Follow up

I thought you all deserved a quick follow-up blog. I'm back in the 21st century.  As Murphy's Law would have it, as soon as I broke down and ordered my new replacement phone, my old one came back from the dead!  Angelines has a pretty junky phone that drives her crazy so I graciously gave her the one I had just ordered and have happily kept my old phone.  It's good to be back "online".

And other news...

This weekend we're finally getting around to celebrating our "holiday office dinner".  "Business meals" (comidas de empresa, as they're called in Spain) are quite common during the holidays.  Virtually all companies get together for a holiday meal, similar to holiday office parties in the States.  However, in a typically Spanish way, these get-togethers are all about eating (and often drinking, too). ;)

This year, Angelines was inspired to have a comida de empresa of our own, but for various reasons we haven't been able to do it until this weekend.  So tomorrow all of us--Angelines's two main employees during the Christmas season, my mother-in-law, sister-in-law and myself (the cleaning crew)--are all going out for lunch.  It promises to be a good time for all.  A change from the regular weekend schedule is always welcome in any case.

And Emily is the most fun and interesting news around here.  She is walking like a little pro, although she's taken a few good falls lately.  At any given moment, she'll grab your hand, walk you to the door and point, shouting "ehhh, EHHH!" emphatically.  She LOVES being out and about exploring.  Going to the park is a favorite.  She likes the swings and she loves picking up strange odds and ends (leaves, rocks, cigarette butts, garbage...dog poop...) on the way there.  Much to her shagrin, we most often don't let her actually get ahold of these treasures; but she just agreeably continues to amble along until she finds another something interesting that catches her eye and bends down to try her luck at actually grabbing it. She is not easily deterred from an idea. (Don't know where she gets that from!) ;)

It is also incredible to realize how much she understands these days.  She still isn't talking, per se, but she certainly knows exactly what's going on around her and is also quite good at making her own desires understood.  She's an expert pointer.  She has several great gestures: palms up = where is it?, finger to lips = be quiet or someone is sleeping, holds nose = she's pooped or someone's farted or the dog is going to the bathroom, hand to the forehead = something's been dropped, smacks lips = I'm hungry.  It's incredible to watch how she learns and changes daily.

Best of all is that I can see her becoming bilingual.  Yes, it's hard, but I really do speak to her nearly exclusively in English.  At home I speak English almost always unless we're playing with mamá, and even outside the home I use English as much as I deem polite to use in non-English speaking company.  Anyway, she responds equally to English and Spanish comands and/or questions.  In the video below you can see her showing off her English.  She knows most of the parts of the face in English and Spanish.  You can ask her, "Where's your nose?" or "Dónde tienes la nariz" and get the same response.  The most amazing thing is that there have been times when I really can't remember having "taught" or even really used an English word with her, and all the same when I say it, she responds correctly--thrilling.  I cannot wait for her to really begin talking.

With that I'll leave you to the video. ;)