And Yaya is now 70 months old! Two more months before the big S-I-X!
[[image:2014-yaya70month-05.jpg:Demure young lady:center:0]]
* Mouse over the pictures for captions
It has been an eventful and social month. Really beginning from being on the east coast in April for two weeks where we saw work friends and relatives. Zarin stayed with us for almost 10 days in May (see pictures of that visit in another entry to be written later), and then we went on vacation to Orange Beach and New Orleans (separate blog entries for those as well).
Food status: some exciting news! Yaya ate seven disc-shaped pieces of carrot (chewed, swallowed, and enjoyed!). She also tried celery, but did not like it. She also ate bits of apple (not a resounding success like the carrot pieces were). So we are pleased! Yaya has earned some new toys/games now!
Reading status: still the same. She seems to have trouble focusing but we aren’t pushing her too hard right now. I think her brother can read better than she can right now, but we are still working on it. She does have a pretty good vocabulary for an almost 6-year-old. She asks if she does not understand a word and we define it for her (ask Zarin about the inconvenience of the definition of inconvenient) and once she thinks she understands the word, she wants examples and wants to use the word. So that is at least something. The one thing she doesn’t ask about words is how to spell it! Argh! I’m starting to wonder if perhaps she is having issues with her eyes – time to make an appointment with the optician! And hopefully it won’t be Pedro Pony’s dad. Although I’m sure Yaya would not mind that.
I bought some Enid Blyton books to read to Yaya. She is LOVING The Enchanted Wood, one of Hisham’s and my old favorites. We both wish we could have a slippery slip in our house (I used to try to dream up ways to incorporate one into our house, growing up). It’s amazing how well she is responding to this. She was not very interested in the Harry Potter book which surprised me. But go back to the old favorite.
All right, let’s get to the pictures. First, here is a bunny by our mailbox. It looked like a domestic pet that escaped. We kept our distance and could not help thinking of Jen and her bunny experiences. We couldn’t bring the bunny in as Lily would shred it to pieces. It disappeared so I am guessing its owner found it and took it back home. Couldn’t have been from too far away.
[[image:2014-yaya70month-01.jpg:Bunny!:center:0]]
Yaya has expressed interest in learning the violin in the past:
[[image:2014-yaya70month-03.jpg:Fooling around with her violin:center:0]]
Adik was super interested in it but wanted to play it like a guitar. Surprisingly, Yaya has asked me to teach her some piano! In the past she has always not been interested nor amenable to me showing her a few things. Maybe it is time to find her a proper teacher for both instruments so she gets a real taste of it.
[[image:2014-yaya70month-04.jpg:Two-handed five-finger scales:center:0]]
Yaya at play:
[[image:2014-yaya70month-02.jpg:Bubbles bubbles!:center:0]]
[[image:2014-yaya70month-08.jpg:Everybody loves Spidey!:center:0]]
[[image:2014-yaya70month-09.jpg:Elmo and Zoe (is that Zoe?):center:0]]
[[image:2014-yaya70month-10.jpg:Showing Adik how to slide independently, in tandem:center:0]]
[[image:2014-yaya70month-11.jpg:Or not!:center:0]]
[[image:2014-yaya70month-16.jpg:More playground fun:center:0]]
Some pictures of Yaya with her family:
[[image:2014-yaya70month-06.jpg:With Papa at Cracker Barrel:center:0]]
[[image:2014-yaya70month-07.jpg:Take our picture, Mama!:center:0]]
[[image:2014-yaya70month-12.jpg:This photo reminds me of an old picture of Hisham and myself waiting for our parents at an emporium:center:0]]
[[image:2014-yaya70month-13.jpg:Love Adik!:center:0]]
Her special art project made for Papa: a Spongebob Squarepants made out of a sponge and paper cut out and glued. It was really cool!
[[image:2014-yaya70month-15.jpg:Yaya and her spongey Spongebob:center:0]]
Happy 70-month birthday, baby girl! We love you!
[[image:2014-yaya70month-14.jpg:Cheese!:center:0]]
