Fall

I've started writing this post several times, but it has taken weeks to find the time and/or energy to actually finish it.

Yes, we are busy, but it feels like that's not an anomaly. The America Dream, or something?

Ellie's has been playing soccer, with practices 1-2x per week, and a game every Saturday. And Michael is the coach.

Hazel is in a co-op preschool which means I volunteer 2x/month to be at her school from 9-12, helping in her class. It's a fun chance for me to watch Hazel interact with friends. I'm also the Secretary of the Board which means, at the least, monthly board meetings.

I'm attending two different MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) groups. I know how hard it is to find friends, and how important Mom friends are in this stage of my life, so I knew I wanted to find ways to connect and hopefully make some friends and be encouraged. One meets once per month, the other one meets twice a month.

I'm also training for a half-marathon. My race is this weekend. I'm looking forward to the race, and also to taking a break from training. I've stayed on a training schedule virtually for 12 weeks, up until last week where I haven't done much besides my long run of 11 miles. But, I feel ready to run 13.2 on Sunday. I really never thought I'd get there!

We have been attending a church in Portland and joined a Home Group that meets every Sunday night.

In the remaining free time that I have, usually 1-2 times per week, I am working as a substitute teacher, when jobs are available. Thankfully, in the last month, I've been able to work every single day that I've been available. We are really thankful my Mom is able to help with the girls when I work. Living near family has been a significant and welcome change for us.

We've had multiple fundraisers in the first month or so of school. We've collected Box Tops, Ellie had a Fun Run at her school, I sold pies for MOPS, Ellie sold First Aid kits for her soccer team, and now we are supposed to be selling wreaths and poinsettias for Hazel's preschool. This is a new world for us!

This all means we have a full calendar. There is so much nitty gritty going on. We celebrated Ellie's 6th birthday this week. Ruby moved into a big girl bed this week, and after a couple days of staying in her bed it's been a bit of a battle.

Birthday pancakes!

Visiting Ellie's class on her birthday.

Days are long but time is flying. We've been back in the States for more than three months. We still miss Guatemala and still wonder, in moments, if we did the right thing.

I went to Ellie's teacher conference this week. Her teacher told me that Ellie is probably the best Spanish speaker in the class. She does even better than the native speakers. How? Apparently she conjugates her verbs and has a wider vocabulary. So, this was a huge encouragement that we are in a good place. I share this because, of course, I'm a super proud Mama, but also, to remind myself that our time in Guatemala has been a building block to this stage in our lives. Ellie is thriving in her Kindergarten class. Hazel is thriving in her preschool. Ruby thrives wherever we go. At church or MOPS she walks right into her little class and doesn't look back. She plays at a friend's house on the mornings I work at Hazel's school, and she walks right in there, too. She loves to sit on my lap and read books for an hour at a time. She is thriving both at home with me and around other people.

Every time I start working in the kitchen this girl pushes her stool right over so she can help.

There is so much to be thankful for. I get to have quality time with all of my girls. We still have stress in our lives, but work and home stressors have changed since we moved back to the States. And we are enjoying time as a family. Also, we're glad to be back in Oregon, despite the rain.

Happy Fall!

Ellie's homework: A Sampling

I've mentioned before the mountain of homework Ellie has every week. I thought I'd give a sampling of some of her homework, and you can tell me if I'm crazy to think this is a lot for a pre-kindergartener. That is, a preschooler the year before kindergarten.

Every Monday Ellie brings home a pile for the week, including this vocabulary packet. This is due every Friday. It includes a page of words, syllables, and sentences to read, the vocab words to trace and illustrate, and a page of sentences to rearrange and write.

She also brings home weekly flashcards that she colors, cuts, glues, and I cover with contact paper. She is tested on these every Thursday. Luckily, they are always English words, so she has always received 10/10 and we never have to practice them.

On Mondays she also brings home this reading book that we are supposed to read several times throughout the week to practice and improve her Spanish literacy.

Every week she is supposed to practice writing her name in cursive. We don't do this very often because we barely have enough time/motivation/energy to get the other homework finished.

Once a week she brings home this vocabulary notebook. It contains a list of 5 English words that we are to find pictures in magazines, glue them in the book, and then she writes each word 3 times. This is always due the following day, and is usually accompanied with other homework sheets, also due the following day.

Some homework sheets that she gets a couple times per week, often math or writing:

She has weekly Dictations (in Spanish) every Friday at school, which get sent home for me to review and sign. She's extremely proud when she gets them all correct. Mostly because she gets a sucker.

Other days throughout the week she brings home science projects in English, phonics pages, or more worksheets. Once a month she has a presentation where she has to share about a topic with 4-5 sentences in front of the class, with some kind of display. She's done one on panthers, one "About Me," and one "My Family." The nice thing is that these are all in English, so the prep work and practice are minimized.

On top of all this, we are supposed to be reading to her at least 15 minutes every night, which we have always done as part of our bedtime routine.

On the one hand, this is so much. After being in class all morning she comes home and often has an hour of homework. It's a battle sometimes, though thankfully, she mostly loves it.

On the other hand, we are so privileged to have access to such a great school. She is learning to read and write and in just a few months we've seen her grow tremendously in her skills.

One of our projects with MCC is an adult literacy program for the Kekchi, an indigenous population. I'm constantly reading reports of (mostly) women who stopped going to school after 2nd or 3rd grade to help at home and never went back. Now, as adults with several children, often as widows or single mothers, they are taking the opportunity to go to elementary school or junior high. When I have this perspective, I can't help but pause and just be thankful for education and the fact that my daughters will learn to read and write while I know adults here who can do nothing more than sign their name.

It's all perspective, but it feels like, for US general education standards, this is quite a load of homework for a five-year old. Am I right?

Still Language Learning

Every once in a while I pull out my DuoLingo app on my phone. It's a great app for learning languages, in the form of a game against yourself. It's great practice for me and when I'm feeling frustrated with my Spanish I spend some time on it. I highly recommend it if you want to explore a new language.

Yesterday I had to laugh when I came across this sentence that I had to translate:

I've shared this story before, but three years ago during our first week in Spanish classes Michael was telling his teacher about the coches en la calle (the cars on the street) that made a lot of noise and kept us awake. His teacher kept laughing and finally explained. Coche, in almost every Spanish-speaking country, means car. But in Guatemala, it means pig. She thought it was funny to imagine all the loud pigs in the street keeping us awake at night. DuoLingo is not set to Guatemalan Spanish, apparently.

A new feature of DuoLingo that is new since I used it last marks my progress with this notice:

That feels about right. 3 years, 23% fluent. I think I'll hold off on publishing that to my LinkedIn profile.

On another Spanish note, Ellie has started learning to read and write and brings home quite a bit of homework every night. Today, part of her assignment said she needed to look up a word, popa, and draw a picture of it. She's been interested in the process of looking up words in our Spanish/English dictionary, so she helped me find the meaning of popa:

My guess is the teacher is going for the second meaning, so that's what she drew:

A Very Quick Spanish Lesson From my 3-Year Old

Hazel, sitting cross-legged: "Hey Mommy, guess how we call sitting like this in Spanish?"

Me to myself: Well, it used to be Indian-style when I was a kid, but then people realized that was not appropriate, so we were taught to say "criss-cross applesauce," or "pretzel," or some other more culturally-sensitive version.

Me to Hazel: "I don't know. What do you call it in Spanish?"

Hazel: "Chinitos." (Little Chinese people)

Me to myself: We've still got some work to do.

British Vocabulary

Our girls' latest favorite show is Peppa Pig. Hazel, especially, loves to tell me long, detailed accounts of what Peppa and her family did in a particular episode. I'm always surprised at the normal things we do in a day that remind her of something Peppa did with her little brother George.

If you don't know what Peppa Pig is, it's a British show of 5-minute episodes. All the characters have British accents, and there are some words the girls have learned that are not American words. For a long time the girls loved to call me "Mummy Pig," and Michael was "Daddy Pig," and they loved to snort all the time.

One day Hazel told me she "sorted" her bed.

She is really into "sorting" her bed, and gets upset if she does it by herself and her blankets aren't straight.

It took us a little while to figure out what she meant. 

We're still learning British vocabulary via our girls via Peppa Pig. We're also learning Span-wish words. Hazel likes to tell me what words she knows in "Span-wish."

"Hey Mom. Guess what dry is in Span-wish? ...Seca."

"Hey Mom. Guess what orange is in Span-wish?...Oar-ahnge (with Spanish accent)."

Dancing, a New School, and Another Spanish Blunder

The girls had their Clausura (closing night) for their school a couple weeks ago. Usually these involve dancing and/or singing of some kind.

Ellie dancing with her class. There are 2 girls and 6 boys in her age group. 

It was held at 7:30 in a place pretty far away on a Friday night. It was pouring rain and both girls fell asleep in the car on the way there. Ellie woke up fine, but Hazel never seemed to snap out of it. I think she would have slept for the night, had we let her.

One of Ellie's little buddies.

The school sends us special notes all the time with reminders. For this Clausura we received instructions on what to wear. I thought I read it all correctly, and didn't take time to double check one of the Spanish phrases, but I was pretty sure I remembered the meaning from the last Clausura.

This is Hazel's class. Notice anything odd? Yes, she's in a totally different outfit than her classmates.
I read the note to mean Hazel was supposed to wear her tulle pink skirt and pink tights (and no mention of a shirt, so I went with white.)

As you can see from the picture, I was a bit off. She was supposed to wear a jean skirt, with a pink shirt and pink tights. Silly gringos. I blame the lack of commas on the list that added more confusion to the mix. Use your commas to separate listed items, people!!

For Ellie, we knew she was supposed to wear overalls, a yellow shirt, and a red bandana, but unfortunately I couldn't find overalls anywhere. We were close enough.

Compared to previous presentations, both girls have markedly changed. I was so happy Hazel wasn't screaming and crying for me during the whole song/dance that I didn't mind that she just stood there. Literally, just stood there. Doing nothing. Except standing. But not crying, so that was a win. I blame that on her interrupted sleep. Everyone kept asking us afterwards why she was so serious. I think she was doing it on purpose to protest being woken up.

The girls also received little diplomas to "graduate" to their next level. Hazel received a special award for "haber dejado los pañales," which means having quit wearing diapers.

Her one smile of the night. 

The girls are going to start a new school on Monday. It's a little bittersweet. Ellie has made a few buddies at this school, and that will be hard to leave behind. But, if you ask Ellie about her new school she gets giddy and excited and starts clapping. She's very excited.

The new school has a large outdoor space to play, unlike the current school, which is basically in a house with no yard. It is a much bigger school with more kids, and seems a bit more professional. There were 8 kids in Ellie's group this year, there will be 3 classes of 4-year olds next year. She's had several days where her one or two good friends aren't at school, and she tells me, sadly, with big puppy eyes, that she played by herself. I'm hoping that will be less likely with more kids.

I say it's bittersweet to leave the current school because this is where they started in Guatemala. Their first preschool/daycare, their first "home away from home." It is definitely special for that reason. The teachers have been sweet, and the girls have been well taken care of. For that, I'm eternally grateful. But, there's also been a high turnover rate of teachers, meaning both girls have had several teachers in the 18 months they've attended. They get attached and accustomed to a teacher, and one day, without warning, that teacher is gone. That's been frustrating at times.

The one teacher the girls have had throughout their entire time at this school.

The new school has a much higher retention rate of the teachers. At the minimum, they'll have the same teachers for one whole school year, and will probably have mostly the same classmates every year, which is also a change from the current school. It's also closer to our house, which means we could walk if we have to, another plus as Michael starts traveling more without the rest of us.

The new school is bilingual, which actually made me hesitant. I like that they've been immersed in almost 100% Spanish. (There has been some English in this school, but very limited). Hazel speaks "spanglish," with a huge emphasis on the Spanish. The majority of her common words and phrases are still Spanish, though she understands completely both English and Spanish. I worry a little that having more English at school might lower her Spanish skills, but I think I'm worrying too much. They still get plenty of Spanish at church and everywhere else. And in fact, it will probably be good for her to start counting and learning some other things in English.

We had a conference with their teachers today and they told us how intelligent and great our girls are (Bragging Mommy Moment). The one teacher who has been there since the girls started was reminding us of how both girls cried so hard their first few days they turned blue! We had assured them that it was something both girls did often, but I think it stuck in their minds. Now, they rush into school every morning, toting their backpacks and ready to see their friends, barely looking back at us to wave "adios." Ellie corrects the teachers when they try to speak in English! We've been blessed and it's obvious our girls are cared for, as the teachers get tears in their eyes talking about our girls leaving. But, we're ready for a change, and excited for our girls to get settled into a new place before baby sister arrives in January.

Profesional Spanish Student

Learning a second language is difficult. It can be frustratingly slow, and as I've said before, my confidence level comes and goes in waves, depending on the hour or day or who I'm talking to.

When we arrived to Guatemala last year, we took 2 months of intensive Spanish study. We had the disadvantage of not being able to live with a host family. The best way to learn a language is to truly be immersed. This wasn't feasible with two little ones, so we spent our afternoons studying, doing homework, and speaking to each other in English.

In our context, MCC will provide up to three months of language study. After our initial two months we had two weeks of orientation in Pennsylvania, followed by three weeks of orientation with the outgoing reps, and then we started working. I definitely could have used another month of Spanish.

I arrived with a very basic level of Spanish. I had taken 2 1/2 years of Spanish in high school, and even did well on the National Spanish Exam (for geeky Spanish students). But, more than ten years after high school, there was a whole lot I didn't know and more that I couldn't understand.

Fortunately, I've had the opportunity to take more Spanish classes throughout the last year. I took some classes last September. Then I took some more a few months later, followed by more in the Spring. After our first-year work evaluation with our bosses, it came to all of our attention that I needed more Spanish. It was humbling (even humiliating?) to admit that I needed to take even more classes. Finally, I took another chunk again over this summer, in between visitors and travelers and work schedules.

One of my biggest hindrances has been that I can go days without speaking Spanish. I do a good amount of reading and writing in Spanish, however. I need to continue to seek out places to practice my Spanish. Each round of classes over the last year has helped me focus on different aspects. I think I can finally say I'm done taking formal classes. I'm not sure I can afford any more time away from work, and I think my Spanish is at a level where I can continue to read and push myself on my own.

I'm ever so grateful for the flexibility and opportunities I've had to continue pushing through the frustrations and slow learning that I've had throughout the year.

4 out of the 5 teachers I've had throughout the year.

I have joked with the teachers at the school where I took classes that I've been an "estudiante profesional" (professional student). The staff and teachers there have been so supportive and lately have repeatedly told me how much they've seen an improvement compared to a year ago. I'm even considered an "advanced" student, something that makes me proud. I recently read another novel in Spanish, which I couldn't have imagined reading several months ago. I was even more proud of the fact that I could read several pages in between needing to look up a word in the dictionary.

I still have a lot to work on, but I have to remind myself that considering how little I sometimes hear and speak Spanish in my daily routine, I've come a loooooong way. I understand the majority of what most people say, and that improves daily. I feel more comfortable with different tenses and forms that don't translate in English.

And, the highest complement and note of progress came just the other day. A woman who we work with on banking stuff, and who I haven't seen or spoken to in several months, just paused in the middle of our conversation to tell me how good my pronunciation is. WOW! Big progress made here. I still pronounce things funny and need to keep working, but it made me feel like it's been worth the hard work.

I have a few Spanish novels sitting on my table, which I'm excited to read. Michael and I joined a young married persons' Bible study/discussion group, and of course, the book we are reading and the discussions we have are in Spanish. I think this means I'm advancing...

I'll end with some recent Spanish blunders. I know I have more, but I can't remember them at the moment:

-I meant to say "Donde pagamos?" (Where do we pay?), but I said, "Donde pegamos?, (Where do we glue?)

-"Necesito un mente," (I need a mind), when I wanted to say, "Necesito una menta" (I need a mint.)

-My teacher told me I need to be careful when I pronounce "pagina," (PA-hee-nah...page) because if I don't pronounce it correctly with the accent, it sounds like I'm saying (va-HEE-nah...vagina).

Ellie's Spanish Mishap

Every day after school I ask Ellie about her day. I don't get a report about what she did. Instead, I get a list of who was there.

Me: "Ellie, how was school today?"

Ellie: "Sofia. Isabella. No Mia. My friend Mio."

For months Ellie has been telling us about her friend "Mio" (pronounced Me-Yo).

We have been confused because we don't know anyone at school with that name, but she always insists that she has a friend named Mio, along with her best little buddy, Mia. We asked her teacher who confirmed that there's no boy with that name at school. We shrugged it off. We figured it must be something lost in translation.

A couple mornings ago we were talking about Ellie's friend, Jose Carlos. Ellie told us, "Jose Carlos is my friend. He always says 'mio.'"

Mio means mine.

And suddenly, it clicked. Jose Carlos IS "Mio!"

Michael and I had a really good laugh because we've been confused about this for months.

Mystery solved.

Point of View: How the Girls Are Adjusting

How are we adjusting? It's hard to summarize these days, but mostly, we're doing well. My Spanish has come a long way, but it's hard to see progress on a daily basis, and sometimes that gets discouraging. We had a team retreat recently and I was happy with how much more I understood and could say compared to our first retreat in September. So, there's progress.

But today I'd like to focus on how the girls are doing, since they're cuter and more fun.

When we first arrived to Guatemala my biggest stress was about my girls. I had been a stay-at home mom with them both and we were all accustomed to a few hours apart, at the most. When we landed in Guatemala we plunged straight into a week-long meeting at a retreat center where there was childcare. The women watching the girls spoke no English, though thankfully a few of the older kids did and translated my basic instructions about not feeding them meat (this is before we gave in and started eating meat) or how to get Ellie to go to the bathroom. It was frustrating to not have the ability to communicate my children's needs to strangers.

Our First Week in Guatemala

Ellie and Hazel did OK, but it was a rough week for us all. I was still nursing and we were in and out of the meetings a lot, tending to a crying 9-month old and a crying, confused, and clingy 2 1/2 year old. 

Immediately following these meetings we started language school, and we had a few days to decide on a plan for the girls. There is a small preschool/daycare near our office and apartment, and after touring it we felt comfortable with it from the beginning. 

Our First Day of School

The first day of school was hard. Ellie cried as she realized we were leaving her there, and I cried walking away, hearing her sadness and confusion through her tears. I knew hoped she'd be fine, and was more worried about leaving my 9 month-old who would be forced to change her nursing and nap schedule to fit our new routine.

Before the end of that first week, I think it was the third day, Ellie was excited and smiling when she walked into school, and has felt the same way about going ever since. 

Hazel took a little more adjusting. Mostly, I had to explain to her teachers that she was screaming and crying in their arms at nap time because she preferred to fall asleep on her own, in a crib. Once we broke through that communication barrier, Hazel's (and her teacher's) mornings improved. Hazel has been sick a lot since we've been here. Between adjusting to germs at school and microbes in the food and who knows what else, her poor little body is acclimating. Hopefully this will cease soon.

Skipping language class to stay home with my little sickie

We have lived here in Guatemala for 7 1/2 months. Ellie loves her school. It was a significant moment a few weeks ago when I picked her up from school and she started crying. I thought it was because I was late and she thought I was leaving her there, but it was because she wanted to stay at school and play with her friends and didn't want to go home. 

Now, when we take the girls to school, they both walk right through the door and don't look back. They don't even say goodbye because they're too busy greeting their friends and teachers with hugs. This is one of our biggest blessings so far. I know that if the girls had a hard time at school, life here and my job would be much more difficult. 

Ellie's Spanish is improving every day. She has several words where she doesn't realize she uses the Spanish (her Spanglish). But the most fun part for me is watching her interact with other people in Spanish, and the way her accent immediately switches, like the way she says "Hazen" in Spanish instead of Hazel. She had her first fight with Hazel in Spanish the other day. The things we notice. 

At church last Sunday Ellie asked me to leave the kids time. She wanted to stay with her friends and didn't want me there. I thought that didn't start until the teenage years! But really, I'm thankful she's that happy and comfortable with her Spanish and without me around.

Hazel has several words these days, the majority in Spanish. She seems to respond more quickly to our Spanish commands than when we use English. 

We are so grateful we found a place where the girls feel safe and loved. They are learning Spanish, and Ellie is getting a preschool education. Pretty soon, Ellie will probably be translating for me.

Our crazy family in Antigua

Spanish Bonus:

Here's a video of Ellie, singing a song that we often sing before we eat with our MCC team and at home. (I couldn't get it to load straight to the blog, sorry). 

Click here to see Ellie singing. 

The words: Gracias, señor por el pan. Da al pan a los que tienen hambre, y hambre de justicia a los que tenemos pan. AMEN

My translation: Thank you Lord for bread. Give bread to those that are hungry, and give those of us who have bread a hunger for justice. AMEN

First Day of School

Yesterday was the big day. I laid out outfits and packed lunches the night before, just like I used to do with anticipation before all my first days of school.

Ellie wanted to take a picture with her backpack on to send to her older cousin Isabelle.

We took the classic first-day-of-school photo, and since we were all heading to school we took a family photo, too.

Needless to say, I've been nervous and anxious about this process. We like the proximity of the school to our apartment and office, and the colegio seems like a place we can trust to leave our children. The teachers are warm and friendly and sweet.

Sisters' first day of school together.

I was most nervous about leaving the girls for five hours, through a nap for Hazel and lunchtime. I hoped Hazel would nap in a new place, but know she's been stubborn about the going to sleep process.

Nevertheless, we set off yesterday morning to walk the two blocks to school. Ellie was excited about walking to school wearing her backpack. We handed off the kiddos to the teachers while we signed papers. When we were leaving, Ellie began to cry but we gave quick hugs and left, hoping to tear the band-aid off quickly.

The door closed and we hurried away towards our bus stop. I grabbed Michael's hand and started to cry. It was inevitable. I'm a mom separated from my ninos.

Our Spanish lessons flew by quickly and before we knew it we were standing in front of the school ringing the bell. They don't let us inside but bring the girls to the door when we arrive. The report of day one? They both cried a little, but overall did great. Hazel didn't take a nap, which I was bummed about, but not entirely surprised.

All the way home Ellie told us all about school. I found myself asking her questions and probing responses out of her all night. I wanted as many details as I could. She was smiling and happy and proud of the little card she had colored, excited about her snack and eating lunch at school, using the stool in the bano (and having no accidents!) and playing with new toys.

Ellie colored this at school.

It's an invitation for me to join the girls on Friday at school for a Mother's Day celebration.
I love that a teacher wrote "Aldi." I'm assuming that was an attempt to spell Ellie phonetically with a Spanish accent. 

The school has little notebooks where they write notes from the day and where we can respond if needed.

Today Hazel took a great nap at school. Ellie was excited about going to school. Though she started crying when we first left, she had another great day. It's fun to ask her about her day and to hear about her singing songs and playing with new friends and coloring. I'm thankful she's had no accidents and really seems to be adjusting well. I wish I could be a fly on the wall to observe what's going on, but I guess this is part of parenting, not getting to be around every second and learning to release my girls to become a little independent. I just didn't think I'd have to start that so soon.

I am feeling blessed and thankful for this school and praying that the girls continue to adjust and enjoy their mornings there. Michael and I have had fun experiencing riding the bus and and limiting ourselves to speaking Spanish all morning. Time to study!

Teach the Love of Reading

Superbaby Book Highlights, Part 2: Language Development
(Read Part 1 here)

-Dr. Berman spends at least a chapter on the importance of talking to your child. It may sound obvious, but it's not. The idea is to look for opportunities to talk to your child. Let him/her gab and then take turns. This teaches conversational skills. She lists tips for encouraging language.

-Use sign language. We have been attempting to use signs to communicate since Ellie was fairly young. Now that she has picked up on a few (she understands most of the ones I do to her, but she only signs a few back) it has already eased our communication. The sign for "more" has become Ellie's sign for food. Whenever she's ready for a snack or to eat she signs "more". She also uses the sign when she's out of food on her plate and wants more. We also sign "all done" and "water" and "eat." We've been slowly adding to this list, signing "bath" and "sleep" and "ball," but I admit we haven't been as consistent with these. Instead of whining or grunting, Ellie can now sign and communicate with me which leaves us both much less frustrated. I love it and can't wait to use more signs. Signing has also been shown to increase vocabulary and to help children acquire speech earlier, have higher IQ scores, and enhances brain development. What's not to love? (If you have concerns, she addresses many of the common myths about using baby sign language in the book).

-The most important thing I believe I can do for my child: READ! I cringe when parents use reading as a punishment. How do we teach children to love reading when it becomes a dread? As a parent I need to model my own enjoyment of reading as well. We have literally been reading to Ellie since she was in utero. (We received this Dr. Suess book, Oh, Baby, the Places You'll Go: A Book to be Read in Utero, and loved it!)

We read multiple books before every nap and bedtime. Ellie can sit in our lap and look at books for long periods of time. We point out the animals and make the noises and touch the fuzzy books. Not only is it teaching her to enjoy books and reading, it's wonderful bonding time as well. Kids who are read to have better vocabulary, better attention span and memory, are better listeners, have better reading and writing skills in school, and are more creative and imaginative, to name a few benefits.

Studies have shown that people who live in poverty who can't afford expensive schools or preschools or other benefits of the middle and upper class can still do one thing more than anything else to give their children a head start: read to them! It seems so basic yet for so many people it's not a given that their children will be read to.

I love this quote, which applies to so much more than simply reading:

"What we teach children to love and desire will always outweigh what we make them learn." (Jim Trelease, The Read-Aloud Book)

So, model reading and teach your children to love books!

I'm excited to write about the next topic, but it will be a bit controversial for some: screen time (computers, TV) and babies.