chinaGirlLove

But how does she understand so much?

Daisy Yang Guo has been home since summer.  We received her when she was 22 months old and now she's a split second past being two and "truly two" in almost every single way!  I pinch myself at how smooth her transition has been and even that of her older sister, my six year old Gianna for whom we are about to celebrate her 5th Family Day and 6th birthday.  I had my catcher's mitt on for any unforeseen trauma or bonding drama but what I've received is a funny, smart, silly, beautiful little girl with whom there is a trusting and loving relationship between myself, her older sister and Husband Man.

While I have a mother's helper that speaks Cantonese (and is only available every couple of weeks) and we have studied Mandarin for 4 years, basically Daisy has had to re-boot her language computer and I simply die at how much she understands.  To be certain, in working from home I often speak with 3 - word sentences and much gesturing and a little bit of sign language thrown in, but just the same, I'm truly in awe of the learning process.  And naturally, more than anything I hope I am / we are doing it all in the best possible way for Daisy.  I recently learned from someone who adopted a slightly older child that it's important to not let the first language "die."  So with that, I will often put on songs or cartoons in Cantonese via youtube.  But frankly, I don't know that Daisy understands.