Christmas in San Antonio

Not exactly a white Christmas, unless you count the blinding sun reflecting off the white sidewalks....it was HOT! However, Angelina insisted on wearing her "Snowman" - apparently that's what a hat, scarf, mitten ensemble is called. Our neighbors, Gloria and Fredo, got a set for her and she wouldn't take it off, even if it was 82F (28C).



It was pretty funny seeing her face when she first saw the presents under the tree. She didn't realize they were all for her. She was excited for the first one - a horse on a stick that Papa made and started handing the rest of the presents to us to open. We said "No, these are for YOU!" She hesitated through the first few, but got the hang of it and decided this presents thing was pretty fun after all....


Angelina certainly enjoyed Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, even if she didn't have all her cousins to play with. Christmas Eve was spent with friends, including her favourites: Wiley and Felice, and Christmas Day was a Dora Marathon AND a bike ride on the Riverwalk. At one point along the Riverwalk, we had stopped to turn around when one of the boats came past and stopped as well. The guide said something about Angelina and the cameras started flashing. I wish I had a picture - she was sitting on the back of the bike in her helmet and green sun glasses. She didn't pose for a change, instead she just gave her movie star look as the papparazzi snapped away. So though I have no pictures, there are a ton of pictures out there somewhere....

"Look at Me! Look at Me!"

Is this a sign of what's to come? This is her favourite phrase: "Look at me!" And now it's not just Maman and Papa, but the neighbors too. Poor Fredo (next door Fredo) was trying to work on his house, when Angelina kept shouting "Ick* look at me!" He'd turn around and say hi, she'd do it again, and again. I finally told him it was OK to ignore her, as she'd do it all day.

*Ick = Rick = other next door neighbor whom she used to call "Daddy." Now she knows his name is Rick, but can't quite get the R, so calls him "ick." But now instead of thinking all men are called "Daddy", she thinks all men are called "Rick." I kept telling her, "No, that's Fredo" (which she can say perfectly as she tends to call Papa that**). So she'd say "Fick."


And now our neighbor Angela is no longer called "Mommy" but "Gela." Much to her delight, Angelina has taken to calling "Gela! Gela! Gela!" with nothing to actually say when "Gela" turns her attention to her. She just keeps saying it over and over.

Good thing we have such great neighbors!


** I hate the idea of a husband and wife calling each other mom/dad (or Maman/Papa). I can kind of see why that evolves though. Angelina has taken to saying "Fredo" instead of "Papa" which drives us both crazy. We need to find other nicknames for each other.

I gave birth to a choco-holic

How did that happen? Has to be the Swiss genes, certainly not mine. I like the stuff ok but if I never had it again I wouldn't be too disappointed. Angelina, however, has a nose for chocolate. She can find it anywhere. She now knows where it's "hidden" (locked in the wine fridge) and likes to turn on the light staring at it longingly.

The other night we had friends over for dinner and of course Frédéric brought out the chocolate. Then she saw it. She kept climbing up and sneaking away pieces. And what did she ask for as soon as she woke up on Sunday morning? "Maman! Chocolate please!"

Pomme!

Our little bilingual kid....
She loves to say "Apple" over and over again. All fruit is an 'apple.' For weeks, months, Frédéric would say "Pomme" and she would ignore him.

Today, she kept saying "I want apple!" Then she looked up at Frédéric and said "Pomme, Papa!"

She's begining to distinguish the French and the English! Finally!

Now if Maman could only learn French too.....


And yet more of Angelina's photography skills, here

Our little Polyglot kid

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten!
Un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq, six, sept, huit! (she stops at 8 because Dora stops at 'huit')

and now, thanks to Nana (her babysitter):
Uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, seises, siete, ocho, nueve, diez!

She says these all so well. I'm impressed.

"Chauss-sock"

We're raising Angelina bilingual:Frederic speaks in French and I speak in English.

But sometimes she's mono-lingual and speaks Franglais, like when talking about socks and shoes. She knows the French words: chaussettes and chaussure, and the English versions, but lately she's been saying "chauss-sock" and "chauss-shoe."

We shouldn't let her, but it's too cute.

As for her speaking, she had been behind for some time. At 18 months we (ok, I) were a little concerned that she wasn't speaking at the appropriate level. The early-childhood intervention evaluators, however, found she was only 1-2 months behind so not in need of therapy. A few months later her developmental specialist said the same thing: she understood very well, but was a bit behind. No worries, this is common with a bilingual kid in the early days. Her language development has improved over the last 6 months or so, but it really took off last week.

That's what spending a week with Nanny will do.....the kid is talking non-stop. And clearly too. She skipped over mere words and sentences and went straight to monologues.

4 hour long monologues.

It's still mostly in English, but she does speak more and more French. The wonder is now, should Fredo insist on her speaking in French to him?

As for us, and what prompted this post - there's a blogger Fned doing a 'group' blog post about bilingual families. Given Frederic and I met in the US (at a German Biergarten) and since my language skills are fuddled at best (I was saying "Sawat di Ka" and "Khap khun ka" at Mexican restaurants in San Antonio... (Thai for hello and thank you) and throwing in some odd britishisms and spanish words, we've always spoken in English to each other.

My French? What French? I've tried, but my brain is full of Spanish and occasional Thai - at least that's my excuse. I keep saying once we move I'll immerse myself in it then I'll learn. However, I have learned quite a lot since Angelina was born, since he speaks to her only in French. Of course, the words I learn are not exactly for intellectual conversation: "Arrêt!" "Ça suffi! (don't know the ending for suffi-) ... and anyway, you get the idea. We try to watch cartoons/kids films in French to give us both more exposure, which seems to be working. I can sing "J'suis la carte" and "We did it!" (tho I can't spell the latter - "Çe ganard?")...Fans of Dora will understand.

Of course, if we move to Germany next year as hoped, that will throw a whole new kink into things. Great for Angelina, who will learn German in school/playground and continue English with Maman and French with Papa. More work for me though! At least I've studied the basics of German before and can read it a bit, so with effort should be able to learn, but that still means I haven't learned French.....

I've just been reading other blogs of couples who started in one language and eventually progressed to another. It's hard for me to imagine ever being fluent enough in any language to speak it as my primary language. Then I see Frederic - he claims he doesn't speak German, but having gone to university in Bern, she speaks it just fine. And I remember his English when I first met him - excellent, but a little off (and very cute) and now he's basically fluent (still with the cute accent). And though my Thai was hardly fluent or even close to it, there were times I could rattle off a price negotiation at the market, so I guess it's possible for French too. And maybe German. And Spanish. And Karen.

I would love to be able to sit with people anywhere in the world and converse in their native tongue. Fortunately, I've experienced enough of the former to know you can always find a way to converse, especially if a gin and tonic (or beer, or wine...) is involved.

I wish I was born a polyglot.

Maybe Angelina will become one.

"Maman"

Not only is Angelina a clone of her Papa, she talks like him! It appears French is easier for her to say. Despite hearing French only from Frédéric and the occasional CD of farm songs, yet hearing English all around her (and some Spanglish), all the words Angelina can now say - which are coherent - are French. I am trying to convince myself she says "here" and "Thank you" in English, but she doesn't really. Instead she only speaks in French.

It's great, I want her to be at least bilingual, hopefully tri-lingual or more. And I was worried the French would lag due to lack of exposure, but I would like to have just a little bit of influence. She doesn't even say 'Mommy,' she says "Maman."

Santé!

Angelina has said her first word!

We're teaching our kid well. Her Swiss GranPapa will be proud! Last night as we had dinner, Fredo and I clinked glasses and said "Santé!" Angelina smiled (she likes the sound of the clinking glass and the sound it makes afterwards) and said "Santé!" Then she picked up her sippy cup, hit my glass and said "Santé!"

Then of course she wouldn't stop :) (We do also say it when she sneezes, so it's not all wine related!)

Spoken like a true French-Swiss.