Explosion

Hello again!

If you were thinking that the title of this post refers to the state of our new place, you are not too far off! We just moved in last Thursday and there are still a few doors that we keep shut so that we don't have to witness the disaster.


But this post is actually just a jot and tittle to journal a different kind of explosion in our home: a language explosion.

I have always associated language explosions with 2 year olds, but at 15 months Gigi is taking off. It is so fun to hear her mimic the words we say, and give her own spin to verbal language. This is what we have heard so far. She will often parrot words we say, but I have only listed the ones we have heard repeatedly and in context.

In Portuguese...

Papai: Daddy
Mamãe: Mommy
Mais: more
Nariz: ("Na-NI!) nose
Agua: ("A-ua") water
Acabou: ("A-ba-bo!") all done, finished
Lua: moon
Luz: light

Achou!: found! (the Brazilian version of peek-a-boo)

In English...

Bye-bye
Hi
Yay!
No
Hot
Up
Wow
Banana ("Nana")
Thank you ("Ta-ku")
Wow-wow
Amen!
Babas (Mama's boobies)

In American Sign Language...

Milk
More
All done
Thank you
Dog

Things she understands:

Piko (Hawaiian for bellybutton)
Senta (Portuguese for sit down)
Da pra...: give this to...
Dance, Danca
Tutu (Hawaiian for grandma - my mom)

Things Marcos thinks she understands:

Nappy (what we call her diapers)
Blankie
Cadê (Portuguese for "where?")
Olha (Portuguese for "look")
Venha (Portuguese for "come")
Lá fora (Portuguese for "outside")

So, at the expense of some early confusion, we have started with both English and Portuguese at home. I find that my Portuguese level at this point still exceeds Giovanna's (not for long, I'm sure), so I catch myself speaking Portuguese with her more than English. Hmm. I didn't plan for that.

And the only downside to this language acquisition?

With language comes rudimentary thought
With thought comes opinions
With opinions comes preferences
With preference comes disappointment
With disappointment comes some rather unhappy toddler behavior...

All {great} things must come to an end

Today was my first day back at work after the super-Utah-vacation, and the first time ever that I didn't take my pump with me. For all of the things that have gone right during these past 14+ months of mothering, breastfeeding has been one of the very best, and the very most rewarding for me. I have loved my time with my little girl, to stroke her face and hair, to hum songs for her, and for the time breastfeeding gave me to stop, and think, and just be present with my child.


I approached breastfeeding like I approached labor and most other things parent-related: "let's hope for the best but not be too set on a certain outcome" (this is how I avoid most guilt and disappointment in my life), but I remember distinctly that after 10 days of real touch and go, I felt like we were going to make it. Then, when Gigi was four months old and I started working half-time, I made the goal of breastfeeding her exclusively until she was a year old (thank you office door for allowing me the privacy to pump at work!), and well... we just didn't know how to stop. Here we are at 14+ months and we have phased out until all that is left of me is snuggles. I owe a great shout out to Gigi and to my breasts for providing nothing but 100% Häagen-Dazs for this little girl. It's been real.


Now that the chapter of having exclusive time between me and Gigi is finished, I will have to learn how to be fun.

Almost home (and oh! we left!)

I have been so R.U.D.E. I took off with my family to Utah for two weeks for a wedding, and didn't even bother to mention that I was ducking out. Please forgive me.

We have been doing a little thising and thating, and we will be home tomorrow to tell you all about it. But I can't promise that writing travelogues will win the arm wrestle between us packing up house to move in the next week, painting the bathrooms in the new place we are renting, welcoming my mom to North Carolina, and catching up on all of the work we have missed.

But I will try. It has definitely been a trip worth writing about!

Snippity Snip Snip!

Well, I did it. I finally cut some bangs on Giovanna a few weeks ago! The situation was becoming critical because she wouldn't leave her barrettes in her hair, and her bangs were so long they were down to her chin. It was very scary to do it only armed with information gained from watching youtube videos, but I had seen enough of them to know that all you really needed was a spray bottle, a decent pair of hair cutting scissors and a comb, and a lollipop.


A few days later at Hillsborough Hog Days, a local event that features a bar-b-que cook-off. These bangs are great for hot summers in the South.


And even better for covering up the various bruises she gets on her forehead, from trying to walk through walls. This girl...

Lap Sitter

Next week we take off to Utah for my sister Amanda's wedding (hooray!), and I have been thinking about how to keep Giovanna occupied and happy during our flights. Finally I had this brilliant idea: Before we board the plane I can recruit women in the waiting area to sign up for a rotation. One after another each woman will take Gigi for fifteen minutes or so and let her rummage through their bags. Gigi would be totally content investigating the contents of these many purses, the other passengers will be relieved because she won't be crying, and the airplane will be full of mutual happiness and satisfaction.


But for some reason I just can't see it happening. So I thought of Plan B: Mary Poppin's magical bag. What do you think? I could bring along a lot of toys and snacks, and if I run out of energy to keep pulling things out, I can just drop Gigi in and call it good. Bonus feature? The bag is dark inside, and might even lull her into taking a nap.

No?

Okay... Plan C: I bring 1 (one) bag and try to bring the very best of novel toys, and the very tastiest of snacks, and pray really, really hard that she will behave. Or, at least that she will not cry (too much). And this is where you come along: do any of you have some winning entertainment ideas? I have starting putting some toys aside, and we will have Marcos' smart phone with some sesame street songs for when we have really had it, but I could use some help with brainstorming. If you have ever traveled with a 1-ish year old who needed to sit for longer periods of time than usual, and something worked, please share (maybe ideas from Sacrament meetings?)! Gigi is a good, usually happy girl, but she likes roaming, and she is little and can't sustain attention for an extremely long amount of time. Thanks for considering!

Plan D: In an emergency situation adopt the mantra "These people hate me but I will never see them again in my life. These people hate me but I will never see them again in my life..."

Acts of Faith

I love being part of a bookclub. I love connecting with my peers and talking about subjects that would not come up in ordinary everyday conversation. And I particularly love that I have been exposed to literature I would never have found on my own. Some of the books we have read are from the fiction section, and some are from the non-fiction section of the library. I think that the ones I have loved the most were the beautifully written books from the non-fiction section of the library, because they are gorgeous to read and they move me the most toward action.

Welcome to "Acts of Faith", by Eboo Patel. This one is a total winner (nice pick, Kristine!), and since I've been racing to finish it this past week and it has been consuming my thoughts and my spare time, I thought I would tell you a little about it.


In a very small nutshell, Acts of Faith is the story of an American Muslim who tells the story of his life and search for religious identity, a movement for interfaith service amongst youth and young adults, and his founding of a worldwide grassroots organization dedicated to the cause of interfaith youth service. His basic thesis, which weaves throughout his biographical story in sketches, is that our faith communities are failing our young people. We need to pay attention to the search for religious and spiritual identity that young people often experience as they step into the wider world, and help them to place their faith in the context of cooperation with other religions towards common positive ends, so that spiritually seeking young people are not attracted instead to the well-funded extremest religious circles that turn young people into suicide bombers, and shooters, and people who commit acts of hatred while claiming to work in the name of God. Eboo Patel provides sketches of young men from Muslim, Christian, Jewish and Hindu communities who led relatively normal lives until at peak times in their search for religious identity, were brought under the tutelage and care of the wrong people. These wrong people taught these young men to feel humiliated and unjustly dealt with by those from another faith, and they elevated the work of killing and made it holy. Eboo's work is to bring young people together, find common values, such as hospitality, or compassion, and put the youth to work side by side on projects that complement their shared values. His organization helps the youth to identify with their prospective religions by asking them to share examples from their holy texts or scriptures that illustrate their common values.

The final chapter of the book is my favorite. I've written out a few of my favorite paragraphs just because I loved them.

This first one is about April, who was a Evangelical Christian with a lot of energy for Social Justice, whom Eboo and Jeff were trying to recruit to work for their grassroots organization:

"After hearing Jeff talk about the Interfaith Youth Core, a space that connected faith, social justice, and diversity, [April] jumped at the chance to get involved. Her problem in the campus-based Christian group had been appearing not Christian enough as a result of her attempt to reach out to Muslims (a local mosque had burned down and she had suggested that the Evangelical group help them rebuild). Now she was worried that she would appear to be too Christian because she firmly believed that Christianity was a uniquely true religion and that Jesus was Lord and Savior. She confessed that worry during our initial interview. 'I have the deepest respect for your faith, ' I told her. 'I sure hope you think it's true, because otherwise there would be no reason to stay committed to it. I think my religion is true, too. So let's make a deal. We can both believe our religions are true, we can even privately hope the other converts, and we can work together in this organization to serve others. In that way, we, an Evangelical Christian and a devoted Muslim, can model what we say this organization is about: people from very different faith backgrounds finding common purpose in helping others.'

This next bit is about the logistics of starting the Interfaith Youth Core and the challenge of sharing his vision with religious leaders from the Chicago area, from whom Eboo would need support if he wanted his organization to become a reality.

"The first challenge was to get religious leaders on board...

A senior person at the Archdiocese of Chicago put it like this: 'I love the idea of interfaith cooperation. We certainly need more of that in this world. But my primary concern is that Catholic kids become better Catholics. I want them to know more about the Catholic tradition and to be more active in Catholic practices and institutions. Look, I think my religion has the banquet. I agree that all religions are holy and have something to offer, but I think Catholicism has the feast.'...

'I totally understand your position,' I told him. 'The truth is, most religious people feel that way. I certainly believe that Islam has something unique and powerful that holds my allegiance, and I believe one of my most important responsibilities as a Muslim is passing down my tradition to the next generation.' I saw him easing a little bit in his chair. By proclaiming our strong commitment to our respective faiths, even intimating that we believed what we each had was superior, we had cleared the way for an honest conversation. Neither of us was offended by the other's faith commitment. To the contrary, it had created a common bond - two men of deep but different faiths talking about religious cooperation."

So, after you have burned through the romance novels at the beach this summer and are looking for something with a bit of meat, find Acts of Faith! Even if you are not part of a religious community, it is an inspiring and worthy read.

Because I was busy on Mother's Day...

Gigi, I love you.


Thank you for making my transition into motherhood so seamless. I waited ten extra days for you, and you were very much worth the wait. You came on your own timing and over a few days, slow and steady, until Papai finally caught you in the hospital room after an exciting half-hour of pushing. I had dreamed about you and about your hair, and there you were: my little Eskimo child.


The first thing I learned about you was that you were strong and trustworthy. As a new mama on day one, I was afraid that I would not be able to protect you and keep you safe and alive, but you quickly taught me that I had no reason to worry. Although you were small, you were resilient. You came with a strong will to thrive.


And then came the real treat: you were easy too! You have been such a happy, friendly girl, and you attract love wherever you go. I feel like I take you everywhere with me, not because I don't trust you to other people's care, but simply because I love being in your presence. You are the best thing I have ever made, and my best offering to the world.


And can I love you even more because I see myself in you? You are fiercely independent, just like your mama, and it makes me hope that one day you will run with all of the ways that independence can serve you, and leave behind all of the ways that independence can hinder you. I am still working on this balance, and I hope you will learn to be better and wiser than me.


And no doubt more beautiful...


...and more silly.


So, thank you for being my first baby, and my happiness this past year. I never tire of hugging you, and planting kisses on your cheeks. In fact, I think I will have to learn how to sit on my hands so as not to overwhelm you with my love.


Gigi, I love you.

xoxo your Mama

1st Year Photos by Rebecca at Darling Art Photography

At the Drawing Board

As June 30 approaches, our life seems to be back to the drawing board again. I feel like our big decisions generally have an expiration date of about a year, and then we are back to square one: whether to renew our lease, how to arrange our work, how to proceed with higher education, what to do about child care... (are we ever going to grow out of this phase?)

Luckily, one of the blessings of life is that we are on a "choose your own adventure" story that has the added benefit of never showing what things would have been like had we chosen a different door to open. We can make guesses, and some people get stuck in "what if...?" and "if only...", but I believe that if we are flexible, fairly well-balanced and positive people, then the educated and inspired decisions we make in good faith will become the right option for us.


One of the expiration dates coming up is our current lease. But hooray, we found ourselves a cute townhouse to rent for the next year! It doesn't look like much from the outside, but we are excited to have a bigger kitchen, copious windows and natural light, and a little more room for our visitors. And "townhouse" has the word "house" in it, so by most estimations we are one step closer to being established in the world.

I am preparing myself for a great year.