Some things they have said this year

We were at a public restroom and there was something different about the sinks/faucets. I guess she wanted to close it, but it was automatic (press on, but stops on its own). Lorena said, "look, that is quite a spectacle!". "Mira mamá, es todo un espectáculo".

I did not let her get her shirt off for a car ride. It was cold outside and I did not want her only in her undershirt. "Mom, you are destroying my world" (In Spanish she used the reflexive, so this was my best translation: "me estás destruyendo el mundo").

I prepared "cochinita pibil" some time ago, Arantxa loved and as she asked for seconds she asked, ""mom, can I please have the recipe?". "Mamá, ?me puedes dar la receta por favor?". She had suggested that it would be a good idea to keep hers and Lorena's favorite recipes handy for when they got married or went to live on their own.

Lorena, describing parallel play. After Arantxa's party.
- Hey, Lorena, what were you playing with C yesterday?
- We were sitting next to each other playing with Little People, but she was playing her game and I was playing mine. We were not really playing together. What a hassle! She did not want to play the same thing. "Estábamos sentadas juntas jugando con Little People, pero ella estaba de su lado jugando su juego, y yo de mi lado jugando el mío. No estábamos jugando juntas. !qué lata"! Ella no quería que jugáramos la misma cosa."

Lorena, being annoyed AND annoying. It was my turn to choose music on the car, so I turned to NPR. "Argh! No aguanto el radio, por favor, alguien, ayúdeme a quitarme la cabeza. (mientras se la jalaba para arriba) !AAAH! Por favor, quien sea, ayuden a que me quite la cabeza. El mundo sería MÁS MEJOR si no tuviera mi cabeza y no pudiera escuchar el radio"."I can't stand the radio, please, somebody help me pull my head out. "Remove my head! (while actually pulling her head up). Please, someone, help me remove my head! The world would be more better if I did not have my head, I wouldn't have to listen to the radio" Does anybody else thinks she might be slightly over reacting? Ah, the drama never ends!

The next 2 are Arantxa being profound and self-reflective.

1) Pondering on the conscience.
"We (humans) are made of 2 parts;l one is the voice that tells you what you have to do, like no hitting; but there is another part that just does the things. Sometimes the parts are connected, and one can stop the other one; but sometimes those 2 parts are completely separate". "Estamos (humanos) hechos de dos partes, una es la voz que te dice lo que debes hacer, como no pegar; pero hay otra parte que solo hace las cosas. A veces las partes están conectadas y una puede detener a la otra; pero a veces las 2 partes están completamente separadas".
And no, she was not trying to get out of trouble, I guess her 2 parts had been connected that whole day.

2) Pondering on personal space and explaining this to Lorena. Apparently it was a concept she though of herself, she had not read/heard about it. "It is like everybody has a bubble, and if someone else comes to close to your bubble it bursts. Voice can come in the bubble, and sometimes hands." We all then later elaborated on how very loud voices can indeed burst the bubble, and how everybody's bubble is a different size. "Lorena, es como si cada quien tuviera una burbuja, y si alguien se acerca mucho a tu burbuja, se rompe. La voz si puede entrar a tu burbuja y a veces las manos".

Did Lorena understand? Sort of. The three of us were eating out, and we were seated in a circular booth, Lorena in the middle. Arantxa had to approach to get Purell for her hands, so I explained to Lorena that Arantxa was going to get close. After all hands were clean, Arantxa scooted back, but not all the way to her original "place". Lorena turned to me and said, "Mom, Arantxa entered OUR bubble". "Mamá, Arantxa se metió a NUESTRA burbuja". I had to explain that bubbles were personal.

A final one from Lorena. "I don't need protein, there was Hawaiian pizza at my school's Valentine party yesterday, it had Canadian bacon; so I don''t need any protein". "Yo no necesito proteína, hubo Pizza Hawaiiana en la fiesta de San Valentín de mi escuela, y tenía lomo canadiense, así que no necesito proteína."

The last one from Arantxa. She was dictating thank you notes to me. "The flower you drew was very detailed and it looks like a real flower. I loved it! The way you drew the picture made me imagine myself in a garden with giant flowers and the sun shining down on me."