F the Gabber- 16 months

Words F says in no particular order- !! denotes his emphasis when he says them :)

Eh-lee (Ellie- the gecko)
No!! (many variations and intonation with and without whine and/or sass)
mamá
papá
Mo-ah (Mora)
Ah-Yee (Alelí- likes to use it for all items he finds that are hers)
book
apple (apple sauce)
mana (manzana)
nana (banana)
uva
tete (leche)
pete (chupete)
p-ta (pelota)
ball
uh-oh (I just threw something)
wow
pato (zapato)
agua
pasta!!
ma-más
alo-hello
buh-bye- bye bye
Elmo!!
abeh (abre-used exclusively when knocking)
tah-tah (ya está)
tank yoo- Thank you
go!
pan
okay

From M's Spelling Test (her illustrations of words)

1. Sometimes in the middle of an argument, my brother and I are speechless and we just stare at each other malignantly.

2. In my democratic opinion, Donald Trump is a loathsome person.

3. You should never harbor or keep inside negative thoughts or feelings.

4. The stars in Van Gogh's "Starry Night" painting are vivid with orange and yellow.

Deep Thoughts & Precise Language

A when I told her not to call anyone a liar: The whole city is a liar; American, Brooklyn, California and even New York City!

J: The you are a liar too- you are in NYC.

A: You don't know anything about that.

V on a pelican ride in a playground: It's a zebra- they didn't know how to paint so it looks like a pelican.

V seeing a chess board: I want to play cheddar!

V spotting a kayak: Look! A submarine!

? upon seeing me put part of a tampon up A's bleeding nose: Cotton? Cotton candy?

V: I wish I did not have hands so I did not have to do anything!

Last Journal Entry for J

School Projects

A third grader wrote this about me when asked to write about an adult he admires, it summed me up an cracked me up as well:

I admire Ms. E my Spanish teacher. She is a good Spanish teacher because she speaks very good Spanish. Ms E is an intelligent person. She taught me how to say unfriendly in Spanish. She is nice, but strict. She has a strict voice. She lets me say the words of the month. She is a good mother because she is nice to M (his classmate). I like being in her Spanish class and I admire her as a teacher.

J's teacher shared the following with me at his conference today, he had to complete the prompts:

I am: good to others, healthy, myself

I can: jump rope, defend others, help, love

I have: my ability, faith, love, souls

I love: sports, nature, my buddies, my family

The Best Letter I Have Gotten (Ever... I Think)

After much drama this morning and a lot of aggravation from M, I got this note from her hand delivered at pick up:

Handmade envelope:
To: My true love
From: your embarassed daughter

Letter:
Dear mama,
I (heart) u 2 much!!
I am sorry x infinity for my behavior this morning!! I hope (and think) tomorrow will be better. I thank you for being so patient and so understanding and compared to my behavior you are a saint. I hope you will forgive me. It's just that once I get frustrated there's no stopping me. I know how many times I have apoligized and by now it's probably meaningless but, I encourage you to forgive me and the results will (probably) be wonderful. Thank you for going this far in reading my letter. M (ita)

Excerpts from M's Sentence Notebook (Sentences with Spelling Words)

Being strong is something excellent.
I like writing but, it's not my favorite.
Four is more than 1 (Duh).
Golden is my second least favorite color.
I can be unkind when I am mad.
My baby brother smashed our radio to pieces.
I always like to finish an argument.
My dad has a hairy chest.
I have never seen anything hatch.
I drink all drinkable liquids.
I'm not the only kid in my family, there are others.
I am very bad at digging.
My parents say my body is perfect, not fat, not skinny.
My aunt S' dog is fuzzy.
I am not that lazy.
I can be very silly or very mature.
My brother is SO good at waking me up.

Look Who's Talking!

I started to think about V and A and language today and they are not just talking, as in repeating words or singing songs, they are expressing themselves! There is such a huge difference. They talk to each other (A usually cocks her head and says his name to convey the importance of what she is saying) and they know what they mean. L and I understand them the most (F needs a translator). I understand 90% of what V wants to say and maybe 70% of A's talk. The new element is that they are really truly speaking. As far as they are concerned, they are telling me and everyone anything they need to, the frustration of speech limitation has subsided. This is going to be make me trying to have them pass for under two years old to save money on admissions and such a bit tricky! Just today V out on a hat and said to L"Qué lindo"! Yesterday V scolded A  as she kicked the crib "Se rompe, A, not funny. Papi dice not funny, L dice not funny. Se rompe" as she laughed hysterically. A is all about "saca jama (piyaama) and "mete pema (crema)" and "pasta dientes- mi turno"- she is a big fan of personal hygiene products!

J's Super Taped Note

that he gave me. was for me to mail. to G-d. He told me it was about hurricane Sandy:
G-d. Help New York. J.
Oy. Collateral damage of going to a St. school. Letters to G-d. Then he said:
Add his son too.
His son?
Yeah, Jesus.
Mamma mia!

Email From J's Teacher

For some added humor, I thought you would like to know the words that J has attempted to add to our word list this week (coupled with the definition of the word.) 

'Damn'-not the things beavers do. The word. You know "Damn it"

'Dick'- "No, not Dip, Dick. The word my sister says. It's a mean word.

I had to turn around for both words because he was straight-faced I was laughing so hard.

MoVit?

M asked me to give her challenging words to spell and I could not stump her (they have to words she has heard of). Examples:
vehicle
vegetable
dumb
comb
laugh
daughter
spaghetti

any ideas on words I can stump her with?

Clearly V is related to M. He is a talking MACHINE. He looks at pictures and names people and animals (like Chloe? A dog he has not seen in months!) He names people who are not here and says "se fue." He can name all of his BT teachers (some have multisyllabic names!) and likes to tell me what belongs to whom (Bike. Papi Bike). He cracks me up!

M's Work

She just came back with ALL of her work for the year. I will have to share some. Her acrostic poems cracked me up:

M erry at every second (everyone knows I exude joy and optimism)
A caring member of the family
Muchos besos
A very helpful woman

Plays with us often
A smart man
P ays close attention to what we're doing
I s very cautious

J umpy at every moment
O dores candy (I think he adores not odors it)
A lways going into our parents room to sleep
Q uick runner
U nique in every way
I s quite picky
N ows a lot about rock stars (spelled wrong but cute)

A dorable
L oves to walk
E xcellent
L ucious cheeks
I ncredible


Also...
N ever knew
D elicoas (not sure what this is...)


V ictory is born!
I nterestingly large stomach (like mother like son)
T riumphant boy (not sure what this means)
T errificly chubby
O ptimist
R really jolly
I normous
O ften hugs his nanny (note that even M knows that I get no baby love)

V's Budding Vocab

This is
has been said 10000 times by V
Now he grabs books and says
This is book
Nice grammar!
He also says
Here you go
He also calls leche
Lesh
I love it!

Hallmark, M Style

Individual notes M wrote to classmates (just found a pile by the keyboard):

J a best friend to remember

Julers (nickname?) always active, love M

m a very delightful friend to have love, M

C a houndfull (there is a dog sticker included) of fun love, M

2 Apology Notes From Rowdy First Graders

M.s. Epsten
Im sory for being bad in Spanis clas. I promis I will soper doper not do it agan. I wis I will neva do it agan. Love T.
__

Dery Ms. Epsten we are so sarre we will nevr do it agan. cane you frigifus. Hav a god wecand.
Love S.



FRIGIFUS is just genius!

Recent Journal Entry

Please excuse the photography and lame ass layout
but appreciate the drawings and funny musings of M's brain.

J is Reading!

Never one for academics, 48 hours ago J discovered that he not only knows letters, but that with lots of encouragement he can read one syllable words. VERY EXCITING. He is five so this is nothing earth shattering, but given that M knew the letters at two and could read better than me at five, we did not know what to expect with Mr. J. He looks forward to reading and asks me to write words for him to sound out. Yahoo!

Corre Que Te Cojo!

cojer

Cojer just means "get" in a number of Hispanic countries; it's mostly Mexicans who say "I'm gonna get that girl" to refer to fucking. In Puerto Rico, where "cojer" just means "get" ("fuck" is "joder") the expression "Cojelo suave!" ("get it smooth!", literally) just means "take it easy!"  coger [cogiendo|cogido] {v.t.} (also: coger (medio de transporte)) to catch [caught|caught] {v.t.} coger (medio de transporte) to catch L (from PR) chases the babies around saying "corre que to cojo"- I should have said something the first day. She also says that V says "cojo cojo cojo." Yay!

Haiku by Second Grader

Spanish class is fun
Everyone is invited
Ms Epstein is nice

Interesting Comment in the Cafeteria

I know why you have that (I knew he meant my nose ring- shocking to many of these kids)
Why?
Because a police man catched you.
What?
My mom told me that.
That people with nose rings have been to jail?
Yeah.