American in Spain

Holy Cow! Snow! Nora's First Snow

December 10, 2010

Holy Cow! Snow! (video frame)The first time you see snow, it really is a wonderful experience. One of the optional homework assignments we left with my parents along with Nora when we visited San Francisco recently was to teach her to say "Holy cow!" It was Marga's idea, as she finds the expression particularly humorous; euphemisms in foreign languages often are. Sure enough, when returned, she knew how to say "Holy cow!" (her approximation sounds more like "Hota tao!") and put her hand to her head whenever she was surprised. On our last day with my parents, we were having lunch before driving to the airport, and it began to snow. Nora totally flipped out. She demanded to be put down from her high chair and ran to the window. I had to delete some boring cable car footage to make room, but I was able to record some of her amazement on video.

It's funny when her mother takes her out to touch the snow, and as soon as it starts crunching underfoot and falling on her head, she wants to get the heck back inside as soon as possible.

Several times, since getting back to Spain, she will remember this moment and start saying "Nooo!" (she has trouble starting words with the S sound), "Uh oh!", "Hota tao!", and "Oh my!"