I know, it's been almost four months since I last wrote. A longer update is coming up- I promise.
In the meantime, here's a gem from the almost four-year old this morning:
"Mom, you need to accessorize." Which is priceless coming from a kid whose idea of fashion is matching blue and white polka dots with multi-colored stripes.
One of the things we were most worried about when we moved back to Singapore was Sophie's (in)ability to pick up Chinese. Jude and I speak the language well enough I suppose but it doesn't come naturally to us, which means between just talking to Sophie in English and having to first translate whatever we want to say in Chinese in our heads before then saying it to her, we've always taken the easy way out. Also, people say your mother tongue is the language in which you dream and my dreams have never been in any other language but English (can you subtitle a dream? Freud? Christopher Nolan?).
But thankfully, Sophie's preschool has an excellent Chinese language programme (into which they're constantly researching and re-evaluating, which makes the education geek in me so happy). She also has great Chinese teachers who have been the paragon of patience when it comes to exposing Sophie to the language. They understand that she had almost zero exposure to the language before her third birthday and are taking things slow with her; but they also practice the principle that the only way to learn a language *is* to be saturated in it and so they speak to her almost exclusively in Chinese, necessitating that she learns to understand what they're saying to her.
Sophie's been a quick learner of the sounds of the language-- she can repeat phrases and even complete songs almost pitch perfectly. But for a long time, she had no idea what they mean. A month ago though, she started asking me what certain words in Chinese mean, words she hears often in school or that appear in stories that are read to her- 蝴蝶 (butterfly), 一起 (together), 朋友 (friend), for example and I was more than happy to translate them for her and then ask her again the next day to see if she remembers. Sometimes she does, often she doesn't, but the fact is that she's interested and that's more than we can ask for.
Then last week, her Chinese teacher tells me that they're starting to teach the kids how to recognize Chinese characters and sent home a little game for us to play with Sophie (her first homework assignment!!). She didn't yet have to be able to identify each word but the objective was just to familiarize her with them. Basically, we were supposed to place four Chinese characters on a grid and systematically take one away in turn, and see if Sophie can identify the one that's missing. The four words were:
口 (mouth)
人 (people)
小 (small)
大 (big)
Since Chinese characters are fundamentally pictograms, I told Sophie to look at the words and pretend that they're pictures-- the character for "mouth" looks like a mouth open wide, "people" is a person walking, "small" is like a small, skinny person standing straight, and "big" is a bigger person standing with his/her arms and legs stretched open. And it went BRILLIANTLY. I almost couldn't believe it. In 10 minutes, our child who until 6 months ago heard no word of Chinese (except on Ni-Hao Kai Lan on Nick Jr.) could not only pick out the right word when prompted, she could also produce the sound when I asked. I thought my heart would burst from sheer pride.
Jude and I take hope from this NYT article which we talk about all the time to our friends in similar situations, with children learning what is essentially for Sophie, a foreign language. It talks about how a foreign correspondent for the NYT basically transplanted his entire family from Brooklyn, NY to Moscow and enrolled his children in a Russian-only elementary school. The kids had to learn everything in Russian, a language they had never heard before. It was pure torture. But after five years in Moscow, the children not only spoke fluent, flawless Russian, but also developed a deep love and appreciation for the Russian life and culture. We can only hope the same for Sophie...
[When she woke up from her nap and came downstairs to see that we had taken down all the posters from the wall and that we had dismantled her lemonade stand] Oh wow, it looks so different!
I will help pack my kitchen set, and my books, and also my work table. But I cannot do the work table by myself. It is too heavy. It is a Dada job.
[As we're sorting through her books and deciding which ones to bring with us first and which ones to go with the movers] I think "10 Little Rubber Ducks" will go on the ship. They can swim if they fall off the ship.
I know what- I have a great idea! Let's bring my dinosaurs to Singapore too! Then Mr. Triceratops can see the Merlion spit the water out!
[When we ask her if she's going to miss her friends and teachers at Gretchen's House] No. Because they will come with me to Singapore. And they will sleep in my Singapore school.
I am happy to go to Singapore. But also a little bit sad. [When we ask why she's a little bit sad...] Because I'm not a lot sad.
It all started when we received this adorable personalized plate in the mail last week- a surprise present from my sister, Sherri, which has gotten Sophie really excited about mealtimes ever since :) It not only has her name on it, the picture of the little girl with two ponytails looks a little like her too, which of course, thrills Sophie to no end. She's been wanting to eat everything off that plate, including noodle soup and I had to tell her no, but place a couple pieces of popcorn on it just to placate her.
"This is my S for Sophie plate!"
The other thing the plate has inspired is an interest in the alphabet. When I told Sophie that the word on the plate spells "Sophie," she asked, "What else the letters say?" which got me really excited :) She was showing an interest in reading and learning her letters and I was more than happy to jump in! I explained to her that 'S' is Sophie's special letter because that's the first letter of her name.
Now, it's the one letter she can confidently identify- "S for Sophie!" she would shout, whenever she sees the letter. Like when we were walking towards our neighbourhood grocery store, Busch's yesterday- Sophie saw the two large 'S's on the sign and practically yelled to the entire parking lot- "Two 'S's for Sophie! There are two 'S's for Sophie!" Or when we were reading the book, Spring is Here: A Story About Seeds that she got from school- she was almost delirious with joy :) I think it helps that she thinks the letter looks like a snake and a worm so it's easy for her to remember. We also put a star sticker on the 'S' of a used keyboard she plays with so she easily identifies it whenever she "send(s) Gong Gong (my dad) an email"...
So far, apart from 'S', she can often also identify 'O' and 'P'- 'O' simply because once you mimic the shape with your mouth, it's a pretty easy one, and 'P' because I told her 'P' is for Payton, her best friend at school. I also said 'P' looks like a magnifying glass (I mean, it sort of does, no?) so that helps her a little too. These days, whenever we look at the title of whatever book we're reading, I'll ask her to find 'S', 'O', and 'P'. It's been a fun little game and I'm hoping it helps her slowly learn the other letters of her name. I'm in no hurry for her to grasp the entire alphabet-- she'll get there eventually-- but I think it's been quite the special thing for her to understand that these disparate symbols come together to spell her name.
All this, because of a plate. Thanks, 姨姨二二＊!
＊This is what Sophie calls my sister, Sherri: 姨(aunt); 二(two/second)
Lately, Sophie has been keenly interested in her birth story and things that happened when she "was just a teeny tiny baby". "Can you tell me the story of when I was born, Mama?" she would ask, or we'd have to go through photos of her first year for the umpteenth time where I'd describe to her the story behind every photo exactly as I had already did the day before. And as a result, she can now tell us what she calls her "baby stories"; and even more funny, she talks about them as if she actually remembers these things happening. She's internalized everything we've told her to the point that they've become almost like real memories to her.
Sonic Youth @ Royal Oak
Example 1: We went to watch Sonic Youth in concert when I was 7 months pregnant. They were amazing but we had to leave early because Sophie started kicking me so hard mid-way through. We think she might have been bothered by the sheer volume of the music.
Sophie's version: "Remember when I was still in Mama's belly? You went to watch a concert and the music was too loud! I kicked Mama so hard. I'm sorry I hurt you, Mama. But the music was really loud!"
Example 2: I've lost count how many times I've told her our birth story (the abridged version, at least), particularly the parts involving being woken up by contractions, calling our mothers, and the whole pushing her out bit.
Sophie's version: "Remember when Sophie was born, Mama was sleeping and Sophie woke her up because I was kicking and kicking." "You call Grandma and Por Por and said, "Sophie is coming! Sophie is coming!""Mama push and she push, and she push, and then I pop out!"
30 seconds in our world
Example 3: Sophie was born 3 weeks early and weighed 5lbs 12oz (2.6kg). She was a really tiny baby and the nurses and doctors ended up calling her Peanut because of her size.
Sophie's version: "Remember, when Sophie was born, the doctors and nurses call me Peanut because I was a teeny tiny baby!"
First bath at the hospital
Example 4: Sophie was not a happy camper when the nurse gave her her first bath the day after she was born. In fact, it was then that we knew we have a screamer on our hands...
Sophie's version: "When Sophie was a baby, I didn't want to take a bath. Remember, I cried so loud."
The Threadless t-shirt that Sophie wore to school today
At snack today, Sophie was trying to explain to all her friends about her shirt. She said, "The dinosaur is using the bus as a rollerskate and the people are all falling out." Payton said, "Oooo, that's scary." Sophie just looked at Payton and said, "It's not scary, Payton. It's funny." I think maybe Sophie was annoyed that her friends didn't "get" her shirt :) I get it, though, and I think it's hilarious!"
This morning , as we were driving across Huron River/Gallup Park where we were at last week, Sophie noticed that the river is now frozen. Which then motivated this conversation:
Sophie: Mama, look- the river is frozen!
Me: Yes it is Sophie. Because it's really cold.
Sophie: Where did the ducks go?
Me: Where do you think they went? Do you think they're still in the river?
Sophie: No, it's too cold for them. They went somewhere where it's warmer.
Me: That's right. Maybe somewhere down south.
(after a couple of minutes of silence...)
Sophie: Our car is warmer. The ducks can fly here. One duck can sit here, and one can sit in front with you. And one duck can sit on Dada's lap. And one can sit here with me. Ok? That's a very special idea I think.
Sophie: Mama, do you love me?
Me: Of course I do, silly goose.
Sophie: How much?
Me: Mama loves you very very much. How much do you love me?
Sophie: So tight. So so tight...
Last night, as Jude stood in front of our coat closet looking in vain for a hanger to hang his winter coat:
Sophie: Dada, do you need some help?
Jude: Thank you, Sophie but it's okay.
Sophie: I can help you, Dada. I have super-powers in my ponytail.
Jude: It's alright, Sophie.
Sophie: Tell me! Tell me! I can help you.
Jude: Okay- can you help me find a hanger to hang my coat?
Sophie: Oh. I cannot help you. [walks away]
Sophie with Erin on her first day of daycare almost two years ago
Sometimes, Sophie just melts my heart. I returned from my lunch break today and Sophie yelled, "Erin's back!" like she hadn't seen me in months :) Then Sophie came up to me and said, "We love you so much, Erin." What a great feeling! I must say, the feeling is mutual too :)
This afternoon, as I was changing Sophie's diaper, she suddenly declared, "Dada is good at changing my diaper." It was a funny moment- I wasn't sure if she was trying to make a statement about what now appears to be my less than stellar diapering skills or if it was just an observation about the things Jude is good at. So I asked her, "Sophie, what else is Dada good at?" And what did she come up with?
Poking my nose.
Shaving his pokey chin.
Rockabye baby (Sometimes, she still asks Jude to carry her like a baby in his arms.)
It started when we randomly showed Sophie a video of a killer whale show at SeaWorld. She was completely fascinated (even more so than usual) and wanted to see it over and over again. In passing, I told her that it was the Shamu show (even though the real Shamu died in 1970, SeaWorld retained its name for the show), and ever since then, she pretty much uses 'Shamu' and 'whale' interchangeably. When we were in the aquarium in Boston, all she wanted to see was a whale, but because the whale tours were closed because of Hurricane Irene, the closest thing we saw was a whale skeleton that hangs on the third floor. Still, that made her happy enough.
Since then, we've read books about whales, borrowed a BBC documentary about ocean life from the library and watched some of that with her (without any of the prey and predator bits), and as you can see from above, populated the house with all things whale (bath toys, stickers, books, t-shirts-- she now has TWO, a puzzle, and even a hair clip).
Sophie's favorite Shamu item is a whale bath toy that she carries around everywhere with her. Apart from being her bath companion, it is also often her picnic guest and food taster. Oh, and she talks to him all the time:
Please don't squirt me with your blowhole, Shamu. I getting wet!
Shamu, would you like some cow's milk? [gives him a toy milk carton] I cannot have cow's milk. You drink.
Shamu, are you a good helper? But you have no fingers!
I bring you to Gretchen's House, Shamu. Don't get lost!
[What she was saying as I took the photo above] Good morning, Dada! I wearing Shamu shirt. With blowhole!
Even her teachers at daycare know all about Sophie's Shamu love. According to them, they found out about her obsession last week when the kids were taking turns listening to one of those spiral conch shells. The teachers asked, "Can you hear the ocean? Can you hear the waves?" And when it came to Sophie's turn, apparently she said, "I hear Shamu! I hear Shamu!"
Thank god Sophie's-- ok, with some goading from me-- already decided what she's going to be for Halloween. I'm sure if it was completely up to her, I'd be figuring out some way of sewing a whale costume for a 2 year old...
In an overzealous effort to kill a fly this evening, Jude snubbed his toe against our dining table. Badly. As he hobbled around the house in pain, our daughter dispensed this sound medical advice :
Jude: Dada has a boo-boo, Sophie.
Sophie: Maybe I give ice-pack?
Jude: Thank you, Sophie. But I think Dada's toe might be broken.
Sophie: I fix it. With the tape.
Me: No, Sophie. Dada is really hurt. He probably needs to go see a doctor.
Sophie: Then the doctor give you a lollipop, Dada.
Why shouldn't all medical emergencies be treated with duct tape and candy? :)
