My Silly Little Sister... or was it me that was the Silly One???

Ayana is constantly surprising us with her level of comprehension. She seems to understand everything that goes on around her! She is really smart, and is picking up English just like that. She's good enough to be able to have a normal conversation with her (as normal as a conversation with any 2 1/2 year old can be!). In fact, the paediatrician said, at their last check up, that Ayana is completely on target with language for her age... for kids BORN here. And she's ESL!! I am so proud of her. Every day she says something that completely surprises me, and I had no idea that she knew. For example, yesterday we were driving to go to Maplewood Farm (this really cute farm, with a petting zoo that we occasionaly visit- I'll post about it soon!) and we drove through a tunnel. Well, in those tunnels, it gets darker, so Ayana was very surprised.
Our conversation was as follows:

Ayana: Oh! Lights out! Who did that?
Me: I don't know! What do you think?
A: Silly lights. In house.
E: What? What house?
A: Lights out in house. Ayana, Rara, Mama, Meme, Joshua, Doya and car in house.
E: Oh.. we turn the lights out in the house. Are we in a house right now?
A: Yup! House!

Just then we drove out of the "house", and continued on the freeway.
Ayana turned around to see the "house".

A: See Rara? There house.
E: Where?
A: Right there house! Gosh!

It wasn't so much the conversation on a whole, it was just the little things that made it up. She had seen the lights go "out", and wondered what happened. Then, remembering that inside we can turn lights on and off, she figured that we must be in a house! So, when I didn't quite understand, she had to wait until we got out of the house, in order to show me (I don't always get Ayana's logic. I am a bit silly, and she often has to show me exactly how everything works, because.. Gosh! Rara is so silly and grownup. Of course Ayana, a two year old knows better than her! :P). How silly I am! Of course we were in a house! Gosh Rara!

Anyway, its just little things like that that continue to amaze me. Another example happened just last night. Ayana was having her bath, and afterwards, my mom sat her down to take out her braids. This isn't Ayana's favourite pass-time, but she sat still, and was generally a good little girl. When they were all done, I went upstairs to see.. and it was hilarious! Ayana's hair was all poufed up from her head, in a HUGE afro!! It was so crazy, which I said out loud. A little while later, I was sitting in my room reading a book, when Ayana and Moses burst in to say goodnight (I love it when they come in, all cuddly, and want to give me hugs and kisses! Unless, of course, its Moses, at about 7 in the morning, which he is known to do! But then again, what better way to wake up, that to pudgy fingers slapping your arm, and slobbery kisses all over your face? Hmmmm....). Moses came over, and gave me a huge hug and kiss, saying, "Ni-ni! Ahwowo!", which is generally used for "Night Night! I love you!" Although, he does sometimes use it to mean other things! :D

So then Ayana came to me, to give me a hug and kiss goodnight, but before she did, she stopped, and said, "Look Rara!" and pointed at her hair, which had been moisterised, and slathered full of the leave in conditioner they have to have. It was very cute, and curly, and not huge and crazy at all. I said to her,
"Oh, very nice!" She looked at me rather sternly and said, "Its not crazy. Its cute." I laughed and laughed, and told her that, yes, her hair was beautiful, and not crazy anymore. She looked at me slightly suspiciously, but decided that it was good enough, and gave me the nice big cuddly hug and kiss goodnight that I love so much.

She's so funny! I seriously don't know how we ever did without her to make us laugh. And of course Moses does his fair share of entertaining! He loves to sing, and dance, to whatever music is available. I'm sure that's its a reflex reaction, because the moment music comes on, his shoulders jiggle, and his arms wave around, and he starts to bob around the house (or carseat, or high chair, or playroom...you get the point!)

He's doing very well with his level of understanding, and his lanuage too. Yesterday my mom came outside with him, and asked my dad where Josh was. My dad replied that "Josh is climbing the tree." The minute he said that, Moses turned around, and stared at the tree, until he could pick out Josh among the leaves, and then pointed to him, and shouted triumphantly at my mom "Jaja! Jaja! Jaja!" He can totally understand everything we say to him!
Here's an updated list of his words I have to warn you.. its long! In fact, there's no way I can put it all down.. I'll just give you a sample! :D

~car= cah
~truck= tuck (although lately he's been saying Turuck)
~bird= tweet tweet
~tree= twee/turee
~chicken= chickie

~bike= bak

~book= book.. yay he's got this one!

~walk= wuk

~more= mo mo mo (he never says it once. He has to say it three times at least!)

~no= NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!

~yes= owe (for some reason, he says that in Amharic... he probably picked it up from Ayana, as she still says it sometimes)

~there= dere

~I love you= some version of Ahwow, although if you get him to repeat after you, it goes something like this:
"I"... "Ah"

"Love"...."Uh"

"You"... "MEEE!" this last part is said with a grin.. he knows exactly what he's saying!

~Mummy= Mama

~Daddy= Baba

~Erin= Rara

~Megan= Meme (said Mee-Mee)

~Joshua= Jaja

~Ayana= Callie (we REALLY have no idea where this came from. It was her nickname at the orphanage, and it comes from Kalkidan, her birthgiven name. But he was only 7 months when we brought him home, and we almost never call her that, except at the very beginning.. How on earth does he know that??)

~Moses- DuhDuh (An attempt to say DoyDoy, which is his nickname from the orphanage, that has just seemed to stick. I almost never call him Moses!)

~go= GO!

~bad= ba

~dog= do/woof-woof

~gosh= goh (I know, slightly strange for a one year old, but "Gosh" was kind of a family joke for a while- someone I knew always said it- and Ayana and Moses both picked it up right away! :S Ooops!)

~cheese= CHEEEEEEE!!!! (he says this any time he sees anything resembling a camera, and screws his face up into a cheesy- no pun intended!:P- grin which slightly resembles a grimace. Because of this, we have several nice video clips of Moses standing in front of the camera, hands behind his back, face in a little.. "grin", saying "CHEEEEEE! (breath) CHEEEEEEE! (breath) CHEEEEEEEEEEEE! (breath) CHEEEEEEEEEE!" and so on, until my mom laughed, and told him to say hello. Which reminds me.....)
~Hello= Hewwo!

~Bye= ba/ba-ba

~rabbit/bunnie= buhee (he says this anytime he sees me getting rabbit food out to go and feed our three darling little dwarf rabbits.. I'll post a picture of them sometime!)

Well, I think you get the picture! I should go now, because I'm really trying hard to post a video I made for Gotcha Day. I know that was almost a week ago, but the computer is just not letting me post it!! So, this is my final attempt.. lets hope it works! :S Keep your fingers crossed!