I’ve taken to requiring 1/2 or so of the media Lily has access to watching is in some language other than English. It’s awesome.
This morning I awoke after having had a dream in at least French and Spanish. I spent a good bit of time yesterday talking with Lily about various dances found all over the world, and after a while (and she’d gone to bed), I settled on tango and an Argentine couple that deserve the world stage as far as I’m concerned. She thought Flamenco was funny, ballet is always sort of interesting (unless she has to watch and not dance herself), jazz and tap are of some interest, and she seems to actually like Irish dance moves. I think she finds it sort of funny, as the arms seem to be at the sides in the typical performance that she’s seen. She mimics the various dances, and more of then not, has something abstract to say about her observances.
So, this morning, when she came in to wake me after Russ had left (at 5am), and I’d gone to sleep not 4 hours before, I was not sure which language or culture I was in and I think I said something like, “Buenos días, ma petite Lily. What time, uh, le soleil, ce n’est pas… ergh.. pourquoi, you are seriously awake?”
She laughed a bit at my delirious response, shook her head in dismay, and said “Mama get out of bed.”
I responded, mockingly, “Mama, sortir du lit….”
She responded, “Yep. CUUUZZZ I’m hungry.”
—-
I think I fell back to sleep for a while because when I finally consciously drug myself out of my bedroom, to go searching for her I might add, I found her in the kitchen with a glass of milk. I came down the stairs and there she was, sitting on the stool drinking her milk, pondering something.
“Mahmm.. so how many languages do you think you need to say stuff in?”, asked a somewhat annoyed Lily.
“None. Lots. Depends on whether I’m awake apparently.”
“Well, you are really tired! Maybe you have to think too hard to say so much stuff.”
“Yep.” (mama)
“Yep. (lily)
“Oui” (mama)
“Si” (lily)
“Ja” (mama)
“Shi” (lily)
“Hai” (mama)
“Nam” (mama)
(lily)
And that was that.