spanish for fairy

Last week at Ada's Spanish class her teacher told us that 'Ada' pronounced more with a soft 'aaa' rather than the hard 'a' we use, means fairy in Spanish. It all makes sense now. Ada's 'pretty dresses' are actually fairy dresses, with wings and all, and her favorite toy these days is her blue fairy Barbie - again with wings and all - she calls this doll Tinkerbell.

I think everyone already knows that we did not have Ada's name picked out when we got to the hospital on her birthday. Instead we had a list of three names that all matched up to a certain image in our heads. Ada was our dainty, feminine name. So when Ada came out with long fingers, eyelashes, and limbs it was a no brainer, when we pictured what an Ada would look like in our heads - it was pretty close to what she looked like when she came out.

In a lot of ways Ada's name picked her. And now we know why.

she listens, she really listens

Everyday at day care Ada's teachers fill out a daily sheet about how Ada's day went. When she was in the infant room it was an extremely detailed sheet that basically gave us a breakdown of every movement she made. The Toddler room sheet was a little less detailed but still let us know every time Ada pooped or how long her nap was. Now that Ada is in the 2 year old room the daily sheet is pretty brief - a total of six possible check boxes and a section for notes on her day. We don't really pay attention to what these check boxes are unless one of them isn't checked. Recently there have been a LOT of unchecked boxes especially around sharing with friends, helping out, and listening. Now I always got mostly A's and B's in school and there is a part of me deep down that sees Ada's unchecked boxes as the first indication of her spiral down into the world of C's and D's. Ok it is a very very small part of me, but I'd still like her to get all of her check marks.

So on Tuesday morning, after noticing a missing check mark next to listening on Monday, I talked to Ada about being a good listener and how it was important for her to listen to her teachers. We have a process in our house where if Ada is not listening to us we tell her she can do whatever we are asking the easy way or the hard way and we count down from 10 to allow her to make up her mind. She is yet to defy the 10 seconds. It works, but I think it has set Ada up for missing check marks at school since her teachers don't have the time to do that with every kid. So I explained to Ada that she had to listen without the 10 second countdown at school. I figured I was just filling the air with words, but when I picked her up from school that evening right there next to 'Listening' was a big fat check mark, and a comment from her teacher about what a good listener she was all day. However, it wasn't all good news, the box next to 'Good Helper' was amazingly blank.

Given my seemingly good success with the whole listening thing I decided to give the helping out item a try. So on the way to day care yesterday Ada and I had a big talk about helping out her teachers. She nodded, and again I wondered if I was just filling the air with my words. But when we picked her up yesterday she had ALL of her check marks, and a comment about how she was a 'Really big helper!'.

I feel so proud that she actually listened to me. Of course there is always the possibility that Ada rolled into day care, plopped down a twenty and said, "Yo teach, I need that check mark next to helping out, and there is a extra 5 in it for you if you throw in a comment with an exclamation mark."

orange car

Over the summer we assessed our driving habits, our ridiculous need to swap cars if Elliot had to drop off Ada and I had to pick her up and decided it was time to swap the BMW for a car that could actually fit a car seat comfortably in the backseat. After much analysis and business case justification Elliot convinced me that a Mini Clubman was the answer for us. I have to say the final straw that sold me was the heated seats, but I also thought Ada might like looking out the windows or through the sunroof.

I was wrong.

Well at first Ada loved the new car. She liked that she could see planes through the sunroof, and the trucks, and buses, and bikes - those were all cool too. But then she realized that the new car didn't block out the sun the same as the old boxy Element did. The sun is Ada's latest nemesis. After all, the sun does not listen to Ada's scolding. It does not find a cloud to hide behind whenever she asks for it to. Nope, it defiantly shines right into her eyes EVERY SINGLE MORNING.

Well Ada finally figured out a way to beat the sun for good. She has decided to avoid their awkward daily interactions by self selecting the car that hides her from the sun the best. It started out so cute. Her first chorus of "Orange car, orange car, ORANGE CAR" brought on an "Oh look, she knows what color the Element is". But as her demands became more and more adamant it has turned into something so much greater. My prize for getting out the door on time and bringing Ada into daycare (even on my early meeting days) was to drive the new car, the one that zips around, the one with key less entry, the one with HEATED SEATS! But now, Ada's battle with the sun is traipsing its way into my prize and squashing all of those mileage savings that Elliot used to sell me on the new car in the first place.

Well this morning we put our foot down. As Ada wailed away as we drove away from the house in the horrible new car we made a deal. This weekend, when we should be napping and recovering from a cold brought on by daycare, we will hunt down some shades for the windows so that Ada can triumph once again over the mighty sun.

pretty dancing

Ada has recently become OBSESSED with princesses and fancy dresses and anything that has to do with one or the other is gold.

Well the other night Dancing with the Stars was on TV and Ada fell in love. There are pretty dresses and in her mind princesses wearing the dresses, dancing, music, and applause and laughing following the dances.

She loves this show so much that it has surpassed the movie Ratatouille in her favorite things to watch. Now when she walks into our room instead of repeating 'watch mouse' over and over and over again, she now asks for 'pretty dancing' or 'watch pretty dresses' and then followed by 'Ada's pretty dress', or 'Ada princess', or 'pretty dress, pretty dress, PRETTY DRESS'.

I know Elliot and I are probably going to hell for allowing Ada to watch TV at such an early age, but we just look at it as broadening her horizons. So when Ada decides at age 6 that she wants to become a ballroom dancer, we will not think it random, we'll just know that the vision of Warren Saap doing the Hustle really did have a lasting impression.

that one

Ada has recently started to show preference for certain toys and objects that she considers "hers". In particular she has identified one of her blankets as her favorite. It happens to be the patchwork blanket that my Smith friends made for me while Ada was still in my belly. I love this blanket because it reminds me of all of the love and friendship in my life and makes me feel like I'm wrapping Ada up in this love when she uses this blanket. I think Ada likes it because it has so many colors. But the patchwork nature has lead to difficulty in describing the blanket when she wants Elliot or I to fetch said blanket. Once when we went into her room I asked if she wanted this blanket (pointing to a different blanket) or that one (pointing to the patchwork blanket). From that point on Ada started referring to the patchwork blanket as "That one". It took us a couple of very dramatic breakdowns before we figured out what "That one" meant, and it didn't fully click until we asked Ada to show us what "That one" was. Ada walked into her room, sighed, put her right hand on her hip, and pointed to the patchwork blanket with her left, cocked her head back towards us and said, "Duh". Ok, maybe not exactly like that, but if you could translate 2 year old body language into adult body language - that would have been it.

no no sun

Ada is very verbal when it comes to talking about what she does not want to do, or what she does not want done to her. We have a lot of "no no Mommy" and "no no Daddy" these days when we try to help her out. This is pretty funny to us since she says it with the strongest voice she can muster and shakes her finger at us while she is doing it.

Apparently Ada likes the reaction she is getting from us when she tells us "no no". So much so, she has started to use this command on anything that is bothering her in the slightest. Her hair gets in her face and we hear a "no no hair", her tissue is not cooperating - "no no tissue", her fairy dress isn't flowing quite right "no no pretty dress". You get the point.

Well as the days get shorter the sun has become more of an annoying factor on both our drive to day care and our drive home. During both commutes there is a section of road where the sun is shining directly into Ada's face. She first met this sudden rudeness with crying and tears, then she went the stoic route and just closed her eyes, gritted her teeth and turned her head. Well this morning it must have dawned on her that she had not tapped into her favorite discipline tactic - scolding. So today on our drive into day care today, as we hit the sunny spot, I started to hear Ada whimper a little and then all of a sudden she stopped, pointed her finger and shook it at the sun and said "NO NO SUN". And if Mother Nature knows what is good for her - she'll listen.

little miss popular

Ada has now been in the two year old class for about 4 months. Around the 2 year mark a lot of kids started up at the Kids Care Club - I'm guessing that their parents wanted them to be in a more pre-school type environment. At the same time the center separated out Ada's core group that she had been with since she was six months to the 'older' kids (Ada's group) and the 'younger' kids. Combine that with a normal amount of attrition and it leaves Ada and two other girls that have been together since they were 6 months old and a whole slew of newbies.

This could have wrecked some havoc on Ada's social networks and standing especially since she is now one of the younger kids and also on the small side. Of course two year olds are unbelievably accepting and probably don't have a bone in their tiny little bodies that think about coolness and popularity - they just like everyone. But you never know - kids are growing up much faster these days.

Well, luckily we don't have to worry. Ada and I had a difficult time getting out of the house yesterday morning so we arrived to her class around 9:10 am. All of her classmates were already there and most had already finished eating their snack. When Ada (and I) walked in all of the kids came running over saying 'Hi' to Ada and shouting "Ada is here" with a tune of Hooray in their voices. I hurriedly signed Ada in and put her lunch away and when I looked back, Ada was holding court by the cubies. Letting all of the other kids come to her with looks of anticipation as Ada would assuredly have some sort of great tale as to why she was soooo late for class.

And if Ada was telling the truth she didn't hesitate to mention that she had some very important tasks to do at home before she left and of course she couldn't leave without putting her makeup on or doing her hair. And let's not even get started on the outfit her parents picked out for her.

And yes, she is my daughter, I have the scars to prove it, but her complete embrace of all things girly is starting to make me wonder. :)

independence

One of Ada's favorite phrases these days is "I do it". We'll try to help her put her shoes on and she says "I do it", we try to help her into the shower and she says "I do it", we try to open a bag of goldfish and she says "I do it". You get the point.

So our newest tack is trying to figure out ways to convince Ada that it is her idea to do things, and to break down tasks that we would normally do for Ada into smaller tasks that Ada is able to accomplish on her own. For the most part this is pretty doable, but every so often we run into a task that Ada can't quite get her head around and then the course of "Elp, Elp, Elp" comes raining down.

Of course this doesn't happen too often, but when it does, it comes with a dose of - how could you think I could do this on my own - incredulity.

empathy

Ada has always been very observant. In fact if you go back a year on this blog you will probably find a post about me marveling at how Ada just takes in the world and lets it sink in. And as she has started to grow up and mature a little bit so has her observation skills. Add to that the ability to communicate and we have tapped into something really cool.

Elliot and I are now able to watch Ada grow emotionally as well as physically.

The other night as I sat in the kitchen with Ada as she ate her dinner, counting down the minutes until I had to leave for class I put my head in my hands to rest for a second. Ada was preoccupied with something Elliot was doing and I thought I could steal a quick relaxing moment without much notice. But notice she did! As soon as I put my head down Ada turned to me and very astutely said, "Mommy tired". I confirmed this for her that yes, I was tired, but I would be Ok. And without even thinking about it, and despite the fact that she was actually so full of energy that she was close to bouncing off the wall she cocked her head to the side slightly and said in the most reassuring voice she could find, "Ada tired" and nodded. You could tell by her words and her body language that she was trying to let me know that it was Ok to be tired, and that sometimes, she gets tired too, and if it made me feel better she would pretend to be tired so I wouldn't be alone.

Empathy.

I probably responded more boisterously to the first time I noticed she could talk or walk or roll over for that matter. But the moment I realized that Ada was developing real human emotional skills - I melted.

smarty pants

Our weekends have been feeling a little light recently (insert sarcasm here) so we decided to add a Spanish class for Ada on Saturday mornings. We didn't intend to start this at her age but we went to a free class sponsored by the Mom's group at HP and she LOVED it so we decided that since we don't do anything special for Ada on the weekends we would sign her up and start to learn Spanish as a family.

Elliot and I are doing a great job picking up the words we learn each day and Ada's favorite thing in the world to say these days is Adios! She says Adios Papa to Elliot in the morning, and Adios to the house at night before bed. Adios, Adios, Adios.

Yesterday morning Ada took one of her bath toys, a blue foam number 8, out of the bath and was holding on to it while I was getting her dressed. She seemed really into it so I asked her what color it was, expecting her to say Red or Yellow like she normally does, only this time she looked at me and said AZUL!! (Which is Blue in Spanish for those that are like me two weeks ago).

Our little smarty pants!