Allow me to set the scene:

Benoit was holding Gianna while he poured us both a glass of wine. I had my back turned, attention tuned to cooking some rice on the stove. Benoit had just told me the wine was poured and began to drink his own.

Then Gianna said, “Mama?” “Mama?” and when I failed to promptly respond to her, out came a very stern, “Mama! Bois du vin!” Roughly translated that’s, “Mama! Drink wine!”

I almost peed myself that she had actually spoken a complete sentence and then I almost peed myself again laughing so hard that she managed to use her first sentence to talk to me about my drinking habits. I think I’m going to have to chalk this one up to her French side. I mean, that family has wine (or at least champagne) running in their veins! It couldn’t possibly be that I’ve been relishing my post-birth, post-breastfeeding ability to have a glass of wine most nights. Nah. She must have learned it from her father. He’s the one teaching her how to say it in French after all.

 

On one of our side trips while visiting Fall River, we stumbled into a shop in Shasta City that purported to be a fair-trade art and music store. We snagged a super cute maraca made out of a painted gourd from Peru and a non-toxic set of finger paints and chubby toddler paintbrushes.

A few days after we returned from our trip I invited Gianna’s friend Sara and her mom over to test out the finger paints. To say Gianna had fun would be such an overwhelming understatement. She painted, she blotted, she squatted, she slapped and did every other impressionist through abstract art move to get that paint on paper. She preferred working with the vibrant red and blue colors than the yellow and green which were also on hand and now when she passes the pots of color sitting on the table outside she points and grunts and whines until she’s back on the floor, paintbrush in hand.

Here’s a look at our budding artist’s work!

 

Sorry for the two week hiatus from my blog life. Sometimes between updating Twitter and Facebook, emailing my family and friends directly and then posting on this website and another for a group of moms I know, it’s gets repetitive and obnoxiously boring. I have to admit that if it weren’t for this blog and how great a record it will be of Gianna’s first years, I wouldn’t even be keeping it up anymore. All my scrapbooking and baby book keeping energy is gone and this is all I can muster. I’m not sure it’s really worth it to keep this site going but since I haven’t made a decision to shut it down, here I am, trying to catch everyone up to speed and make sure I document for Gianna’s sake all the interesting things she’s been doing these days.

One of those interesting things is getting to see her aunt and uncle who live on the Fall River in Northern California. She had a blast riding on their friends’ patio boat, dropping rocks in a small stream and just getting acquainted with the more rustic side of life. Here are some photos (to make it up to you for being absent so long) of our trip:

Their big red barn which I love to photograph in all seasons.

Gianna’s face when Papa set her down in the snow-melt stream.

After her feet went numb she shot me this gangsta kid pose.

Steering the boat with her uncle.

Family time at the wheel.

Curled up against the wind.

Fencing with the river grass.

Signing “bird” over and over again when one caught her fancy.

Gianna in profile. My beautiful baby!

 

On a cree une liste de tous les mots que Gianna dit maintenant. J’ai pense qu’il n’y en avait pas beaucoup mais apres un moment c’est clair qu’elle parle beaucoup et beaucoup en Francais aussi.

We made a list of all the words Gianna is saying now. I thought there wouldn’t be too many but after awhile of thinking about them all I realized she is talking a lot and many of her words are in French! Here’s the list so far (I keep remembering new ones and adding to it so I’m sure there are still more that I am forgetting).

Gianna’s spoken words:

ball (with French accent)
eteint (light off)
more
banane
Mama
Papa
up
down
Bye Bye
Hi
love you
chat (cat)
pain (bread)
vin (wine)
bain (bath)
poo poo (but she mixes these three up)
pee pee
boo boo
chaussures (shoes)
chaussettes (socks)
tortue (turtle)
boit (drink)
lait (milk)
dodo
*feuille (leaf)
merci
thank you
dedans (inside)
*dehors (outside)
fraise (strawberry)
*poulet (chicken)
de l’eau or l’eau (water)
lapin (rabbit)
fleur (flower)
bless you
no
dessus (on top, still trying hard to say it and understand it)
all done
cheveux (hair)
tiens (here it is, she also says it when she wants something)
uh-oh
cheese
bateau (boat)
bouche (mouth)
pleut (il pleut, means it rains)
juju (neighbor’s dog, le nom du chien chez voisins)
feu (fire)
Sara (nom d’une amie)
couche (diaper)
roue (wheel)

She also signs for (not included in word totals):
dog
fish
bird
airplane
again
light
bee
rain
rabbit
hat
fire

Total at 15 months old: 50!!!
French total: 33
English total: 17

That’s twice as many French words as English. The literature I have read says that by 15 months babies should use anywhere from 5-25 words. So, even with her having to learn two spoken languages and some sign language at the same time, she’s doing well by all accounts. I guess it’s also time for me to clean up my language since she already practically knows the difference between wine and beer (in French) and is not far from copying my four-letter words too. Darn it! Shoot! Gosh and Golly are my new best friends!