.litera.

one thing nina likes more than watching videos of elmo or curious george and listening to the music of u2 or david crowder are books. she loves listening to people reading to her, she loves pretending to read, she loves scribbling, she loves everything associated with writing and reading. just the other day she recited the entire alphabet, just like that. i didn't even know she knew the entire alphabet, she in not even 2 ½ years old!

however, she may be arithmetically challenged. the other day when i asked her how much 1 + 1 is, she replied: christmas :) or, perhaps it is just too early for arithmetic quizzes.

.moments.

nina is growing like crazy! this is seen in lots of things, and i am documenting only two of them here. yesterday was the first time she allowed me to put accessories in her hair for longer than two minutes. this one lasted the whole morning:

posing with her first ever pony tails

i am cute and i know it!

she loves helping me with housework. i am aware that this one might not last too long, so i am really enjoying it for now. among her favorite things are vacuuming and washing the dishes. here is a picture of the vacuuming:

child labor? yeah :)

.laws.and.sausages.

the hungarian parliament was discussing a handful of amendments to the law of higher education last night. one of the amendments (44. §), as a result of nineteen months of work, was adding calvary chapel bible college europe to the list of accredited colleges in hungary. once the president of hungary signs these amendments (in a few weeks), it is going to be official - calvary chapel bible college europe will have an accredited bachelor of arts in theology degree.

being at the parliament was both exciting and boring. i think what the parliament needs are sound effects - once a law was voted on, they should have a jingle, or a random sound effect, something to spice things up.

a lawyer / politician friend once shared a quote with me about laws and lawmaking. some attribute the saying to otto von bismarck, others to john godfrey saxe and it says: the less the people know about how sausages and laws are made, the better they sleep in the night. i agree, wholeheartedly.

.like.father.like....

nina is at the point in her development where she enjoys music more and more each day. she puts on impromptu dance shows if the music we are playing is rhythmic enough, she tries to "play" music by tapping on books, the floor, or the coffee table.

she also recognizes four musicians when she hears their music being played (in the car, at home, on the radio), and sometimes she even asks for one of these four musicians by name:

• bono bácsi (uncle bono) - this, of course, means that we have to start playing some u2
• crowder bácsi (uncle crowder) - meaning we have to put on the new david crowder band album
• diana néni (aunt diana) - a request for diana krall's christmas album
• marcsi - classical worship album from calvary chapel budapest, where her favorite musician friend (marcsi) plays the violin

if we manage to film one of her dance shows, we will post it here, of course.