First Words

I will admit I am very excited about having Ross close by. I didn't get to do as much with just the two of us when he was little as I would have liked. Maybe we'll have more of those chances now.

When you have a child it is always fun to remember first words. When we adopted Ross he was very careful not to say anything at all. We stayed in a little apartment in Guatemala City while the paper work was being processed. He was the epitomy of silence. Try as we could we could get nothing to part from his lips. Ross' attempts at learning english was a delight but for now I will discuss his first words. Ross was close to 4 so he could talk. I had a little picture book I would read to him in Spanish and point and ask him what animals they were. He was careful, very careful to never respond. However he eventually slipped up and out came "gato" or cat. He quickly placed his hands over his lips at the idea of being caught. The second word was when he climbed into a cold shower and exclaimed with Latin exuberance, "Ai, Yi Yi," when the shock of the cold water hit. Later he poked his had out of the door when a thunderstorm drifted over and distinctly said "Mama Mia," to the clap of thunder.

We were walking down the street with Annelisa and Ross was right behind us. I heard him very softly but distinctly say, "Mama y Papa, y Bebe y Gilberto, somos familia" which translated says Mom and Dad and baby and Gilberto (his name) we are a family. Finally the last day, I took Ross to a Doctors appointment. Well the doctor brought me into a room while the nurse took Ross into another room, mind you Ross was still not speaking. The Doctor was rattling off to me in Spanish and I understood one tenth of what he said. After a few minutes Ross comes running back into the room screaming to the top of his lungs, "Papa, Papa, Papa" and climbs on my lap wanting to be rescued from that scary nurse. After that he talked. More Rossisms another day.