oiseaux!

puerto escondido, mexico 

v e e
v s .
t h e    b i r d s

bern, switzerland

shake it vee!

(in a restaurant in puerto escondido)

   
(outside a shopping center in neuchatel)

18 months

t h e    m o n t h    o f    w o r d s

it started
in early february
with the word
"hot"
as i was warning
her about
touching
the red lever
on the water cooler
outside
in the palapa...





soon
she began
to repeat
many words
we said to her
and
she clearly
understood
what they meant.

hot
light
bubbles
book
agua
aretes
chat
hop
cheese
please
all done
c'est tout

i find it
interesting
that
as her speech
develops
she often
babbles-
a nonsensical
string of
unintelligible
words
that
we
associate
with toddlers.
i realize
that she
is trying out
new sounds.
recognisable words
can be heard
among the babble.

sometimes
the sounds
are mostly
french,
sometimes
the sounds
are clearly
english.



she clearly
prefers words
in certain languages
over others.

aqua, not water
light, not lumière
chat, not cat or kitty

an accumulation
of words
in the language
of valérie.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

this month
we left
sunny 
mexico...











and headed to
the northwest...



via texas...




and stayed
in
rainy 
seattle
for a few weeks...

with
grub's clan,
grandma & grandpa...







where
vee was
obsessed
with
le chat.




then
visiting friends...




and
ending up
with
the bugheart clan...





including
a special visit
from her
great aunts
(tante omas)!



but
vee had
eyes only
for
le chien.

"charlie"
(the dog's name)
was her favorite
word to say.



then
we
finally
headed
home.
to
cold
switzerland.




it seemed
like
a very long
month.

we were
exhausted.



and
another
month had
gone by...

xo

17 months

t h e    m o n t h    o f    o m i



vee spent
most of
this month
with her omi.



vee quickly
learned
that omi
was a lot
of fun.

she played
silly games
with her
and made
her laugh a lot.
her favorite
was to be
chased around
the dining room table.

omi
also
sang
her songs
she had never
heard before.
her favorite
was
häschen in der grube.
she also liked
alle kleine entchen.





























when omi
went back
to seattle
vee missed
her...



but soon
she will
see her again
in seattle!

xo

16 months

life in mexico
was amazing
but overwhelming.
i fell behind
and then
the backlog
was overwhelming.

now is the time
to begin
to
catch up.




t h e    m o n t h    o f    m o v e m e n t




we began our stay
in mexico with
a little girl
who held
our hand
(or the
nearest
solid object)
as she explored
the world.

















but
on christmas day
she realized
she no longer
needed to hold
onto things
anymore...
















and so
her
independence
begun.

with the
occasional
return
to
home base.



but of course,
this was
just the beginning...



xo