I love you because…

Valentine’s day is here and I was lost for what activity to do with E. so I decided to do nothing. This is not totally true, but we didn’t really talk that much of this holiday this year. Instead she read about it. Read about how much I love her.

Every day starting on the 1st of February I put out a new heart on her door saying why I love her so much. It went up to Valetine’s day. At first I thought she wasn’t that much interested (she often forgot to read her daily heart) but then around the 8th February she told me she couldn’t find a new heart on her door.

I made 3-4 hearts at a time and I tried to reinforce the nice and loveable things she had been doing.

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Here are some ideas what you can write on your hearts to your kids or to your partner as they work really well in lunch boxes or as secret messages in your hubby’s pocket.

You’re creative.

You’re kind.

You’re the best big sister.

You’re my sunshine.

You are a fantastic friend.

You have a great sense of humour.

You’re one in a million

You’re beautiful.

You’re so creative.

You mean the world to me.

You express your feelings.

Your imagination is wonderful.

You’re a great problem-solver.

You’re helpful.

You’re a great reader.

You speak English very well.

You never give up.

You’re always by my side.

You hug like noone else.

Your kisses are the sweetest.

There are 20 on the list but it is advisable to use the ones that apply to the days of February in case of a child as they can connect to it more easily, what’s more, it can serve as a basis of discussion. In the last couple of days E. asked me why I put on some of the hearts and I gave her examples how caring she was with her little sister or how she helped around the house, how amazingly she communicated with N, our native nanny, or how she shared with me what made her angry or sad that day.

This display of love can work any time of the year, at a birthday or around Christmas but Valentine’s day can serve as a reason if need one at all.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

 

Valentine’s cupcake

Valentine’s day is not really our holiday but it serves as a good opportunity to do fun activities. Hearts, candies, cakes. Are there any children who are not crazy about them?

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In case of E. I tries to concentrate on a more serious content this time: expressing our love towards those who we love. You can read about our I love you because… door decoration on the link above.

With Little L. it’s a bit different. She cannot really gasp the meaning of this activity, what’s more, she can’t read yet, so I decided to make salt-and-flour dough cupcake decoration activity,

I made the dough with the following ingredients:

200 gr flour
200 gr salt
180 ml warm water
1,5 tablespoonful of oil.

I mixed the ingredients and also added some red food colouring. On a tray I added whatever I found at home: buttons, beads, heart-shaped confetti, mosaic tiles, paper cups etc.

She didn’t want to play with the dough although she loves the soft and nice-smelly play doh. It’s true that it’s texture was different: rougher and not at all nice-smelly (maybe next time I’ll put some essential oil in it)

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So I put little balls of dough in the paper cups and she decorated them happily. While doing it we were talking about the shapes of the toppings (round, oval, flower-shaped, heart-shapes), the actions she made with them (press, push in, pull out, take it off etc), colours (green, yellow, purple, pink, red).

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When she finished her creations we put them on a shelf to dry them. Of course, one cupcake was for Mommy, and there was one for L. When E., and Daddy came home they both got one as a present. Even our native nanny could choose one cupcake (well, L. chose one for her 🙂 ). These cupcakes were L.’s present for the people she loved very much.

2018 January – books of the month

E.’s list is a little shorter as we’ve started to read chapter books. What’s more, we read them like 3-4 times as she couldn’t get enough of them. A real bookworm. Little L.’s list is longer as she enjoyed the many books she got for Christmas and hadn’t had time to read them due to the busy holiday seasons.

I read for E. before the afternoon nap time when she’s home and before bedtime. L. doesn’t hear these stories as she is too young for these books. But E. is present when I read the books for L.

Colour codes: E.’s favourite, L.’s favourite, Both loved it

E., 5 y 8 m old

Gulliver’s Travels (Usborne)

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The story covers only Gulliver’s travel to Lilliput. The story is divided into chapters. It is large print and the language is quite easy so E. could read it for herself. We read it twice and I suppose instead of getting dressed in the morning before leaving for the kindergarten she read it once more.

Jack Frost by Kazuno Kohara

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A classic winter story about a little boy who hates winter as he misses company. But then he meets Jack Frost and they have lots of fun. There is one rule only, he shouldn’t mention anything warm or Jack will disappear. Can he manage?

Stick Man by Julia Donaldson

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Another winter story. Unfortunately E. didn’t enjoy as much as I did. What a pity as it is a really funny book about Stick man who gets involved some dangerous adventures when a dog wants to play with him or when a boy uses him as an arm for his snowman.

The Wizard of Oz (Usborne)

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Another chapter book for E. The same applies here as in case of Gulliver’s travel. A classic story in an easily readable form. I needed to read it 4 times and E. read it another 2. I think her interest escalated when I told her the story of one of my carnivals when my whole class got dressed as the characters in the Wizard of Oz.

Quarks by Ruth Spiro

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As we live together with a scientist, I had to buy this book at full price. But it was worth it. It is a baby book but not so much. In a very simple way and with wonderful illustrations atom and molecule structures

The Giraffe, the Pelly, and Me by Roald Dahl (the absolute favourite of the moths!)

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An absolutely fantastic and a typical Roald Dahl book. The story is about 3 window cleaners who get the best job in the world. While starting to the job they catch a burglar. We read it 3 times and I was about to make some activities to elaborate some outstanding vocabulary of the book, but alas I had no time. I might try to do it at another time.

L., 2 y 1 m old

Tough Trucks by Tony Mitten

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As Little L. is into vehicles this book is the absolute favourite for her. But E. liked it. I can’t recall how many time we read it but approximately 50-60 time minimum. The book presents big vehicles like trucks, articulated trucks, refuse trucks, tow-away trucks and so on. The description is rhyming and the CD that goes with it is really handy. I was especially delighted as the book uses British English vocabulary. After a while L. could finish the end of each line (the rhyming pairs mainly). E. knows the whole book by heart.

The Snow Storm

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I love Usborne book, and this farmyard series is so close to my heart. Not for my kids. E. was not interested in it after the first read. Little L. wanted to see only the lamb in the bush (that was born under the hedge). Nice illustration and a fun snowy book though.

You can do it, Sam

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L.’s other favourite after Tough Trucks. The story is about a little bear who prepares cakes early in the morning with his mum and deliver them to their friends as a surprise. The little bear needs to be very brave as he hast to take the cakes from the truck to the doorsteps in the big snow. Mama Bear say “of course” several time during the story. Every time L. added “second course”  because for her these 2 phrases sound so similar. 🙂

Maisy goes shopping by Lucy Cousins

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Maisy is still in. Read it a million time. As much as they don’t like Peppa Pig, they adore Maisy. l. compared herself and E. to Charley and Maisy. Charley who’s got a bike in the story was E. and she, herself was Maisy. She rides a tricycle.

10 chuckling ducklings by Sally Crabtree

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A typical count-backwards board book with plastic 3-D ducks on each page. There is also a button to push to hear the quack-ing. For me it was too much for the kids… well, they were fighting for the button to push or to finger the ducks.

Getting dressed (Mark and Spencer)

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A board book teaching kids the order of getting dressed. You can touch different items of clothing. The story is in rhymes. Both kids like the sensory books so a lot of argument was involved around this book too.

A birthday for boots

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L.’s been interested in counting lately hence the second count-backwards book. This was E.’s first favourite Dora book. She liked the stories I told her about the time when we’d read it together. L. learnt some of the Spanish numbers from this book. And of course, the shout at the same time: Swiper, no swiping!

This is my puppy (Usborne)

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Touchy-feely puppy board book that examines every important dog parts: ears, paws, tail, nose adding a touchy-feely experience and the joy of making the doggie woof-woof with the button.

Fox’s Socks by Julia Donaldson

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Little L. enjoyed this board book as well. Julia Donaldson’s rhymes are so easy to learn that she could say the rhyming pairs after a few reads. Lifting the flaps adds to the fun. No wonder the fox finds his clothes in strange places. E.: – Mommy, this fox is very untidy.

Bird feeders

Last December E. made some bird feeders at her one-day winter camp. She loved the idea of feeding the birds when they have real difficulty in getting any food during winter so much we needed to make some more.

The first bird feeder idea came from our Helen Doron school.

PINECONE+PEANUT BUTTER BIRD FEEDER

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What you need:

  • pine cones (you can buy them but easier to collect your own)
  • peanut butter (of any kind)
  • seeds (you can buy canary food in a pet shop, but we mixed our own: corn, sunflower seeds, millets, smashed walnut, sultanas, dried cranberries)
  • knife
  • thread
  • bowl

How to make it:

  1. Mix the seeds, dried fruit, nuts in a bowl

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  2. Spread the peanut butter with the knife between the scales of the cone

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  3. Roll the cone into the seed bowl

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  4. Tie a string or thread so you can hang it up on bushes or trees
  5. Go to your garden, balcony or, as we did it, into a park nearby and hang out your bird feeders

We went back to check on the bird feeder and seeing the seeds and the peanut butter disappear gave E. tremendous joy.

We made the pinecones with our native nanny, N, in English. We spread them around E.’s kindergarten area with I.-Grandma in Hungarian. When we went back to check them we were in English again. So we covered a lot of vocabulary in both languages. (bird feeder, seeds, corn, hang out, hide, quiet-busy, visible, don’t migrate, robin, blackbird, finch etc.)

TANGERINE RIND BIRD FEEDER

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What you need:

The same as above except for the pine cone and the thread. After pressing some orange/tangerine juice for the girls I kept the rind. Quite a lot of seed mixture remained from the previous bird feeder project so we used it.

How to make it:

  1. Take the pressed out tangerine (or orange) rind and line it with peanut butter.
  2. Sprinkle the seed mixture in it
  3. Place it on and under bushes or just in your patio or on your balcony.

  4. Return to check how fast the seeds are eaten up.

In the second case again we made the little feeders in English and the next day we went out into the snow to play (we were in Hungarian) and put out the tangerine bird feeders.

It’s a lovely winter project even with little kids and you can save the tiny song birds that do not migrate in the long, cold winter. Through this topic you can build your children empathy and teach them how to take care of nature and its creatures.

Two years have passed

L. turned 2 at the end of December. She has changed a lot and grown a lot. Here is an overview on her focusing mainly on her language development (Her words and sentences are in italics).

As for her personality, she’s quite different from her big sister. She is very sociable, both with kids and adults. She likes to hug and give kisses. She is sensitive and emotional. She easily bursts into tears, however, it is easy to calm her down with a bit of cuddling. She often asks me if I’m angry or happy: – Mommy, you happy?

Likes:

  • playing with cars, trains, diggers, and other vehicles
  • playdough
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  • riding a bouncy horse
  • scribbling
  • putting on shoes and boots even at home
  • stealing my mobile phone and looking at the pictures or calling someone
  • pasta, raw broccoli, sausages (“kolbász”)
  • reading books20171224_173756
  • watching Blippi videos
  • carrying handbags around
  • turning on the computer

Her favourite songs in English are:

Her favourite songs in Hungarian are:

Her favourite books are (the list is not exhaustive) – English

  • Maisy books (like Maisy’s bathtime)
  • Touchy-feely books (like Halloween DK book)
  • Lift the flap books (Fox’s socks by Juia Donaldson)
  • Push the button books (like Incy-wincy spider or Busy vehicles)
  • Books about feelings and emotions (like Sometimes I feel sunny by Gillian Shield)
  • We’re going on a bear hunt

-Hungarian

  • Berry and Dolly books
  • Mit? Hogyan Miért? book series (like Mentőjárművek)
  • Barátnőm Bori books

Dislikes:

  • when I brush her teeth and she can’t do it alone (I do it)
  • putting a musline square around her neck while eating
  • walking up the stairs  (Pick up)
  • meat (except salami and sausage)
  • sleep alone

Her language abilities are amazing in both languages. As far as I can jugde objectively, her Hungarian and English are on the same level. There are words and expressions that she knows in both languages:

napkin – szalvéta

heart –  szivecske

Can I get it? – Kérem szépen.

Thank you. – Köszönöm

car – autó

potty – bili

There are some words she knows only in English:

bathroom

toilet, loo

hug

Or only in Hungarian:

baba (=doll)

Melyiket választod? (=Which one do you choose?)

Szerintem. (=I think)

She knows synonyms as well:

pants, knickers

toilet, loo

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(I can’t think of any Hungarian words at the moments)

Her 22nd month was the most outstanding concerning her language development. She started to create her very first and very own sentences. On the same day at the beginning of October she said her first sentences:

We are hungry.

We are eating.

Is it broken?

In December she was capable of saying these utterances:

I can eat the strawberry and the apple too.

What shall we do?

Where are you going? (Asking me when I’m leaving home)

Here is my boob and I can touch it (After bathtime, exploring her body)

Towards the end of last year (around November) she started to mix the 2 languages notably. Even within the same sentece. After 2-3 months she corrects herself when using a word in the wrong language. Still, she is mixing them, which is perfectly normal and quite amusing. (Here is an interesting article to read about code-switching.)

Poor grandparents, sometimes they have a really hard time to figure out what she wants to say.

When trying to crawl under our bed: – Look, Momm, I put my “fej” in (fej=head)

When Daddy was trying to hug her: Nem akarok “hug”-ni. (I don’t want to hug)

When we played hide and seek: – I will “elbúj”

She makes very interesting mistakes both grammar- and vocabulary-wise:

  • Double objects: -Can I get it, tractor?
  • Double possessive: – This is for mine. This is for Mommy’s.
  • Wrong use of past: – Can you seed it? (Could you see it?)
  • Mixing syllables: feke=kefe (brush in Hungarian)
    cesond course=second course

There are a lot of times when E. and L. play together in English.

During the night it’s not unusual to hear her talking in English in her dreams.

L. can easily make herself understood when our native nanny is around.

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I’m really proud of my darling. Keep up the good work and always stay a bundle of joy! Happy 2nd birthday, Sweetheart!