Ups and downs
Feb 19, 2016 7:47:50 GMT 9
Post by Jennifer B on Feb 19, 2016 7:47:50 GMT 9
Hello everyone,
I haven't been at the zoo lately so I just wanted to share with you our progress and let you know where we are in our journey (not precisely where I'd wished we were but advancing... slowly...)
My daughter turned two last September and she is a very talkative monkey, although mainly in ML. I had a slow start talking to her in ml. I started when she was around six months (but only when we were at home or alone) and then I switched to OPOL just before she turned two (that's also when I discovered Bilingual Monkeys and I got the motivation to do so). That change gave her a boost but still she prefers the ML.
The ups have been seeing her make an effort to talk in ml and even starting to make (grammatically correct!) phrases in ml. The first time she said something like "I found a ball under the couch" I wanted to leap in joy. This happened last December after spending a week vacation with my parents (my father speaks ml to her). The down part is, it takes a week of increased exposure to get one or two sentences that tend to disappear after a few days! So, I know I have to find the way to give her even more exposure (while the exposure to ML is overwhelming).
I also started looking for ml playmates for her and found a nice group of moms with kids a little bit older than her. But, the few times we've seen them, my daughter gets really shy and even though she understands what they're saying in ml she answers in ML.
The other thing that's happened (and this is especially frustrating) is when she tries to say a word in ml but since I'm used to listening to her speak to me in ML I don't identify the word as a ml word, and after a few tries, she gives up and says the word in ML. Whenever this happens I really feel sad because it's as if I lost an opportunity, and I don't want her to feel that I can't understand her ml attempts. Has this happened to anyone?
Finally, I had my second baby last month (another girl!) and my goal is to speak strictly ml with her from the start. I'm curious to see what comes out of that and I'm also looking forward to seeing the both of them interact (hopefully) in ml, at least at some level. What has been your experience with a second child? Easier? Harder? Is the oldest daughter going to influence the language of choice for the second one?
Anyway, lots of questions but mostly I just wanted to let you know what was going on... Thanks for reading me!
I haven't been at the zoo lately so I just wanted to share with you our progress and let you know where we are in our journey (not precisely where I'd wished we were but advancing... slowly...)
My daughter turned two last September and she is a very talkative monkey, although mainly in ML. I had a slow start talking to her in ml. I started when she was around six months (but only when we were at home or alone) and then I switched to OPOL just before she turned two (that's also when I discovered Bilingual Monkeys and I got the motivation to do so). That change gave her a boost but still she prefers the ML.
The ups have been seeing her make an effort to talk in ml and even starting to make (grammatically correct!) phrases in ml. The first time she said something like "I found a ball under the couch" I wanted to leap in joy. This happened last December after spending a week vacation with my parents (my father speaks ml to her). The down part is, it takes a week of increased exposure to get one or two sentences that tend to disappear after a few days! So, I know I have to find the way to give her even more exposure (while the exposure to ML is overwhelming).
I also started looking for ml playmates for her and found a nice group of moms with kids a little bit older than her. But, the few times we've seen them, my daughter gets really shy and even though she understands what they're saying in ml she answers in ML.
The other thing that's happened (and this is especially frustrating) is when she tries to say a word in ml but since I'm used to listening to her speak to me in ML I don't identify the word as a ml word, and after a few tries, she gives up and says the word in ML. Whenever this happens I really feel sad because it's as if I lost an opportunity, and I don't want her to feel that I can't understand her ml attempts. Has this happened to anyone?
Finally, I had my second baby last month (another girl!) and my goal is to speak strictly ml with her from the start. I'm curious to see what comes out of that and I'm also looking forward to seeing the both of them interact (hopefully) in ml, at least at some level. What has been your experience with a second child? Easier? Harder? Is the oldest daughter going to influence the language of choice for the second one?
Anyway, lots of questions but mostly I just wanted to let you know what was going on... Thanks for reading me!
, but I guess we should just take advantage of that. Although, it is very hard as you say to juggle a toddler and a baby.
