Might this not be just a wee bit too early to be dealing with?

[DFW]

My daughter sent to my cell phone a photo of a love letter sent to her four year old daughter by a Russian boy in her class. Not only could she not read it (it was in Russian), but her daughter can't even read German or English yet, let alone Russian. Not only that, neither could the boy that wrote it. From the primitive letters, it was obvious he had dictated it to his mom (who is Russian), had her write it out, and let him copy her printed Russian. I translated it for my daughter. What she does with it, with regards to her daughter, is her business.

It was quite lyrical for a four year old (if, indeed, he was the one who composed it), "come with me to walk in the town square," etc. sort of a four year old's version of "come wis me to ze Casbah....." I have to assume the kid must know SOME German, or SOME English, or he wouldn't be in my daughter's pre-school class. My four year old granddaughter knows no Russian (yet, anyway--if this gets serious, she'll be reciting Pushkin before next Easter).

Anyway, sooner or later this will evolve into something else--WHAT, exactly, I have no clue, and at probably some point will come to the conclusion that I don't wanna know. For now, anyway, the parents and grandparents got a smile out of it, and, well, there ain't nuttin' wrong with that.

She is the one on the left, though her two year old sister thinks she can do anything her older sister can do. Unfortunately, she is mostly right:

[alwaysinasnit]

1. Thank you for sharing this photo and story. They are so adorable!

[DFW]

4. My mom once remarked

She said she always marveled how that little blob of a baby (our elder daughter, in this case) turned into something so very feminine in such a short time.

[alwaysinasnit]

6. Well, I would say that these two little apples did not fall far from the tree.

[NBachers]

7. Some girls are born with all the feminine instincts and strategies fully intact. They already know

things that men are still trying to figure out.

[DFW]

16. Truer words were never spoken! n:t

[CentralMass]

2. I would say nyet to the love letters to my 4 year old granddaughter.

[DFW]

3. I have no idea if it got translated for her

I doubt it goes any farther one way or the other. My daughter runs a VERY tight ship down there.

[Joinfortmill]

5. Adorable.

[brer cat]

9. Both girls are adorable.

I can see why her classmate was smitten with her.

[highplainsdem]

10. Two beautiful little sweethearts, who are almost certain to leave long

trails of broken hearts behind them (unless they find their true loves in childhood, and you hear of that just often enough that I'd never rule it out).

Not sure what I think of the smitten little boy's mom writing a love letter out so he can copy it. If he were my kid, I'd have given your daughter a heads-up about the crush to see if she'd be okay with his writing a love letter to your granddaughter.

He is an ambitious little boy. I'd think handpicked flowers, a drawing of a heart, or maybe heart-shaped candies would be more typical at that age.

As for your two-year-old granddaughter being able to do everything her older sister can... Yes. Younger sisters can. Speaking from personal experience. And it's generally a good thing, with a few exceptions (like driving) that those little girls are years away from.

Didn't your younger daughter try to keep up with her older sister?

[DFW]

17. She did indeed

One of my wife’s girlfriends called her “Madame 10,000 volts.” She hasn’t lost any of her charge since, except for what she passed on go her younger daughter.

And by the way, that note DID end with a heart saying “Sasha and Maya”

[gademocrat7]

11. Precious granddaughters

Thank you for sharing this photo.

[erronis]

12. Your granddaughters have the natural beauty of their grandmother.

And I'm sure they'll have much of the wisdom of this wonderful DFW.

It really does take a village - a caring village to raise children with love and exuberance and hope.

Nowadays our villages span the world. My grandchildren have lived in Germany, Georgia, Ukraine, Japan. They, and their parents, will benefit from all of the cross-cultural connections.

(Not to say that you aren't a good-looking gent - for someone of a certain age....)

[DFW]

18. We are hoping that the cross-cultural contacts have a good influence

My wife grew up in a tiny rural post-war village near the Dutch border. Never saw a big city, never a foreigner. She never even tasted pizza or broccoli until she was 16. Things that I took for granted by age 20, like Japanese or Mexican food, visits to New York City, taking planes to get to places, having my own car—these seemed like the dark side of the moon to her. She had seen westerns in the movies, but never thought she’d see America.

We tried from the beginning to instill a belief in our girls that there were no things closed to them if only they believed in themselves. Yes, getting a healthy dosage of my wife’s DNA didn’t hurt, but looks alone will only get you so far. We wanted them to never be what Belmondo once described in one of his films as “une belle envelope avec rien dedans (a pretty envelope with nothing inside).” Avoiding that pitfall was one of our most important goals. If that meant that a few boys/men got wrapped around their little fingers along the way, well, them’s da breaks. We knew they’d never settle for any man less than their equal, and they never did. It seems that our granddaughters have picked up on that at a very early age. As long as they don’t acquire cruelty along the way—always a danger—we will consider our efforts s success.

[orleans]

13. beautiful adorable picture

those pre-k romances/crushes can go on for quite awhile
(speaking from my daughter's experience -- lol!)

[wendyb-NC]

14. They are precious

Thank you, for sharing the photo and the sweet story.

[lunatica]

15. This is a precious story!

Love letters are wonderful, no matter at what age they’re written or received. She is a beautiful little girl and it’s no surprise someone is crushing on her so soon.

You might think about getting used to it, because many boys, and maybe girls will get a crush on her.

Your story reminds me of once when my son, who was still in grammar school pointed a little girl out to me and he said, “Isn’t she beautiful?!” My heart just jumped out to him!

[DFW]

19. Oh yes. We are never too young to notice a pretty girl.

It leads to much heartbreak along the way. When I finally met mine, I was confounded by the wide geographical and cultural gap—not easy to bridge with my “financially challenged” status at age 22. But I knew I had found THE one for me, and sacrificed whatever I needed to in order to keep her. Now, 48 years later, it’s obvious that I saved my own life by doing so.