day in July.

15 months

Lucy is 15 months old

At her well baby check at the doctor's yesterday she is:


Length:  29.5 inches  22%
Weight: 19 lbs 2 oz  4% (This means she is still technically too small to be turned around in the car)
Head Circumference: 44.25 cm 9%

She is certainly a small baby but healthy and developing normally.

She loves bananas, chocolate, and macaroni & cheese.

Favorite animal are still dogs. But also loves to watch the birds in the morning outside our window.

She signs finished, drink, please, eat, and more.

Loves to play with Olivia and tries to act just like her.