The Big DRAMA of the 4 year o...Squirrel!!!

These last couple of days, Pablo and I have been laughing at Lorena's drama. Yes, I know, that sounds bad. Let me explain.

I went to teach a class (tutoring) on Sunday, and Pablo and the girls had stayed home. They had picked many strawberries from our garden and saved some for me. The following day, I was going to eat my strawberries but Lorena really wanted for me to split them up. Yes, I could have, but more strawberries are coming all the time, and we wanted her to be able to do without. She started dramatically crying, like it was the end of the world: "BUAH!!! BUAH!!! I DON'T HAVE ANY STRAWBERRIES, I WANT SOME... BUAH! BUAH!...", then, all of a sudden she changed her tone to a normal voice and pointed out the door, "SQUIRREL!", and then went back to her end-of-the-world-tone dramatic crying.

If you have already seen UP, the new Pixar movie, you will have probably found this hilarious. If you haven't, the dogs in the movie are allowed to talk via a machine invented by their owner. They still talk like you'd imagine dogs would talk. Here, take a peek at least 40 seconds into this short. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxoWHeoYU3g While the dogs are dramatically chasing and almost catching the stories heroes, they get distracted all the time by the sight of squirrels.

Fast forward a couple of days. We had had breakfast already, and Lorena, AGAIN, was crying for whatever reason. She cries and it can almost break your heart, she is so convincing; except of course, that half the things she cries for are tiny inconsequential little things. This, by the way, has been a huge part of being 4 for both our girls. Anyway, I am holding her to comfort her as I listen to her her broken voice, and then, just like the other day, she cheerfully says "VITAMIN!!", pointing to the bottle on top of the fridge.

Pablo and I were thinking that she is really like the dogs in the movie. Then we got worried, is this a sign of ADHD? Lorena does seem to get distracted awfully easy. Then it dawned on me, we are guilty! How many times, over the years, have we resorted to distraction to get them over the little disappointments in life? For example, when they are crying after falling down on the playground, and we cheerfully say "airplane!"; or while they are tired of being in the car, "doggie!!!". So maybe, she has just internalized this.

Regarding ADD/ADHD, Lorena is just so aware of every little thing that she finds it harder to concentrate. Arantxa lives in her head and in her stories more, frequently oblivious to outside stimuli. A few days ago we were talking in the car about stopping to eat somewhere. The 3 of us were discussing where we'd go to, while Arantxa was, as usual, reading. When the car stopped and we were ready to get out, Arantxa asked, "why did the car stop? where are we going?".

Lorena, on the other hand, is always listening and always observing. She is the one that will point out to something I change in the house. She compliments me on clothes I haven't worn in a long time asking me if they are new and where I got them. She is happily playing about, but will jump into the conversation we are having in a different room. So, yes, Lorena seems to be distracted very easily because all the information that she is surrounded with seems relevant to her.

Lorena singing both languages.

Like most preschoolers, I guess, Lorena loves to sing. She really, really does and is frequently seen both singing made up songs, or songs she learns in preschoo, or those from her favorite musicals (Annie, Sound of Music, Mary Poppins).

Yesterday she was singing in the car. She started in English and switched to Spanish at the end. She ends up by saying her name in both English and Spanish. Most people find it funny and interesting how they pronounce differently according to their target audience.

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