I haven't decided if I will return to this blog... Perhaps I will start another instead. But for today, I will give you a little update.
Valentina is growing like a weed. I don't have her current measurements in front of me now, but she is right on target for her height, and while she is on the skinny side, she is well with get the range of normal and healthy! She is long, and lanky like her father. I am convinced she will have his height and leanness. Her hair is a lot darker than mine was at her age, but it is certainly a lot like my natural color... Dark strawberry blonde. And her eyes.. Hazel brown. (I am hazel green, daddy is brown, so her golden eyes are very unique here in Portugal, and in general!)
Developmentally, we are a little behind agede in some respects, but I think given the circumstances, she is on target, maybe even advanced in some ways.
Valentina speaks predominantly Portuguese, but uses command words in English. She knows her ABCs (almost perfectly!) in Englisg, and can count to something around 15 in English, 10 in Portuguese. She knows her colors, shapes, and animals and correlating sounds in English, and has some letter/ word identification. For example, if I show her a flash card with the letter H, instead of saying "horse," she will say "neigh!!!" We are only now stringing together short sentences, but she sings songs from start finish (ABCs, I'm A Little Teapot, Baa Baa Black Sheep, On Top of Spaghetti, Wheels on the Bus, etc).
Valentina is obsessed with the film, Annie. We watch it 3x a day. She sings, dances and acts out the parts. Shaun the Sheep and Timmy Time are also big favorites in this house. There is nothing more joyful than hearing her giggle in the next room, curled up with her iPad, watching Shaun the Sheep.
Oh, and she is a freakin' terror. We routinely trash the living room, and is kinda terrible at cleaning up her toys., but we have arguments over the broom, the vacuum, and the mop. (She does a terrible job with these, too....)
Valentina loves the color purple, which is in fact, was a big surprise to me one day. I wasn't even really aware that she knew how to say the colors, or identify them correctly, until one day in the way to pick up big sister Bianca from school. I asked Vivi what her favorite color was, and she immediately responded with, "purple!"
Despite my best efforts, this kid is a night owl. She is 3 going on 17. Ready to rock and roll all night, sleep until noon if you let her. She is still obsessed with her monkey, loves coloring, play doh, dancing, singing, gardening, her baby dolls, putting on boots, sitting on the potty (no real success yet, but we are working on it).
She is caring, demonstrates a working knowledge of right and wrong, but is a total firecracker. Clearly the "ask for forgiveness is better then asking permission" philosophy is strong with this kid. (Sigh) Valentina loves soccer and Minnie Mouse. When Bianca is at school, she is always looking for "sissy," and is obsessed with Daddy. Obsessed.
She is becoming a great little swimmer, and enjoys her grandparents (Patsy, Poppa, and her Vovos in Portugal). And of course, loves her American doggies, Dappy, Dada, and Hudsie. And since I call my mom, Ma, a lot, she follows suit, bellowing, "MAAa!" to Skype my mama, every time I open my computer.
We start school in September. What else?!
How about some photos... ;D
That's all for now, folks!
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