15 May 2007

Raina really digs hide and seek. Frequently she will look at you, bolt from the room and down the hallway, and then giggle when you call out, "Raina, are you hiding?" The concept of being found is just novel to her and she has yet to tire of it. She hides in the same three places all the time: under tables, behind chairs, or on a bed. In all cases, Raina gives herself away by giggling maniacally, peeking out to see if people are coming, and sometimes forgoing suspense all together to rush up and hug her stalker. We take turns -- she's great at this -- and it's clear that mommy with her 29 years of experience is a much better hide-and-seeker than Raina. She just forgets that there are other places in the house to go; it's like her brain gets the adrenaline rush -- oh, yay, she's chasing me! -- and all other strategic thought is blocked. We never get tired of this game: she loves to run around and I love that she is laughing the whole time. Hide and seek always ends in tickles!

I love books, and I love that my daughter loves books. So, at the annual MICDS Book Fair, I spend an inordinate amount of time reading all the kid picture books and choosing just the right books for our home library. Last year, I bought books all three days of the fair. This year, I limited myself to one day of shopping, but I went back that day four times to buy more books. Anyway, Raina has discovered two new favorite books from the pile: Llama, Llama, Red Pajama and Bad Kitty. One is a fun rhyming book with plenty of words that Raina can say, and the other is an amusing alphabet book with plenty of disgusting sounds that Raina can say too. It's amazing that Raina has progressed to reading parts of her own books aloud, but, as she says, "I'm a big girl" and big girls read their own books. Nothing is better though than Raina bringing a book to a loving adult, offering it, counting to ten (the toll for a parent to pick her up), and nestling in for a long, cozy reading session. We read the Olivia books for 30 minutes on Sunday, and it was a wonderful Mother's Day present.

Raina is so lingual, and she adds new words to her speaking vocabulary everyday. The main word of the past month is "myself," as in, "stop helping me, I'll do it myself!" She has a fierce independent streak. On Saturday, she also started saying "Eric" (to Eric's absolute dismay) and her parents finally realized what the word that sounded like Imo's and Elmos mushed together was. Emails. Raina learned the word email, which is a horrifying testament to the computers in our lives. She also likes to say (and eat) broccoli; maybe this wholesome word will make up for the other.

Young kids learn so much; they take everything at face value and with the assumption that the way we do things is, of course, the normal way. We have a huge world map in the bathroom, and Raina accurately picks out India, Indonesia, Australia, and Madagascar while sitting on the potty. (The Southern Hemisphere is easier for her to reach!) She can do this, and say her ABC's, and identify her numbers and letters, but she cannot do patty-cake to save her life. It's fascinating and frightening to think that since Eric and I value certain things more than others, Raina automatically learns those things. Her learning is all experiential and, as a middle school teacher, I am far removed from this type of learning on a consistent basis. Raina is the perfect example to show most learning is of the accidental kind.

Comments

I love this blog. I'm looking forward to Raina going to a petting zoo! :D

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