A Little Pre-South Africa Update

What we're listening to:

Can't get away from those Tiny Cities (I forgot to mention last time: this album holds a special place at least in my heart, since we played it constantly during the first couple of weeks after bringing Anya home from the hospital, when we were just figuring out that she was a pretty colicky baby. This was the music to which we did that legendary baby-soothing shuffle that folks from Marc Weissbluth to Harvey Karp love to talk about)

Pierre Akendengue, Espoire a Soweto (OK, so we won't be staying in Southwest Township exactly, but we are getting pretty amped up for our South Africa trip)

La Bamba: Sones Jarochos from Veracruz

Ravi Shankar, Three Ragas



What we're saying:

ball: "baw," "bah," "boe"

water: yes, "wa-wa" does appear to mean all things liquid, from milk (sometimes interchangeable with "nam-nam"), to water or juice, to coffee, tea, wine or beer (referring to when big people are drinking them), to water from the faucet or in the bathtub

diaper: "day-ba"



(OK, I hope you won't get grossed-out by a few bathroom-related words, but, hey, that's life with a toddler...)



ca-ca: I guess this one's universal. I can actually see where the word may naturally arise from, since Russians encourage babies to make a little grunting noise when trying to go to the bathroom, and it's really just a slight shift from there to "ka-ka"

pee-pee: "pay-pee" (easily confused with "bay-bee" but decicedly not the same thing)



Clearly our bathroom related vocabulary is growing, even if the connection made between relieving ourselves and actually hitting the pot is not yet really within our (OK, just Anya's, thankfully) grasp.



A: "ay" (Usually quickly followed by "Anya," in recognition of what most important function this letter often fulfills. [Yes, I think that a combination of the A-shaped Anya cookies and the talking Alphabet Pal toy my mom gave Anya for Christmas is surprisingly helping Anya really recognize the letter A, and say its name correctly. Pretty cool.])

cock-a-doodle-doo (which in Russian basically translates to "ku-ka-re-ku"): "kakaraga"

peek-a-boo: "pyka-paw" (rhymes with "Ty kuda," as in "where-ya-go, where-ya-go")

ice: "ais" (and the recent weather here, hovering around -12C, but going down to -20 last night, has given us plenty of opportunity to practice that one!)



What we're eating:

homemade sourdough bread, made from daughter-starter scooped from the jar of our neighbor, Noriko

(Anya especially likes sourdough grilled ham and cheese sandwiches)

Ginger chicken a la Madhur Jaffrey



What we're reading:

I am on an 18th century jag -- finished the masterly, truly inspiring New York Burning, and now am on to The Speckled Monster, but am reading it intermittently with The Oracle Bones.

And surely I will pick up something interesting in South Africa, too.

Mid-November Update

What we're watching:

(and listening to...) Springsteen's 2001 MSG concert DVD

(and squirming, and hiding, and finally unable to finish...) Borat

30 Rock

(and feeling some guilt...) Beauty and the Geek (hey, it follows 30 Rock on our satellite TV)



What we're listening to:

Dylan's greatest hits, vol. 2, disc 2

REM's Murmur and Out of Time

Modest Mouse's We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank



What we're reading:

Intoasia.com's guide to Bangkok

Lonely Planet Seoul (thanks to my mom for leaving it here)

The Beer Lover's Rating Guide (the smallest people have the most unexpected reading tastes...)



What we're eating:

Cheese grits squares

Squashed pinto beans and pasta shells

More leftover improvised Mexican pork stew



Where we have the potential to view cats this weekend:

At home

At the Vladivostok cat show

At the visiting circus show "Lynxes and Wild Boars"