Summary of June 2008

Again and again, the month of June just flied.

My work slowed down just a little bit in the month of June, and I had time to take online CE course on veterinary dentistry, which was very informative. Temesgen is doing well, catching up with some lab work during the summer break. Both girls are growing well, as you can see on the top photo.

とりたててハイライトという出来事はなかったけれど、6月もみな健康で無事過ごせました。仕事も少し落ち着いて、勉強する時間も少し取れるように。以下が6月のまとめです。

Here are some remarks of June 2008.　

1. Liya
She has really grown! She was 13 pounds 4 ounses in mid-June, and we can tell her motor controls are developing quickly. She wants to touch you, watches your lips when you speak to her, tries to grab everything nearby... it is getting really hard to nurse her AND do something (read magazines, eat, etc... well, let's call it multi-tasking!), or nurse in public, since she does not want to be under the nursing cover any more. She wants to see around. Thanks to our wonderful babysitter, Suwaiba, she remains a very healthy baby.

Everybody who saw her recently said she dramatically changed. She looked 100% like Temesgen in early months (my Department Head even said I do not need any DNA test for paternity of Liya - it is obviousthat Temesgen is her father!), and now she reminds us of Misha a lot. She has a slightly darker skin tone and shorter hair, compared with Misha at her age; however they really look alike now.

最近、ミーシャにそっくりになってきたリヤ、なんでも掴みたい、触ってみたいお年頃。感覚が敏感になってきたためか、授乳中もいろいろな音や光に反応してなかなか集中できない。ま、そんな時もあるよね。

2. Misha

It was amazing how her language developed in the month of June. All of sudden (seems like to me), she started using prepositions and other "extra" words.

6月はじめ、ミーシャの文章が長くなったことに気づいた。3つほど例を下に書いてみたのだが、中学校の英語の教科書のように、一歩一歩言葉の力はついていくんだね。

For example,

"I want to do it" --> " I want to do it myself"

"I want to go" --> " I want to go with you"
"I got it" --> " I got it for you, Mama"

However, she seems confused with be-verbs and do-verbs sometimes. She says "I am tired" but she also says "I do not tired." It is really interesting to see her language development.

By the way, she does understand Japanese since I spoke and read to her; however her main language remains English. She definitely responds much quicker when spoken in English. My brother also noticed that Misha enjoys English DVDs a lot more, even if the characters are dubbed (eg. Sesame street in English vs. Sesame Street in Japanese).

Photo above: Misha reading a Japanese book to Liya ( at least that is what Misha thinks)

上の写真にあるように、ミーシャは日本語の絵本をよく読む。私の親友が送ってくれるのだが、そのおかげで動物や果物の名前は日本でほぼわかる。ただし、日常は英語が主なので、どうしても返答は英語になってしまうけれど、質問の日本語も理解できている様子。こちらの方は英語と違ってあまり進歩が目に見えないのだが、ママはがんばりますよー、日本語で話しますよー。ミーシャの話せる日本語が「アンパンマン」「ばい菌マン」「ドキンちゃん」じゃあ、あまりにも悲しいでしょ！

3. Car accident: Someone, after a long day at work, hit our car from behind at a traffic light. Only Temesgen and Misha were in the car - they were on the way to go to his friend's house to watch the European Soccer Tournament. Fortunately nobody was injured and our car will be repaired by his insurance company. This was the very first car accident we have ever had in the states.

テメスゲンが友人宅に行く途中、追突事故にあった。幸いけが人はなく、凹んだ後ろのバンパーを相手の保険100％で直すことになった（なんと見積もり3000ドルほど。相手の全額負担だから構わないけど、そんなにかかるものなのかな!?!）。そのバンパー、私がこの間バックで傷つけちゃってテメスゲンに怒られた部分でもあるので、私としてはラッキー。これでしばらく「鬼の目」から逃れられます・・・

4. Garden

We started harvesting some vegetables and blueberries from our garden in June. Cherry tomatoes, okras, green beans, and snap peas are doing well, but we had a difficult time harvesting green leafy vegetables, such as spinach, collard green, and turnip due to the worms (Misha loved and enjoyed chasing butterflies, though). We finally used pesticides once in June, and it seems OK so far. Now that we know how hard it is to make it totally organic, we spend a lot more time washing green leaf vegetables from store, unless organic. I almost felt like we were growing these vegetables to feed worms after all!

我が家の畑、日本から種をもってきた大切な小松菜やほうれん草、こっちでよく食べるカラードグリーンなどがほぼ全て、幼虫に食べられて見るも無残な姿に。耐えかねて、初めて殺虫剤を使った。あとはミニトマト、オクラ、インゲン、イエロースクワッシュ、かぼちゃに似た風合いのバターナットスクワッシュなどが盛況。ミニトマトは熟してなくても取ってしまうミーシャの餌食になっている。ハーブも順調。毎日の水やり、草抜きなど、手間はかかるのだが、テメスゲン共々、朝晩の楽しみになってます。

June did not have major highlights but I am grateful for what we have.　

特別なんてことない、こういう毎日が実は幸せな人生なのかな、と最近思ってる2児の母の、月末報告でした。