en francais

so we're down in Florida visiting Greta, Scott, Annie (Nan) and Flip (Gramps) and having a great time. we've had daily visits to see the tortoise that lives at the end of the road. we've tried to find the ten foot alligator that lives in the pond nearby but to no avail (it would be a great deterrent for the kids - no more naughty step, meet the naughty 'gator!). Anyway, the kids have been having a brilliant time with one another - i don't think Schuyler has ever had this much fun in her entire life (new toys, lots of people who seem to want to play with her, big gaga named Jackson (pictured above), Finn, a bath with her cousin, a tortoise, pocket doors that she can open, other doors she can open, playgrounds everywhere, a grocery store with carts with steering wheels!).

I just wanted to write something briefly while i think of it because today was something of a watershed for Schuyler and her french. in our babycenter emails they said to expect language bursts around this time and we've certainly noticed her repeating almost everything we say instantly. anyway, this morning, Schuyler got up at 5:50am which kind of annoyed her dad so he read Lilou (a french kids book, above) with her. Normally, when i point to the bird or the rabbit and ask her what it is, she always responds in English ("bird", "bunny") but this morning, for some reason, she instantly said "oiseaux" and "lapin" which blew her proud daddy away. Fast forward to Daddy getting home after a rare evening at the movies with Mama and Greta while Gramps and Nan played man-to-man defense with the kids. Dad got home in time to read to her and (disappointingly) she wanted to read an English book ("Goodnight Vermont") about a billion times and Dad read in English. Now, "arbre" (for tree) is one of her only consistently french words but this time she pointed to a tree and said "tree" which annoyed her dad who reflexively replied "en francais, s'il te plait" to which his 22 month old said "arbre". I know this is probably boring to those of you who are not her father (which, i realise, is all of you) but for me this was mind blowing. Trying to speak to her in french (which is not your own language) while everyone is speaking english can be a very lonely and sometimes unrewarding experience and to have her express that she "gets" that there are two languages and that they have names is amazing to her dad. Schuyler, je suis fiere de toi.