Three Months

Today it is exactly three months since we landed in the US from Kazakhstan. It blows me away how much has happened in that time. Ethan's grammar is still evolving, but he speaks so much and so well that everyone assumes he's always spoken English. In fact, I've discovered that Ethan manages to speak and communicate more than many of the kids his age. It's extremely rare anymore that he can't express an idea, both with his increased vocabulary and our shared history and common understandings (for example, "milk strong?" means that he is asking for the quadrillionth time to confirm that drinking milk will help make him strong and healthy as he grows up).

Ethan asked us for the first time yesterday whether he would have to go back to the "ballallar" (his word for the baby house -- it means 'children' in Kazakh). When we answered "never", he repeated, "never?". "Never, unless you want to", to which he responded with a smile. (Which raises another question -- how and when did he learn the word never? How does one learn such a word? The mind's ability to assimilate language is truly a remarkable thing, especially that of a 4 year old.)