Is she a Pirate?

It is astonishing to me how quickly Lana's English is coming now. I heard about a group of DVDs (from another mom who adopted a four-year-old through our agency), called "Sesamee English". These DVDs are from the Sesamee Street people (obviously) and they teach English as a Second Language, and also have some of the soundtrack in Vietnamese, Hmong, Mandarin or Korean. Lana really seems to be learning from these. Also, I think being in a classroom with other children every day is helping a lot.

This morning, while we were dropping Gabe off at school, she said, "I stay in car, mommy." !!! A whole sentence! She has also said things like, "Mommy, I cold," and "Daddy, I hungry, want chicken, want pony!" (Um...I am embarrassed to say that what she means is she wants chicken nuggets from McDonalds and the My Little Pony toy that is currently accompanying them. She has a collection of three of these little ponies, and, left to her own devices, would evidently eat McDonald's chicken nuggets around the clock.)

But, the one notable word that Lan DOES NOT SAY is "Yes". She has "NO" down pat. "NO" was one of the first English words she used. But, not "yes".

Instead of saying yes, Lana says, "ayuh" or "aye" or possibly "hai". We are trying to figure out if a pirate has sneaking in and teaching her to speak. Or a person from Maine? Or possibly a Japanese person?? It's the funniest thing.

Also amusing - one of Lana's best pals at school is a little boy named Nico. Nico's mom is a German professor at the University where the school is located. She is actually FROM Germany, so, she speaks to Nico only in German while her husband speaks to him only in English. The result is that, at four, Nico is bi-lingual. So, as we were leaving school the other day, Nico held the door open for Lana and said, "Komen Sie Aus, Lana, Komen Sie Aus!" Which Lana promptly did. Nico's mom and I laughed that Lana is going to be speaking German, too, pretty soon!!

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In other news, the school counselor called me yesterday afternoon after meeting with Gabriel. She told me that he was "a delightful and articulate child" and that "all things considered, I think he's doing remarkably well, and I think you and your husband prepared him well for becoming a big brother." She said, "I really wouldn't worry about anything other than making sure he gets to bed a little bit earlier." She did mention that Gabe said that he had been having trouble sleeping since Lana came home, because she is "so loud at night." I didn't realize that Lana may have been waking him up. (She talks in her sleep. A lot. In the last two weeks I have been able to learn to ignore her nighttime exclamations. I had been getting up and running in there only to find her fast asleep. If she actually needs me, she yells, "BAFROOM!! BAFROOM!!" I still do wake up for that.)

Anyway, I've been letting Gabe sleep in the room across the hall from Lana, instead of next to Lana, and Gabe reports that he is sleeping better...

LM