the power of words

i was thinking about the progression of m's vocabulary which i inventoried and put into a post last february. i know it was six months ago, and six months is a quarter of her life yet i am still amazed at the rate that she learns new words and phrases every day.

while she progressively speaks more and more english over spanish (despite being home with me ALL summer and my speaking exclusively to her in spanish) there are certain things she only says in spanish like ¿hombros de mamá? which she asks as she's backing up into me with her elbows raised (a request to sit on my shoulders)

but there are other times when i remind her to say gracias to someone and she looks at me and says no, i say thank you. there is clearly a distinction in her mind between the two languages, but i am not sure how much.

some of my other favorite phrases:
you hear that? (as her hand is held up to her ear)
is that green? (about anything, mostly things that aren't green)
be careful mamá! (whenever she hears me use an exploitive - usually in the kitchen)
buster, come here! (as she smacks her leg and makes a fake whistling noise to the dog)
happy to you! (whenever it's someone's birthday - which she got to say this morning to her dad)

feliz cumpleaños erk, te queremos mucho. we don't say it enough.