A Fisher out of Water

Brasilia has a market called Feira dos Importados. It's a market with row after row of stalls and booths, selling everything from cell phone accessories, purses, and exercise clothes to toys, and office supplies. It's a market of imported goods, and since we live in the 21st Century, most of it is imported from China. Many of the shop owners have emigrated from China, too, so it was bizarre, walking from shop to shop of a market that could have been lifted directly from ANY Chinese city, with Chinese shop owners and even bundled up babies with their buzzed hair. But everyone was speaking Portuguese! Even the Chinese people! Even me!!
Actually, I finally found a wallet I wanted to buy, and I talked to the lady in Chinese after I heard her talking to someone else. It was so nice to actually communicate with someone for once, and feel competent doing so!
I got the wallet and also a couple of Brazilian exercise outfits.
Don't laugh. You know you want to work out in butterfly leggings, too.
Seriously, though, Brazilians dress very fashionably. When people go out to anything, they look amazing, with fancy clothes, perfect hair, and usually 6" high heels. I always feel like a frump. But when I take Penny to school in the mornings, I think half the moms are dropping their kids off on the way to the gym, and they're all dudded up and ready to work out. And man, there are some bright prints, tight spandex, and crazy-high socks. It's kind of hilarious, but it's just the kind of hilarious that I admire enough to join.
So Naomi helped me choose some butterfly-print leggings, and the lady in the store directed me to a blue shirt to match. I'm excited for my next Zumba class....

It feels sudden, but I guess it's been a year in the making: we now have a talker.
I swear last week William didn't say any words, and then now he says a good handful.
It has been sudden.
More than the girls, William has been babbling lots of sounds with lots of inflections and intonations. He'll carry on full babbling conversations with his sisters in the back of the car, and sometimes he'll just jabber to himself. It's pretty much the cutest thing in the world.
Now he says a few words.
First word: "Bye"
He has been saying a general "ah" as both "hi" and "bye" for some time, but when it finally became a word it was definitely "bye" and used solely when he or someone else was leaving.
Other words: mama (yay!), uh-oh, zai jian (from the end of one of his sisters' Chinese songs), Dad, and something that sounded remarkably like "I love you," especially through my filter of wishful thinking.

I took a few linguistics classes in college (okay, so I took one twice...), and I would find myself getting caught up in reading the textbooks. I think languages are fascinating, especially language acquisition in children and foreign language acquisition.
I was always fascinated by the idea of learning a different language. I'd hear from missionaries returned from various lands, forgetting words in English or trying to explain a foreign phrase. I imagined that when you learned a second language, those words would sound in your head like your native language. Like if someone said ni hao ma to me, then after I learned Chinese, it would sound to me like someone said, how are you.
That's not quite how it works.
When someone asks you, "What's up?" you don't look at the ceiling and wonder what IS up. No, you've already learned and filed that phrase away in the category of Greetings, more specifically, Greetings from People Trying to Sound Casual and Hip.
So when I learn a foreign language, ni hao ma just gets added to the Greetings category in my mind, but it's in a separate category of Greetings from People Whom I Should Respond to in Chinese. The Chinese word doesn't "replace" an English greeting or even sound the same in my head, but it fits in the same category, in its own space.
Really, we're all learning a second language. That is, we're learning more and more language every day, and we have several layers of language building up all the time. People start hearing "I know, right?!" or "I. Just. Can't. Even." so often that they start using the phrases themselves. Even old people know what a "selfie" is. We're adding on to our own language, often adding words and phrases that we already have a name for (self portrait, picture of myself). Basically, we're padding our native language until it's a huge mountain of words. When we learn a second language, we start a new little anthill of language. We know where all the empty spaces are, and it's a little tedious and overwhelming to have to fill each one grain by grain, but it's fun once you have enough grains of sand to start.

Today marks the one-year anniversary of the single most exciting, terrifying, traumatic, and stressful 30 minutes of my life. That's right, it's William's birthday!

William woke up in jail this morning, right about 6:30. I'm never ready for it, but I'm always grateful it's not 5:45. Some people enjoy watching the sun rise. I begrudge every time I have to watch the sky turn from dark to light. I know it happens every day, so I'd rather not be up to make sure it happens.

He's sweet, though, isn't he?

William comes to join me in bed, usually followed shortly by his sister, Naomi. It's like being woken up by a barrel of puppies poured over you. Sure, it's the sweetest, softest, most lovable thing in the whole world, but they certainly don't mind where they jab their knees and elbows! This is William sitting on the night stand playing with the cell phone charger.

This little boy has a penchant for pillows! Whenever he sees one, he crawls as fast as he can to go snuggle into it.

And now we're taking Penny to school.

Kevin bought William some birthday cake while we were out running errands this morning. Unfortunately, it was nap time by the time we got home to take the standard first-birthday-cupcake picture.

I turn my back for one second.... Okay, maybe I turned my back for a few seconds.

This kid is definitely not getting a sunburn on that yogurt-covered nose! It was a mess, but nothing a little scrub in the sink (William), wipe with a washcloth (floor), and scrub-down with a hose (chair) couldn't remedy!

Today was playgroup, and William is helping Naomi with her puzzle. He didn't want her to finish it too quickly, so he took apart the pieces as she finished them. Naomi is very patient, and is also good at giving Baby some other toys as distractions.

While we'll officially celebrate William's birthday next week, we took up the offer of blowing out a candle in some cake. And since William has no idea what this stuff is all about, he let Naomi help him with the candle.

And here's the playgroup group. Hooray for William, and hooray for his birthday!

This morning I sang "Happy Birthday" to William. He enjoyed it and bopped a little to the tune. Then I sang it in Portuguese ("Parabens pra voce"), and he started clapping his hands, just like a native Brazilian. So cute!
If I were to summarize this year, I'd have to say it has been lovely, sweet, beautiful, and uplifting, just like William. I had a much harder time with the first two babies, spending most of the first year in sleep-deprived Zombie mode. William is significantly more satisfied and laid-back, and I also learned to make my sleep a higher priority than having a couple hours of "me time" in the evenings. I had plenty of "me time." It was called "sleeping," and it made all the difference in the world. I have really enjoyed this baby!
In the next few months, William should learn how to walk. He's very happy to crawl everywhere, and only recently has he let us walk him around, holding his hands while he steps. He'll figure it out eventually, but for now he'd rather crawl.
He should learn how to talk. He has said "bye bye," and "Dad." He also occasionally says, "Hi." We're still working on the "Mama." I would love it if he learned a bit of Portuguese, and I'm pretty sure it will be "Tchau."
This little boy loves playing with his sisters, especially since he has the whole day with Naomi. She loves him as a sweet baby brother, but also as the best toy ever made. She loves to pick him up, hug him until he falls over, and grab him away from whatever he is playing with. But she does it with so much love and affection that I'm sure it will turn into a good thing. They do play together really well, also, and Naomi always has a knack for making William laugh.

Somehow we have started calling Cream of Wheat "candy oatmeal." I don't remember exactly when it happened, but it may have had something to do with someone's trying to convince Naomi to try some Cream of Wheat by telling her it tasted like candy. Hey-- I remember my parents telling me that Rice-a-Roni tasted like candy, and that made me taste it-- and it worked again in the next generation.
Naomi would eat candy oatmeal every morning if I would make it. And William likes it, too-- but that's not really saying much. This kid loves eating just about everything. My girls never let me spoon feed them, but William will gobble up everything I put in front of him.

Penny had a birthday party to attend after school today. The family arranged to have a few buses come pick the kids up from school and take them over to the party center, and I filled out Penny's permission slip and sent her on her way!

In Brasilia, at most of the busy intersections people sell stuff, which you just buy through your window when you feel so inclined. Most of the time they sell trash bags (sans trash, as I had to explain to Naomi) and mop rags (because Brazilian mops are actually giant squeegees on the end of a stick that you then wrap a rag around) (why not, right?). Sometimes they sell water bottles or snacks, especially during rush hour. And then there's one guy who sells those electric tennis racket mosquito swatter things.