March 3, 2009 by Barbara.

Reid’s been speaking more French at home lately, full sentences and in the right context, which makes sense given the feedback we’ve had from the teachers since January. Last night Reid demonstrated that she not only knows French words but also has a good accent AND control of her tone. Especially tone.

On the way to school this morning, Reid and I were talking about seasons, mumpfs (months) and days of the week. She assured me that winter/hiver and autumn/automne were easy to remember because they were the same in both languages. I agreed about autumn but questioned winter. The fact that they both end in “er” was enough for Reid. Reid still mixes up the order of the days in the week in English although she can track what happens on each day once I’ve supplied the day. I asked Reid if she knew the names of the days in French. She responded quickly, “lundi, mardi, mercredi, jeudi, vendredi.” When I prompted her for the weekend days, Reid exclaimed, “We don’t say those words at school!” Oh my, I didn’t know that.

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March 3, 2009 by Barbara.

I meant to write on Saturday to wish you all a sensational International Sword Swallowers Awareness Day but Reid and Ken and I got so busy doing nothing that I forgot. I certainly didn’t want to miss the opportunity to say, “Happy Square Root Day.” It’s a rare occasion, definitely the sort that you want to share with your family and friends. If you’re wondering, it’s square root day because the month’s number and the date are the square of the year. We won’t have another one until April 4, 2016. Following the Square Root Day recommendations in Wikipedia , we’ll be having root vegetables with our supper. Ken is excited about this completely non-commercial holiday. I think he is sad that I didn’t tell him early enough that he could have baked a cake - square of course. (Okay, that may be overstating things. His “excitement” may have been exasperation at my ability to find such special days.)

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