Out of Sight ~ Out of Mind

In this day and age of technical wonder it's hard to imagine that we could ever lose touch with anyone, but it seems to happen more and more often to me.
As my life has become more busy and complicated it seems like an impossible feat to try to stay connected to all the people I wish I could, and as time has gone on, certain relationships have faded away. I find myself missing people all the time but not having the time to properly connect
Thank God for Facebook or else I know that I would probably become so distant with even family.

There are so many wonderful people I wish that I had more time to really connect with each and every one of them but it seems most days I don't even have enough hours to properly connect with the people in my every day life!

Every time I look at the phone and think of calling someone I glace at the clock and realize that it's now too late in the day to make the call. That's one of the perks of the internet, I can leave a message at 2 in the morning or whatever time I think of it, but these days most of my relationships seem to be held online and not that many in person or on the phone like they used to.

Then there are times when I try so hard to connect with someone through messages or phone calls but they are too busy themselves to make a connection back.

So with all this fancy technology it seems like I'm one step forward but two steps back when it come to truly connecting with those I care about!

Trying to teach a language you don't know

Mr. Rooster's family is from Spain and he grew up speaking English, French, Spanish and Catalan (a form of  Spanish and French). When I first met Mr. Rooster I loved listening to him speak any of those languages! I thought it was awesome listening to him flip from one to the other with ease! I didn't grow up with other languages at home and in school I took French from grade 6-9 and that was it! I didn't mind French but I didn't know much and found the courses boring.
I thought when I first met Mr. Rooster that I would try to learn at least Spanish since a large chunk of his family speak it and it is a pretty common language even in Canada. I soon found out that it's a lot harder to learn a new language when you're an adult and not constantly immersed in it. After a while Mr. Rooster slipped back into only speaking it with his family and I stopped pestering him to teach me.
When Carebear was born the desire to learn Spanish again flared up in me since we wanted our children to know at least Spanish (they'll learn French in school and will probably pick up a bit of Catalan from their Grandpa). I found trying to teach a baby Spanish just wasn't very exciting since it was just me talking and Carebear babbling in baby language, once again the desire passed.
Now that Carebear is older and absorbing things like a sponge I have found the desire to learn again, but this time something different has happened. We are teaching her by saying the word or phrase in English and then translating to Spanish (or vice versa) and through repetition. She and I speak it over and over each day, and it is really starting to stick! The thing is I'm actually starting to learn more as well and am really enjoying it! I'm constantly asking Mr. Rooster how to say new words or just looking them up on Google Translate!
Carebear is sucking all this new information in and is now speaking quite a bit, so much so sometimes I have to stop for a moment to figure out if she is speaking Spanish or just a babbling in kid speech. LOL
We go over and over the numbers, colours, and other common words and phrases and she is picking up so much of it! I'm sad that I waited so long but glad that we are doing it now because at least I know that Buddy will know no different, Spanish will just be a part of his every day!
This past week we have been speaking so much of it, constantly moving back and forth between Spanish and English that it's just become a part of our every day conversation. I even did it at work the other day not even noticing when I asked someone "¿Cómo estás? How are you?" Then today at playgroup I got a few strange looks as the other Mom's heard me speaking Spanish. My Spanish is broken and I definitely don't have the proper accent but I figure the more and more we do it, over time I'll learn and so will the kids!
I'm happy for them to be learning a new language and have gained a greater respect for anyone who can speak more than just one!
It sure isn't easy, especially as an adult, to learn a new language and I feel bad for Mr. Rooster who must be getting a bit sick of me asking over and over, "¿Cómo se dice.." which means "How do you say..." and then I'll ask him the word in English and get him to translate!

Up, up and away!!!

Today Carebear ate Cheerios with milk for the fist time. I'm not sure why I haven't given this to her before, maybe in my mind she seemed a bit too young or wouldn't know how to eat a liquid off a spoon. Strange I know, but I just never gave it much thought. Recently breakfast time has gotten a bit boring around here and today to spice things up I thought I would give cereal with milk a try.
Well she loved it! She thought it was neat and gobbled it up :) so I guess I can now try other liquids on a spoon like soup!
She has grown up so much in the past little while (I know, kids have a tendency to do that LOL) but it just seems like it's leaps and bounds and not the smaller progressions like I'm used to.
She's speaking so much more now, and using harder, complex words and speaks Spanish more and more (she already knows more than I do LOL).
Buddy is getting around a lot these days and loves to talk up a storm! Lovely "Da, da, da's", "Ma, ma, ma's" and the ever so famous, "Blah, blah, blah!" I love it!
They just keep growing up faster than I'm ready for most days and all I hear is that it's just going to get faster and faster the older they get!
I'm holding on to every memory I can and savouring every minute we have together!

Mr. Rooster is the best Daddy in the world and will do anything to humour his little princess!

Miss Manners

I was raised with manners. With 4 young girls all within 8 years of each other my Mother could take us anywhere and we would NEVER act up, we were the most well behaved kids you had ever seen. The reason for this was our Mother taught us manners, respect and discipline.
She not only taught us these important things but enforced them daily. This is not to suggest that we grew up with no fun but we were expected to use our manners at all times.
This meant more than the common "please" and "thank you" but also the ever forgotten "May I", and "Pardon me."
I always say, "Manners are free but they're priceless" and I try my best to live my life by this motto!
It doesn't take much to be polite but it seems to be something that most have forgotten. So much so that when I find a polite person they almost seem to stand out from everyone else.
It's not easy to be polite in our "Me First" society and that's why I strive even more to be as well mannered as I can. We're all human and we make mistakes but a bit of effort goes a long way.
I am doing what I can to teach my children more than just manners but the value of manners, in English and Spanish and it's starting to pay off!
I often hear Carebear using her manners when asking for something and saying thank you when receiving it, and also saying "por favor" and "gracias" for her Spanish. We've started to get her to ask to be excused from the table and always ask before taking something from her brother and has to give him something new to play with in return!
There are so many cute examples but I'll only write a few. Today when I sneezed I heard this cute little voice from the other room say, "Bless you Mama!". Then later she wasn't looking where she was going and walked into me, her response was, "Sorry Mama." as she toddled away.
It makes my heart melt to hear little kids using their manners.