Una Acuarela For Andrés

 

A few weeks ago we went to see a super show sponsored by our public library.  It was called Uno, Dos, Tres Con Andrés.  Sofía seems to have become encantada with Andrés (It really is difficult for many women to resist un chulo with a sweet voice; I just didn’t expect it at THREE YEARS OLD!)  We were trying out our new acuarelas (water colors) the other día and when she was finished with her obra, she proclaimed that the painting was for Andrés!  You can read our review of the show onSpanglishBaby™.  Stay Tuned for more info here about Uno, Dos, Tres Con Andrés as he is coming out with a music CD soon!

 

August Blogging Carnival on Bilingualism

The Agosto Carnival on Bilingualism has just arrived!  You can enjoy the carnival on the Best 4 Future:  Bringing up Baby Bilingual site!

Summer is coming to an end for us here and although we love the Otoño, we have really, really enjoyed the hot pool weather this year and want to sneak in a few more days!  I really shouldn’t complain because we really have warm weather until October unlike many other regions of the country but I become obsessed sometimes about children needing to be outdoors! So we have been trying to sneak in last-minute Summer actividades as we can.  Today, this included a percussion concierto at an outdoor park, riding on an old-time carrusel and feeding the baby animales!

The Sinfonía Member allowed the niños to experiment with her Xilófono.

 

And what cabrito do YOU know that won’t receive yummy pasto from a nearby hand!

 

A Language Nerdo Mamá’s Bad Parenting Habits

If we were any other parents, my husband and I would be jumping for joy to hear our daughter Sofía speaking the new language that she is learning.  But we, or the me of the “we”, is a Language Nerdo Mamá and I find myself not really rejoicing when Sofía shows off her newly learned Inglés.  Instead, I deliberately try to make it seem normal and trite so that she won’t continue to do it with me!  What horrible parenting!  But a Language Nerdo Mamá must do what a Minority Language Rearing Parent must do and STICK TO and foster THE TARGET LANGUAGE.  I’m really thrilled and amazed at how much and how quickly Sofía’s little brain picks up language and its uses and how easily she transfers knowledge from one language to the next.  (I suppose when it happened to me at that age, I didn’t really analyze the process-ja ja!) When I took Sofía to a free neighborhood Clown (Payaso) Event, someone said to us that the clown was stuck in traffic and that SHE would be here soon.  I thanked the woman and we walked to the stage area.  When we arrived and Sofía asked me something about the clown, she immediately changed genders of the clown in Español from Payaso to Payasa.  It’s amazing to witness a three-year-old’s brain transferring!  The only recording I have of Sofía speaking Inglés is this (embarrassingly small) smidgen of a clip of her singing her gato Paco to sleep. I may just win the Bad Bilingual-Parenting Award!

This post is part of the August Bilingual Carnival.  Check it out here at Best 4 Future:  Bringing Up Baby Bilingual!

La Abuela Maria y Sofia

Mi Princesa snuggles with her Abuela María and intently listens to her read Cenicienta en Español!

Morning Pajama Dance Fiesta

In addition to the Toy StoryMúsicaen Español CD, Sofía also loves her new Disney Princess CD!  She woke up this morning and dragged me to dance!  This is also her favorite song!

Where is my Café?

How long are you going to take?  I've been patiently waiting!!

 

 

The gatos bebés are everywhere--willing to help out of course. 

Rainbow Hodgepodge-of-Material Craft

We are still following the arcoíris thread in our casa! 

This actividad takes un poco of planning ahead, but is not taxing.  Inspired by a post on BilingualBabes, Sofía and I created a arcoíris, using colored pencils, on piece of sturdy construction paper.  (I had to first measure out the spaces, use pencil to connect the dots, then outline with marker and erase the pencil….uugghh!) We dug through all our craft materials and sorted them into 6 colores.  I also threw in the corresponding letters to the colores to reinforce the abecedario too!

 

The next día, Sofía glued the hodgepodge of craft materials onto her arcoíris according to colores.  She asked for more materials because she wanted to line them up very tightly to form a bold line.   I see the manzana has not fallen far from the tree!!  As you can see….the arcoíris is espectacular!  But then I’m biased! 

Toy Story Música en Español

 

Some Disney Soundtracks are now available en Español too!  (OK, some of the selection has a lot to be desired, but that isn’t important right now!)  We just recently purchased the Toy Story soundtrack which unfortunately only has 3 songs, but the fourth track is a narrated shortened version of the story which lasts about 25 minutes.  Sofía LOVES it!  The best part about it is that she listens to it before she falls asleep and it works like the Sandman!  We also bought the Sirenita disco, but haven’t listened to it yet as I am saving it as a bribe prize!  I wish I could find more stories narrated en Español !

París in Northern VA

We went to an outdoor concert at a local pabellón today and I told Sofía that I felt like we were in París! After playing with our new and old amigos for mucho tiempo, we ate lunch.  We sat outside at a Pizzería where Sofía made her own pizza!  We really enjoyed listening to the passers-by speak a plethora of different languages. 

Then we walked over and picked up café for moi and then helado from Ben and Jerry’s for Sofía.  We lounged in the plaza in front of the fountain basking in the sol and eating our treats.  The only thing person we missed to make it a día perfecto was Sofía’s amie Victoria!

¡Definativamente París in Northern VA!

Rainbow Actividades

The Rainbow torta inspired me to create some other rainbow actividades (other than eating).  Here is the first in what may be a series of Rainbow Actividades.

Copycat Arcoíris.

I gave Sofía a paper with a completed arcoíris on it and one with an outline.  She had to use her markers to color her arcoíris identical to the completed one.  It is a simple actividad, but one that helps strengthen many skills in the many areas, some of them being:  prewriting, prereading and science!

Los Felinos

Here are our Felinos minus our Gatita Sofía!  Los tres Gatos and their nicknames:  Nacho Camacho, Paco Kitty and Paca Waca.  They aren’t often all three in the same place!  Los Bebés are 5 months old!

The Dance Gene

The Rainbow Cumpleaños not only had deliciosa torta, but there was dance music!  I am convinced that hip movement in dance is genetic.  The video is short, but you get the Latino idea!

First Carrusel Ride of the Temporada

¡And it was emocionante!

Té Tradicional

Somewhere between 5 – 7 PM in Lima, Perú, people will have their Té Tradicional. I’m pretty sure that people use the term Lonche interchangeably with Té, but our Resident Expert on Peruvian Culture seemed to have misplaced that archive in his brain and can’t remember. During the Té Tradicional, light snacks or sanduchesare served (For me, it really is an entire meal because there is nothing light about all the deli, iristiblegoodies!) and then dinner is eaten later. Incidentally, before our rehearsal dinner, we brought our wedding party and out-of-town-guests to Té at El Hotel Country in Lima. (We had no idea it was going to be so extravagant! From there we then went to eat again!)

Surely motivated by some Peruvian gene, lately Sofía has wanted to have Té after her siesta.  So we drag real water with us and her Green Téset that is BPA free and real-food safe, and have our Té Tradicional on the front porch!  Sofía drinks more water during our Té Tradicional than she does all day, so it brings an extra plus in my book! 

Rainbow Torta and Cumpleaños

The first major craving I had when I was pregnant with Sofía was for cake---A yummy layer cake with creamy sweet frosting.  Those cravings were C-R-A-Z-Y!  Since then, I’ve been a big fan of good torta!  On Saturday, we attended Hannah’s Fourth Birthday Rainbow Party.  Look what they served!!!



A Rainbow Cake!  D-E-L-I-C-I-O-S-O!  You can find the recipe here if you are inspired to make your own!

25 Summer Must-Do Experiences

Yahoo and Babble posted this great article about the 25 Things Every Kid Should Experience This Summer. This was quite timly for us, because I was just thinking about how nice it would be to get back to basics of playing (not that we have vered muy far from it, but a reminder is nice.)  The funny thing about the 25 things is that I see them as so very USA cultural.  I wonder what they would be if the article were written in Colombia, México, or Francia?

Anyway….I like almost all of the ideas except for the roller blades and skateboard!

Some of the other fab ideas are chalk paintings, sprinklers, smores, camping, frisbee, star-gazing, and building a sand castle.  Check out the entire post here.

Mi Rosaliciosa!

Sofía’s amiga Siena gave her this libro for her cumpleaños and of course—it’s in Español!  It couldn’t be more fitting for my Pinkaliciosa!

We read the book over and over and over all the time! It also makes for a yummy follow-up activity. First we read the book and then we made our own pastelitos.  The recipe we used is an egg and dairy free one (we were in desperate need of a trip to the Supermercado!) Sofía loves to bake with me. 

The Sous Chef mixed the ingredientes together.

She added in the secret ingrediente.  Oops...maybe I shouldn't reveal that!

Sofía snuck in a taste!

Waiting is very difícil for Pinkaliciosa!

Taste-testing the final product. 

The victory dance!

Feliz Dia Internacional Del Gato



Foto credit:  www.patitasalaire.blogspot.com

Feria de las Flores

I’ve been to the Feria several times and it is asombroso!!  Since Sofía loves flores so much, we will definitely have to take her to Medellín one year so that she can experience it---it is like no other!

This foto (courtesy of NoticiasTeleMedellín) is of a Sillatero.  He is carrying a huge floral arrangement on his back.  The Desfile (Parade) of Silleteros is a representation of the end of slavery when slaves used to carry people on their backs instead of flores.  The Feria usually has a lot of other events going on like conciertos and cabalgatas (horse parades), but I think the Desfile of Silleteros is really the main focus (at least for me it was!)   You can check out more info about the Feria on its official website!  The Feria de las Flores runs until Agosto 12, 2012!

La Alergista: Dr. Costenbader

 

Have you ever come across a service provider of any kind (doctor, electritian, cashier, accountant) that has been so super-excelente that you just want to shout it from the montañas and tell everyone about her or him?
Well, I have and I’m going to start shouting! 

Meet my allergist!  I should say meet our allergist as Sofía and I are both patients.  I couldn’t ask for a better physician!  Dr. Costenbader is amazing!  She takes her time with us and really, really, really listens to what we have to say.  She is like a relentless investigative reporter in search of sollutions to our ailments.  She leaves no stone uncovered. Not only is she friendly and amiable, she is funny and spends a lot of time with each of us.  She is obviously super with both adults and children.   If you are in the neighborhood and need an allergist, really there is no one better than Dr. Costenbader!   You can read her professional profile on the Allergyand Asthma Care Centers website.    

Foto Credit: Allergy and Asthma Care Centers.

¡Felicidades Guatemala!

El Guatemalteco, Erick Barrondo, won first ever medal in the nations’ Olympic history hoy!  He won a ed silver in the men’s 20 kilometres walk.  What was even more fántastico were his comments afterwards!

“I hope that this medal inspires the kids at home to put down guns and knives and pick up a pair of trainers instead. If they do that, I will be the happiest guy in the world.”  Spoken like a true Olypian!

Other Latino Medal Winners: 

Cubano-Americano Ryan Lochte-swimming
Cubana Asley Gonzalez – judo
Mexicana Aida Roman – archery
Colombiano Rigoberto Uran -men's road race
Colombiano Oscar Figueroa Mosquera – weightlifting
Mexicanos German Sánchez and Ivan García -men's synchronized diving
Venezolano Ruben Limardo Gascon – fencing
Mexicana Mariana Avitia – archery
Cubano-Americano Danell Leyva –Gymnastics
Mexicanas Alejandra Orozco Loza and Paola Espinosa Synchronised Diving
Colombiana Yuri Alvear – judo
You can read the entire article and details on Fox LatinoNews.

Foto Credit:  The News Tribe

I Have It All--Do You?

Febrero 16, 2009

¡Motherhood & Profession:  Women Still Can’t Have It All!  Anne-Marie Slaughter, former (and the first) woman director of policy planning at the State Department, wrote a very “controversial” article for the Atlantic.  She addresses the myths that women tell women about balancing work and personal lives and what changes society needs to make in order to really make work environment equal for men and women.  She equates role-model women who appear to be “have it all” as being super-human.  She does comment that she realizes that her article addresses women with choices to work or not to work among other choices and that many women don’t have those kinds of options.  You can read the article HERE ---then let me know what you think!  Where do you stand?  Do you have it all?

¡Super Oceano Unidad de Actividades!

 

Need some super Oceano Actividades to enhance your Summer or Beach time fun?  Check out our post, Super Summer Study: 10 Awesome Oceano Actividades, on SpanglishBaby™.

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Foto Credit:  Oriental Trading

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