checking in

Checking in seemed to be last week's theme. I got to hear from a couple of people I haven't heard from in a very long time. It was so great talking to N and I am so excited for her and her new job. If you are reading this N, we will so totally be looking you up next time we are in T.O.!

E's Peruvian Dance class is going well. I love all the folks there. They are so sweet as they indulge me in practicing my Spanish on them. Our Spanish class is going well too. For homework, our teacher has us do 2 sentences a day using the vocabulary covered in the previous class. It is a wonderful way to reinforce what we have learned. My parents are doing really well, especially my dad. The calibre of his sentences is very high. For his birthday, I have ordered a Spanish Fly package. I had originally thought of giving this to E, but given that it is recommended for kids 8 years and older, it may be a little advanced for her. I think my dad will get a kick out of it. E will get to follow along as the two of them have their own little Spanish club where they trade new words. This "toy" will certainly get some use. I am a little curious to try it out myself..

Speaking of toys, while E was at a birthday party, I was able to sort through the toys that we are bringing to Peru. I have hidden most of the toys from E, by just tossing them in my closet, so that she will also be surprised when they are presented . I wish I had done the sorting sooner as we went to buy a gift for M but there are some new toys I have decided are too big to bring to Peru that would have made lovely gifts for M's birthday party. Oh well, I am a couple steps ahead for Christmas gifts this way. :)

It was satisfying to get the gifts sorted. I will no longer be bidding on Spanish toys on ebay. The ones I have already take up 1/2 a medium sized suitcase and the toys for E take up the other half...and I still need to add the books! I have about 30 Spanish children's books to bring to Peru and another 30 for Ecuador. I read somewhere about a mover who learned to appreciate people who collect stuffed animals over those who collect books and now I know why. :) Some of the toys we are bringing are stuffies so that should offset some of the weight.

One of the coolest things I am bringing is a case of Leappad books and a Leappad reader. The storage case holds 12 books and cartridges. I have 6 in English and 6 in Spanish. I picked up the Spanish leappad books off of ebay and they are in awesome shape, you wouldn't know they are second hand! Sadly, the English books are not as crisp but they shouldn't get any worse now that they can be stored neatly in this case. Thanks Mom for picking up that case!

Now some of you already know that E has a tag reader that she received for Christmas last year. The tag reader is the newer technology that replaces the leappad reader. However, the tag reader has a smaller library of Spanish books, we only have 2. So once again, I find myself regressing toward older technology much like I did with my philosophy on VHS and CRT. I have my reasons.

Call me a luddite if you will, but I think there is room for both old and new technology where small children are concerned. And if you don't believe me, I have a whole shelf full of viable kids VHS cassettes but the kids DVD's are hit and miss. Similarly, all the fingerprints on my daughter's CRT monitor are harmless where they wouldn't be on an LCD.

And there you have it, you heard it here first, my nest is finished and now the true waiting begins...