State of the Offspring Address - March 2013

Looking back, there haven't been that many new developments this month. Nora did turn four years old, which was important. Her writing has improved to the point where she can write her name every time without problems. My parents have been visiting for a week now and the forced use of English is good for Nora, although it certainly doesn't seem to be causing her any extra stress or difficulty. She's off from school now for eleven days of Spring Break. Nora has been doing some more extra-curricular socializing than before. One day she went over to her best friend, Claudia's, house to play, and another day she went to her friend, Carmen's house. And Claudia has come over twice to play at our house after school. Nora is delighted to have a friend visit at her house, but she will only go to a friend's house if her parent is also there with her. Hopefully we can slowly phase out our presence in these amicable excursions.

The day she came back from Claudia's house, she looked like this. Apparently they had had a make-up party, taking turns painting each other's faces. I don't remember any of that from my childhood.

She's been having an awful lot of fun playing with my parents. The three of them really wear each other out, and are very ready for bed in the evenings. A lot of it is role-play, like teacher-student or mommy-baby sort of things. All of it is adorable to watch…at least for the first ten times they repeat each idea.

Making chocolate chip cookies with Grandma. The Spanish make all kinds of pastries, but almost no homemade cookies, and certainly not chocolate chip ones. Strange.

As in past visits, Nora has bonded, with the power of the strongest industrial glues, to her grandmother, insisting on going everywhere with her. When I tell Nora to come upstairs with me to get dressed, she says, "Okay, but Grandma has to come, too." That sort of thing, all day long.

She's fond of her grandfather, as well.

Overall, they've been having a wonderful time.

The state of the offspring is strong!

By the next State of the Offspring address, the number of offspring may have doubled…

Stay tuned!!