Monday, August 24, 2009

spanish - lesson two

UPDATE: I just killed a fly with my bare-hand. That's right, my bare hand. And not just any hand... my LEFT hand. My non-dominant hand. Mr. Miyagi would be so proud. (And PETA would be ticked... but that's a whole other post.)
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Ok, here are the answers to your Spanish questions. None of this stuff goes together in the least, but I'll try to do better next time. I haven't had time today to even touch the computer or think about a blog post until now.

Where is the bathroom? - ¿Dónde está el baño?
(Pronounced: Doan-day es-tah el bahn-yo?)

** Whenever I type "ah", I'm indicating the "a" sound as in the word "father." And I have no clue how to really type these sounds out correctly. I took a Spanish phonetics class in college, and did rather well actually, but have NO IDEA how to do it anymore. I'm sure phoneticists - if that's what they're even called - and kindergarten teachers round the world are cringing. **

Somebody asked how to pronounce "flauta" (flute)... Ugh. I wish I could just say it for you... The closest I can get to typing the sound would be "flowtah," but it's not like flow, it's like the "flow" part of flower. The "au" in Spanish is close to the "ow" sound we say when we get hurt.

How do you say "I love you"?
The most common way to say "I love you" is "Te quiero."
Pronounced: tay key-err-oh


Another way is "Te amo."
Pronounced: tay ah-moe

But this one is reserved for very intimate loves, such as your significant other or your love for God... or at least that's my understanding. (Feel free to chime in, mis hispanohablantes, if you know/use it differently.)

How do you make the accent marks on the computer?
You can see all the ALT codes here, but these are completely useless to me, seeing as how I can't even remember what day of the week or even month of the year it is. The way I typically do it is in Microsoft Word, click Ctrl + ' + the vowel. Then I just copy and paste from Word to the Internet. I don't know how to do the tilde over the n that way. For that one (and for the capital letters, upside down exclamation and question mark) I do Insert, Symbol, change it to Latin-1, and you can find all the symbols you need. On second thought, maybe using the ALT codes is easier, but considering I write my address wrong half the time, I should probably just stay away from having to remember lots of numbers.

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Jonah update:

Jonah is eating much more these last few days (27 ounces the day before yesterday, 29 ounces yesterday, about 26 today), but he's also been throwing up A LOT more, so I don't know if the increased ounces are really doing a whole lot of good. Despite his eating inconsistencies and the massive spit-ups, though, he continues to gain about a half a pound most weeks.

Praise God!

His newest thing is constantly rubbing his feet together, which may be normal in baby development, but is bad for us. You can imagine the state of his feet and toes right now because of this new hobby. Not. Good. His right foot is especially bad. That was also the leg that had the huge calf blister, but thanks to an EB mommy (Thanks, Katie!) we kept Desitin (the original) on it, and by the time the skin sloughed off, the skin underneath was already mostly healed - not raw AT ALL!

Praise God!

He is at a really fun age right now, learning new things every day. Today he kept sticking his tongue in and out, in and out, over and over again, and even tried to click his tongue once or twice. He's really interested in that one and just stares and stares if you do it, trying to figure it out. So cute. We've figured out that his laugh is less of a true laugh, and more of a huge smile followed by a really high-pitched squeal. It's really adorable, but something tells me he's going to be an extremely loud three year old.

Praise God!

Anyway, today was much better than yesterday (which was good because I was on the verge of insanity by the time the day was over). God gave me exactly what I needed today: Matt's mom's help with dressing change and household chores (Thanks, Debbie!), for Jonah to take a three hour nap (most days he's only sleeping about an hour in the afternoons), and for no Niagara Falls gushers (he's not in bed yet, so knock on wood or don't count your chickens or don't talk about the no-hitter or... well, you get the idea.)

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Please be in prayer for Shaina tonight. Tomorrow is her first day of high school. I'm excited but extremely nervous for her, so I can just imagine how she feels.

Buena suerte, Shaina. Que Dios vaya contigo. (Look it up, kiddo, Spanish starts tomorrow!)

19 comments:

Tricia said...

I am glad today was a better day. I will keep praying for you. God bless. :)

Terah722 said...

Thanks for the pronunciation of flauta. I'm so glad that I can read Dora correctly to my daughter! :) It amazes me how much she has picked up from that show. She's 22 months and can count to 8 in Spanish and knows a few other words such as triangle and circle (I'm not going to try and spell those in Spanish!)

I feel for you majorly with the feet rubbing thing. My 7 month old that doesn't have EB has rubbed 4 toes raw, so I can imagine what it does to Jonah.

I'm so glad that today is going better for you. Motherhood in general definitely has its easy days and difficult days. I think the really rough ones just make us extra appreciative of the good ones!

You're always in my prayers (and my daughter's)! I'm hoping your have a great night with lots of sleep for you all (and me too!) Gotta run....my baby is up. Terah in Sarasota, Fl

michelle zuñiga sign4Dios@hotmail.com said...

Patrice No la conozco pero tengo un rato leyendo su blog y orando por su hijo. Soy misionara cristiana serviendo los sordos en noreste de mexico. me encanta sus lecciones de espanol...definitivamente palabras importante para la vida!! sigo orando por Ud, su esposo y su hijo- que Dios les fortalezca en la vida diaria. Fue una maestra como Ud quien me enseño español hace anos y pues Dios tenia un plan para usar este lenguaje. Si un dia necesita hablar espanol aqui estoy (aunque no digo que soy la unica o la mejor- solomente ofrezco) Que Dios Le bendiga mucho

Kelly Rose said...

Love the Spanish lessons. I have a minor in Spanish that I am not using and it is helping me to refresh by reading your blog! :)

Question about Jonah's feet? Would it help for him to wear booties? I have a pattern to make some from felt and I am pretty sure that I could at least put the seams on the outside so they wouldn't rub too bad inside the shoe. I certainly wouldn't charge you since they are so easy and felt is so inexpensive. My son wore them just to keep his feet warm for a while.

If you are interested, send me an email at kellyrose.meredith@gmail.com.

Also, I have loved your video and the latest pictures! If you want to see something for no other reason than to make you laugh, you can check out the recent videos of my 17 month old son, who is a ham....and is hilarious if I do say so myself!

I am so glad Jonah is eating well!

Kelly Rose said...

HAHA! forgot to leave my blog address!

http://nashvillepruitts.blogspot.com

seriously. he is funny....but i might be biased. who knows?

Stacy said...

FYI - to put the tilde over the n, hit ctl, shift, ~ all at the same time - lift up and then hit n and it will be an n with a tilde (you need the shift because the tilde sign is the "top" of the key (the one to the left of the one).

My students had to show this to me a couple years ago...hopefully it works for you.

blessings!

Libby said...

Thank you for the Spanish lesson! Hooray for Jonah eating more and Desitin. And I was amazed simply by how well it works on diaper rash...

Anonymous said...

So glad to hear that Jonah is doing better! I can't even imagine your frustration after reading yesterday's post. It sounds like he is eating like a champ. I don't keep track of how much Anthony takes in, but I know he is nowhere near Jonah! So, good job, little man! Keep it up!

Now the foot rubbing? That sounds horrible. I'm sure it must be frustrating because in one way you want to be excited that he is discovering new things, developing, etc, but knowing the damage he is doing must be so difficult. I'll be saying lots of prayers that the foot fetish passes quickly! Sometimes that's how those developmental things go. They are obsessed with something for a couple of days and then move on.

~Amy

Laura A said...

Hola, Senora! (Please forgive the lack of accent marks!)

Sounds like today was que buena? (Just a guess - my Spanish knowledge is a mixture of Texas Spanglish and all the years of Latin I took in high school!)

Anyway, am SO glad today is a better day, and that the Desitin is helping with the new skin. And you're right, he IS at a fun age - those videos capture him so perfectly, and I'm glad you're enjoying him.

My oldest two (in 3rd grade) brought home flash cards for their Spanish class. (This is the first year they'll have Spanish tests.) No phrases yet, just words - my favorites are "la tortuga," "la mujer," and "la abeja." (You're the Spanish expert, so I won't give you the translation!) I'll keep you posted on their progress.

Hope you have a peaceful, Niagara-Falls-free evening. Praying as always!

Love from TX!
Laura

Becca B. said...

Glad Jonah is bringing you so much pleasure! Babies are so fun and sweet. I love watching my little guy as he discoveres new things and explores sounds and textures and such. Its amazing to watch them, you can almost see the brain cells and dendrytes growing! LoL!

KK said...

Wash on, wash off....sorry couldn't resist! Glad you had a better day!

Claire said...

Still praying for you lovelies!

Cxx

Shaina said...

Hey!
I've been reading about Jonah since the beginning, and it certainly has been an up and down rollercoaster for you both!
I was just going to say that it throws me off every time you mention your neice, Shaina, because that's my name, too! It's very rare to find someone with that name and even rarer when it's spelled the same as mine as well. I wish her luck in high school!

Staci said...

Maybe you could do your spanish lessons on video and post them so you would be able to do the pronunciation instead of having to type it out? Thanks for doing them by the way. I never took Spanish but it's always fun to learn new things and teach the kids :)

Anonymous said...

Glad that the baby is doing better today, after reading your post yesterday i must have had you on my mind, because when i woke up in the middle of the night i thought about Jonah!! i have 2 grandsons and one on the way and i pray for Jonah , you and your husband every night!! You don't know me but i feel some connection. take care..

KirkKrew said...

Hi! I've followed your blog for some time, but don't think I've commented before. I just wanted to pass along a local news story that might be of interest to you: http://www.star-telegram.com/local/story/1553687.html

I'm not sure how similar her story is to yours.

Take care,
Jennifer

Wanda Wilkinson said...

WOW What talent killing a fly bare-handed with your left hand even!!!!!!!! Bring some excitement to your life...(just kidding)

Just want to say, I love that boy!!!!!! I find myself multiple times a day just going to watch his video & look at his pictures...He is adorable!!!!

One of my co-workers was looking at Jonah's birth announcement that is on my file cabinet, held up by one Jonah's magnets & she fell in love with him too. I had to open up the blog to show his new pictures.

ONe more person to pray for him & love him.

I know a big day is coming up Thursday...hard to believe.

Love, Prayers & hugs & kisses.

Anonymous said...

I was just wondering if you were not able to burp jonah because of the EB? When mine were little, they would spit up terrible if not they didnt get burped. And they will eat better if their tummies dont hurt so bad from the gas. The milicon drops cant do it all, babies swallow air all the time, and need to burp more than just at feeding time. Also, I noticed in your video he seems to gulp a lot of air, and have a lot of gas. He needs to sit up more and burp himself to get rid of the gas after laying back swallowing the air while playing..

Kelsey Marie said...

I put your little mans picture on my blog. I am very impressed. He's such a little cutie :)