*Baby Corner*

[chnst 6]

@Nizzy: how old is your little boy now? That's awsome that he is bilingual. I sometimes worry if I am consistend enough with the german. I speak german with Ben when we are alone (most of the time) and english when hubby is home. I really want him to understand both languages. So far he mixes words. Like he said hot for a while and then a few weeks ago he picked up the german word for hot (heiss) but he will not say it in english anymore. Although he knows when I say hot, he says "Heissssssssss"

[Nessa 23]

@nizzy: thanks

@ting tong: congratulations!! how precious.

@karen: i guess he's going through an unlucky phase. i wish him well

[Eveline 9]

@Chnst: Ben will most likely pick up the english after all. I would go ahead and speak German only with Ben, in order for him not to get confused. I only speak German with both kids and that goes for EVERYTHING, no matter if we're at playgroup, granny's house or when Eric is here. Eric knows in general and so does MIL because it's almost everytime the same stuff you say and you can always repeat it for them in ENglish. Adam - unfortunately - picks up Englisch easier than German because it's our Family language (meaning, I speak Englisch to Eric and Granny and the girls at playgroup). He does say things like "Mama baden" or "Milch" or "Da ist der Adam" He understands everything I say but I don't think he understood yet, that we're speaking in two different languages. When I ask him to say "Pferd" he says "horse". I ask him to say "Auto" and he says "Car", "Saft" is "juice" etc. He knows the words that I ask him for but he doesn't know that I speak German and he speaks English I guess. He'll get the hang of it eventually and next year (as soon as he's 3 years old) I'll enroll him in German saturday school in Houston.

@Nizzy: That is great that your little one speaks both languages. It's so easy for them to learn it now, rather than later in life.

[Nessa 23]

Zaid is so cute. he's gonna be a handsome guy. i have a question, what's the size of that video and how long does it take to upload. when i make videos of ben, i never make over 1 minute, because that's like 100M+ and it takes at least 2 hours to upload.

[Nessa 23]

for those teaching your native language, did you teach them how to say mom is english or your native language? i say in my language and i wonder how is he gonna all me and charles, cuz charles say it in english, but i'm the one that talks to him 95% of the time.

[Marina-Del 10]

He understands everything I say but I don't think he understood yet, that we're speaking in two different languages. When I ask him to say "Pferd" he says "horse". I ask him to say "Auto" and he says "Car", "Saft" is "juice" etc. He knows the words that I ask him for but he doesn't know that I speak German and he speaks English I guess.

At least he recognizes that horse and pferd are the same things though! Children are truly amazing. I'm an ESL teacher here in Brazil for children starting at the age of 2. I only speak English with them from the day they walk in the door, even though they cannot understand anything. For the first 6 months the children are absolutely quiet (there might be a kid or two who speaks, but most of them just stare!). After they have been in lessons for about a year they start really talking...but they hardly ever speak in English. If I hold up a card and ask them what it is they might say "car" for example, but that is the extent of it. Usually they speak in Portuguese to me and I speak in English. The amazing thing is that they obey my commands and answer my questions correctly (even though I ask in English and they answer in Portuguese).

One of my classes is 8 years old now and they've been doing the lessons at this school since they were about 3 and 4. They speak English really well now. Not perfect of course, but they can form sentences and use verbs correctly. They never say "he have" for instance. I think that's pretty amazing as well since they have only had English twice a week for 1 hour each since they were little. They only speak Portuguese at home and at school. So even only two hours a week can make a difference if you start when they are young!

And CONGRATS tingtongfaran!!! Beautiful baby!

[Nizzy 1]

@Nizzy: how old is your little boy now? That's awsome that he is bilingual. I sometimes worry if I am consistend enough with the german. I speak german with Ben when we are alone (most of the time) and english when hubby is home. I really want him to understand both languages. So far he mixes words. Like he said hot for a while and then a few weeks ago he picked up the german word for hot (heiss) but he will not say it in english anymore. Although he knows when I say hot, he says "Heissssssssss"

He is 27 months now. He is like a sponge. He is really shy so for a while I was worried because I thought he was not picking up on things like his ABC's abd 123's but I have caught him plenty of times in his room singing it to himself. When I tell him to sing it he hides his face in his hands.

I have a client at work who speaks German to his kids. The mom is American but the kids are sooo fluent in German. The oldest is 4 and the youngest is almost 2. Just continue speaking to them and they will pick up on it. And kids are smarter than you know. Just because they are not saying it back to you does not mean they do not have it stored in their little brains.

By the way, Ben is so cute.

[Anna C. 4]

My sister was 30 when she took amoxocilin and got a terrible rash from it, I guess some people just react with a rash to it. Hope Declan feels better soon, poor little guy!

I speak German only and now stopped speaking English when hubbie is around. I realized that Jona will get confused when I speak German and English at the same time. Hubbie understands anyways and can talk about the same issue/game/topic at the same time in English to Jona, which is really cool. We are not around family anymore... So nobody else speaking anything, and he's too young for a playgroup (though I think I will manage to find a German playgroup in Fort Collins/Denver). When he's three I want him to go to one of the local Montessori preschools, and I am sure his English will pick up from there. Heck, my MIL came from Argentina when she was 6 speaking zero English, you wouldn't guess so today. Perfect American.

[Eveline 9]

Adam got his balance bike yesterday. I'm so excited about putting it together so I called my FIL today and asked him to do it, since Eric is at work and I have two left hands and don't want to amputate fingers today. I can't wait for him (Adam) to climb on there and take off.

http://www.bikeshake.com/bike-images/bikes...lack-orange.jpg

[chnst 6]

@Evi: that's so cool! I like the color! Ben went for his first ride on hubbys motorcycle today. I don't know if I like it or not. He was in his pack&play watching Chuck work on the bike and all of a sudden I look out the window because I hear it running and they are both cruising on the lawn. Ben wearing his Harley helmet. haha. I am surprised he is not scared at all by the noise, and his new word for the day- "Harley".....

@Marina Del: it's amazing how children can pick up a language and automatically adjust the grammar. I wish I could learn another language that easy!

[Nessa 23]

for those teaching your native language, did you teach them how to say mom is english or your native language? i say in my language and i wonder how is he gonna all me and charles, cuz charles say it in english, but i'm the one that talks to him 95% of the time.

anyone?

[Eveline 9]

Ooops Nessa, I totally forgot about your question. Well, Mom in German is Mama so it sounds like the English 'momma'. Eric calls me Mama, Adam calls me Mama. Adam calls Eric Papa, the German word for "Dad"

[Lili 3]

About the language topic, just keep at it.

I once met a french man married to an american woman and had three kids together. The kids were very young but fully bilingual. I asked him how he did it: he spoke solely in french to them and the mom solely in english. When he would ask the kid to tell something to their mom, they would switch the language and relay the message in english. He said the most important thing is the consistency and they will just pick it up, their brains are just sponges.

[chnst 6]

how about 3 languages? Does anyone here have a tri-lingual child?

@Nessa: I think you both should agree on a name that Ben is going to call you and Charles. My son calls me Mommy, which is similar to the german "Mami".

[Eveline 9]

@Chnst: Yes, that will work you. Then you have to speak one language, Chuck needs to speak another language and family language would have to be the third one (that both parents will have to speak). That should work.