It's such a beautiful day today that Lena and I decided to take a long walk.   Before we did that, I thought I’d dig the stroller out to just see what she’d think.  She practically jumped for joy when she saw it and before I knew it, she threw herself in the seat and then tried to move the stroller forward by leaning forward and sort of pulling herself.  She made it jump a bit, but knew she needed me to really get going.  “Mama, help, help,Mama” she yelled with a huge smile on her face.  So off we went.   

It’s snowy outside and most of the sidewalks are at least partially covered by snow so a stroller ride isn’t smooth or relaxing.  Lena reacted best when I hit the slushy bumpy areas so I tried to search them out.  Before long, Lena realized what I was doing so she helped point me in the proper direction by screaming, “Mama! Mama!” and pointing her little mitten covered hand in the right direction. 

 I know that she doesn’t understand most of what I say, but I talk to Lena all the time.  I try to insert her name and the names of our immediate and extended family members into the “conversation” on a regular basis.  I also try to use words she knows in hopes that she’ll listen enough to know I’m talking to her and maybe even learn a few more words. 

It’s really not as easy to hold these sorts of conversations as one might think. 

“Lena CuiFeng, did you know that it’s WARM today so that’s why we’re taking a long WALK?  I bet it’s even WARMer down South today so Auntie Nicole, Uncle Mike, and Nai Nai and Pop Pop also might be OUTSIDE taking WALKS.  Or maybe you, Lena CuiFeng, think it’s COLD today, is it COLD?  Are you COLD Lena CuiFeng?”

“No”

“Are you okay? Should we keep WALKing or go HOME?”  I say this while motioning toward home.

“Okay”

“Okay, keep going?” 

“okay, kipging” she responds while laughing (attempting to say keep going although I’m not very certain she knows what that means).

So, I move on and change the subject a little, “Lena CuiFeng, did you know Mommy LOVES to RUN?”

No response, but I make it clear that it’s a question by repeating myself and stopping to wait for a response.

“Yes” she nods quickly only because she knows I won’t move again until she responds.

“Yes, Mommy LOVES to RUN.  I’m pretty slow, but you know who used to be much faster than me is Uncle Mike, Djaju, and Auntie Nicole. Yep, pretty much everyone in our family used to run.  I bet you, Lena CuiFeng will also RUN someday”. 

And on and on the conversation goes like that.  We walked for exactly 58 minutes today… that’s a lot of one-sided conversation, but I sort of felt like she was understanding a little, almost like we were having a conversation.  Every few minutes I stopped the conversation and the walk to ask her if she was cold and every few minutes she shook her head and said no and made a motion that indicated that I should continue walking.  When the walk was over and she climbed out of the stroller, she threw her hands in the air and started screaming, "cold, cold, cold!", proving that the conversation I thought we were almost having really was as one-sided as it probably sounded.  

-Words in CAPS are the ones Lena understands