Simona’s vocabulary has also broadened and now includes words like Ba ba (baden, or bathe), Na (Nase, or nose), Amn (Amen), Hi, Hola, Baby, Inken (trinken, or drink, but it also sometimes means essen/eat), titte (bitte, or please), Mama, and, as of today, Papa!!

One other amusing Simona story:  Her new favorite game is to put her finger in her nose and wait until her dad says, “Finger weg!”  (Get your fingers away!).  She then laughs her head off and does it again. . . and again . . . and again.  You should try it- maybe you’ll be equally entertained!

You see, about six months ago, Simona began saying “da,” which means “there” in German. Months of pointing and saying “da!” finally are giving way to an expanded vocabulary, much to our delight. However, instead of trying another nice, easy word (ja seems like the next natural one!), Simona has plunged in headfirst, tackling the word for the most important item in her universe: “Haeschen.”

Haeschen is Simona’s little pink bunny blanket that goes EVERYWHERE with her. If you know Simona, you know Haeschen. The word “Haeschen” is the diminutive form of “Hase,” or rabbit (technically, hare), so it means “little rabbit.” Right now, Simona’s version sounds more like “haes’n” than anything, but we know what she means.

Being the proud parent that I am, of course I have told everyone “Simona’s saying ‘haeschen!’” (and have told them what that means). Unfortunately, Americans can’t say the German “chen” sound. So, being the supportive friends and family that they all are, they, too, take a stab at a non-easy German word and reply, “Oh, great! Haitian!”

Poor, confused, multi-ethnic bunny.