I literally went on a binge for baby books in Spanish last year when we visited Madrid, Spain. One of my picks was not quite a baby book, but given that my Spanglish is probably better than my Spanish, I figured it would come in handy as my daughter grew up -- for both me and her. It's the Album Larousse de la Naturaleza and it's a nature book with pictures of fruit, vegetables, trees, flowers, birds, plants, insects and more -- plus, the word for it in Spanish.  

Some of the words in here:

abeja = bee

saltamontes = grasshopper

luciérnaga = firefly or lightning bug

frambuesa = raspberry

petirrojo = robin

gorrión = sparrow

coliflór = cauliflower

alcachofa = artichoke

I love this little book because it will help build both mine and my daughter's specialized vocabulary in Spanish. I mean, it's pretty easy for us to teach kids about the different fruits and vegetables they eat because it's something they are around every single day. But what about flowers? Just as flower just isn't a flower, a flor isn't just a flor. It's a rosa, tulipan, jacinto, geranio, peonia, margarita, lavanda, hibisco and amapola. Now that my daughter is a full-fledged non-stop talker, I'm really into building up that specialized vocabulary, especially because I've found that I don't even know all of my flowers and trees (elm, oak, magnolia, pine, mango, olive, banana -- soooo many trees!!! thank goodness for the arboretum).

I actually never really thought too much about my own specialized vocabulary until my husband and I got married and bought a home and decided to plant flowers. And then a bird family decided to move into our porch. What kind is it? That's a question this book will help me answer, en español, for my daughter.

  

Our holidays have always been a mix of culture and traditions, but they're blended so well that it's sometimes hard to separate where one ends and the other begins. We eat tamales (de venado), with ketchup. Yep, ketchup (it's a habit leftover from childhood). We drink Abuelita hot chocolate. We make lots of fudge. We wait and wait and wait until we hear Last Christmas by Wham! play in some retail store so we can be filled with nostalgia. 

When I was a kid we never missed going to las posadas, and I remember whoever happened to be hosting always gave the kids paper bags full of hard candy, apples, oranges and cacahuates. Yes, we were happy to get fruit! I'm also old enough to remember perusing the Sears Christmas catalog and picking out a Strawberry shortcake bike. And a five-piece furniture set with canopy bed that must've been too big for Santa Clos to transport.

Of course, behind every good memory is a soundtrack, and in our house, the soundtrack happens to go from English to Spanish and back and forth. So I decided to make a mix-tape of what we like so that I could share with others. I call it a 'Mi Spanglish Holiday Mix Tape.' It's a mix that goes from Spanish to English, from grown-up songs to tunes that delight toddlers (or mine, at least). Hope you enjoy. I've linked most of the songs to iTunes in case you want to download.

1. Mamacita, Donde Esta Santa Claus, Augie Rios
2. Baby, It's Cold Outside, A Very She and Him Christmas (Zooey Deschanel)
3. Christmas in Harlem, Kanye West
4. Los Peces en el Rio, Gipsy Kings
5. Feliz Navidad, Tito el Bambino
6. Come on! Let's Boogie to the Elf Dance! Sufjan Stevens
   
7. Run Run Rudolph, Los Lonely Boys
8. You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch, Glee
9. Party Hard, Little Isidore
10. Todo Lo Que Quiero Eres Tu, Kabah
11. El Burrito de Belen, Juanes
12. Miracle, Matisyahu (feat. Shyne)
13. Star of Wonder, Tori Amos
14. The Chipmunk Song, Christmas Don't Be Late
15. Rill Rill, Sleigh Bells
16. Lechon, Lechon, Lechon, Victor Manuelle
17. Feliz Navidad, Jose Feliciano
18. Christmastime is Here, Charlie Brown Christmas

I grew up with three brothers -- so that makes us four siblings, and we were all born with a 5 year 3 month window. Like nesting dolls. So growing up, that meant natural selection was in full effect at our house. Or better explained, if you weren't the first one to get to the box of Fruity Pebbles you were going to miss out because whoever got to it first would eat the whole box --just 'cos. Survival of the fittest. Of course, if another sibling wanted to challenge the pecking order there was always fighting that broke out -- and I don't mean whiny arguing. I mean duking it out, hair pulling, nail digging, chasing around the house, rolling on the floor kind of fights. As soon as my mom heard us or saw us fighting, she always said the same thing: Bola de animales! Stop fighting! And we would, eventually. Looking back I think two things -- how did she raise four kids that close in age and how are we all fairly normal people?

I was thinking of my mom's favorite expression of "bola de animales" yesterday I took the toddler K to the National Zoo -- all by herself, no sibling competition. And the actual bola de animales we were going to see, well, these actually behave, probably because they don't have to fight for their food or shelter or even love, as even their mating is planned sometimes. The husband is sort of against zoos for that reason -- he hates the captivity part. But how else is the toddler supposed to learn about animals? I mean, when she saw a squirrel she said oso because she has no size perspective.

So yes, we're really into animals at our house right now, and the toddler K has most of the basic ones down. The only thing is I switch between English and Spanish all the time, which I guess isn't so bad because she knows most of them by their English and Spanish name. I cheat sometimes when I read books and will just say the name in Spanish. Like in Brown Bear book, I tend to say all the animal names in Spanish instead, but otherwise read the book in English. The toddler is also into making animal sounds, also in English and Spanish. As in guau guau to imitate a dog, instead of woof or ruff. Miau and meow are cognates, right? And a horsie neighs in English, but what does it do in Spanish? She hasn't learned kikiriki or cock-a-doodle-doo yet because we've actually never shown her a rooster in real life -- which is weird because growing up I distinctly remember hearing them in the morning when I slept at my guela's house -- not on a farm, the neighbor had them. Small town. They were sooooo ahead of the free-range and backyard chicken trend.

At the zoo, we got to see the pandas chowing down on their bamboo, and the sloth bear reminded me that I needed to cut the toddler's nails. The lions were out and playful. But of course, my favorite animals are the farm animals. Pandas are cute and all, but we're not allowed to pet the pandas like we can do with the burros and chivos in the Kids' Farm. I was actually trying to teach the toddler the sound the chivo made, and all I could think of were the poor chivos tied to a tree outside my grandmother's that were about to become cabrito guisado after a few hours. It was a total Clarice Starling moment, but instead of lambs I hear chivos. **shudder** Well, at least these zoo chivos have their own little playground.

Moving on to happy thoughts, as expected the burros made our day. Look at how cute and sweet. No wonder we've immortalized them in pinatas and entrusted them as keepers of the candy!

The Los Angeles Dodgers owners have officially trademarked 'Los Doyers' -- which I say is a total nod to the huge Spanish-speaking population in LA, and a score for the Spanglish language. VinScullyIsMyHomeboy was the first to take note last week of the corporatization of the name, and turns out he was right on:

I saw something at Dodger Stadium last Wednesday that I had never seen before. Heck, maybe I'm late on this but this is new to me. As you know, you can buy a "Los Doyers" shirt at the local mall, at the L.A. streets, swap meets, Tyrone from Sunset blvd, anywhere.
What does "Los Doyers" mean? It just means "The Dodgers". Simple as that. If you ask my mom to say "Dodgers", she will say "Doyers".

And the Los Angeles Daily News explains the origins:

From our reference point, the phrase has been made popular by local sports-talk show host Petros Papadakis, who since his days on The Ticket 1540-AM liked to riff on the way Dodgers coach Manny Mota has pronounced the team's name for years.

I like Urban Dictionary's description best:

A common nickname for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Jokingly caught on because of the huge percentage of Mexican American fans. A purposeful mispronunciation which now appears on t-shirts, sweatshirts, hats and jackets. At any given game a huge portion of the audience is Mexican American or Latino.
Vamonos! Today is free blanket day. Let's go to the stadium and see Los Doyers play. I have free tickets!

So the question is, what happens to all the vendors who have been selling 'Los Doyers' t-shirts and other chingaderas for years? Does this mean no more 2 for $10 specials??? And where can I get a size 2T shirt for the little one???