Saturday email post

We are all sick with colds that Libby picked up in day care. The colds aren't very bad, but frustratingly persistent, and mine barely reacts to medication.

Speaking of day care, Mae started full time yesterday. I worried that she would cry, but she was perfectly content and didn't shed one tear. She was so good! It was such a relief to me. We have been waiting for an opening at this day care basically ever since Mae was born, and we finally got our slot and seized it. It feels like Christmas.

Libby knows the alphabet and numbers 1-20 so well that we often get comments on how smart she is. It is really just because she is actually interested in learning and because we let her watch educational songs on YouTube.

Now for my rant. The majority of educational children's videos on YouTube are not in American English. Are there no American educators willing to record a few songs? We' been able to create an extensive playlist anyway, nixing "zed" alphabet songs and songs that are badly translated, using incorrect grammar. But the majority of the playlist uses British, Canadian, or Australian pronunciations. Zay-bra instead of Zee-bra, "loff" instead of "laff".

And British expressions that Libby's actually picked up on. Instead of "my turn", she says "let me have a go", which, when Libby says it with a British accent sounds like "Me have a gun!" Try explaining that at day care.