2 Spaniards raising Eng-Spa bilingual children in Spain

Congrats Raquel!

Two more examples of my daughter's all-over-the-place explanations and her use of words that I don't expect her to.

This morning:
"Mommy, I was putting my clothes in the hamper, that's why I was headed that way."
Not a big word, by any means, but I was still surprised by my daughter's use of "headed" intead of a simpler word like "going".

Yesterday:
My daughter tells me they were playing some game at school. She was "a killer" (a hunter) and others were "mamuts" (=mammoths in the ML). A green line had been painted on her hand. She told me they used a "flecha" (=arrow) to kill the mammoths. When I looked at her funny, she told me she didn't know how to say it in the ml. I just said: "bow and..." She said "arrow" right away, so she does know the word.

She told me "she was green" and that she had 'killed' a friend of hers. She started explaining, and as usual, I started asking questions, because she explains things like I know what she's talking about.
Me: How many of your friends did you kill?
D: 3.
Me: How many mammoths were there?
D: 3.
Me: Did you kill them all, then?
D: No.
In the end, I told her to just explain the whole thing, and then I would ask questions.
D: [someone] didn't behave, so she was "changed". She was changed for [someone else].
In the end I had lots of questions:
Me: Did everyone play?
D: [someone] was misbehaving, so...
Me: No, no. I want an answer to my question. Yes, or no.
D: No.
Me: Were the rest doing something else while you played this game?
D: [someone] was playing with...
Me: It's a yes or no question.
D: Yes. They were playing other games.
Me: How many times did you play?
D: I was a hunter and...
Me: Listen to what I asked. I want a number: 1, 2, 10...
D: I played 3 times.

So I finally got some answers!! I think I'll be doing this from now on, instead of getting frustrated by her answers that seem to contradict one another: she tells me the whole story and then I get to ask all my questions. I want her to answer them, not ramble about something else.

I like that who, what, where and when sequence, Tatyana L and Amy . I'll put it into practice and see what happens. Thank you!!

Thanks also for letting me know it isn't just my daughter who thinks we all know what she's thinking and explaining what she means isn't necessary. That "green one" example is exactly what I mean, Tatyana. I don't know how many times I've asked: "what is "IT"?" because my kids refer to things as "it" and expect me to know what they're talking about.

You made me laugh, Adam Beck ! You're absolutely right! I should just enjoy these things while they last. I know it'll come a time when I miss them, but if you ask me right now, that time can't come soon enough!

Goals from last week:

I also added up their TV time and we're good.

Goals for this week:
- Survive it. We have a zillion things to do.
- Have my son spend at least 35h and my daughter 40h in the ml.
- Read to my kids at least 5 days.
- Have my daughter read at least 6 days in the ml.
- Try to do puzzles with my son.
- Keep singing around them.
- Try to play a board game, at least once, with my daughter. Emphasis on "try".
- Read myself.

I have to leave! TBC...

Same! It's the end of the school year, and a hundred things are shaking up our routines...

Glad you survived the week, Raquel!

Your goals are so inspiring. I actually feel exhausted just thinking about setting goals haha. So I feel quite uplifted reading yours!

Goals from last week:

My kids are with their American babysitter this month, which should make for much better quality ml exposure. She's very nice and the kids love having an adult all to themselves.

Goals for this week:
- Immerse my kids in the ml. Have my son spend at least 35h and my daughter 40h in the ml.
- Read to my kids at least 5 days before bedtime.
- Have the American nanny read 2 new books to them every day Monday-Friday.
- Have my daughter read at least 6 days in the ml.
- Have my daughter do some math or write at least 5 days.
- Have my son do some tracing when possible.
- Try to do puzzles or something else with my son.
- Play audiobooks in the car.
- Have the radio on when the kids are playing at home. Only when their babysitter isn't around.
- Try to play a board game, at least once, with my daughter.
- Read myself: finish this silly book once and for all.

Thanks, Mayken! I did, finally!! Now I'm reading one I like better.

Last week's goals:


Yesterday, I noticed how my daughter was saying something in Spanish, and not saying it well, so I started worrying more about the ML than the ml. Isn't this always the case? Balance is so hard to achieve. My husband joked we'll have to send them for a whole week, nights included to my parents' to make up for all the English they get in summer.

Goals for this week:
- Have my son spend at least 35h and my daughter 40h in the ml.
- Read to my kids at least 5 days before bedtime.
- Have the American nanny read 2 new books to them every day Monday-Friday.
- Have my daughter read at least 6 days in the ml.
- Have my daughter do some math or write at least 4 days.
- Have my son do some tracing when possible.
- Try to work on numbers with my son.
- Play audiobooks in the car.
- Have sometimes the radio on when the kids are playing at home. Only when their babysitter isn't around.
- Try to play a board game, at least once, with my daughter.
- Read myself.

Today, I found different decks of cards. 2 of them were Math ones: addition and multiplication. I plan on playing with my daughter with the addition ones -she's too little to be multiplying anything- and making Math even more fun. She already likes Math, but it's always good to make a game out of it. The third set was domino cards with numbers. I'm hoping to play with my son, so that he starts learning the symbols for each number. It should also be fun.

My son seems to keep speaking in what he's spoken in. Yesterday, a neighbor started speaking some English to him (no more than "hello" and "how are you?"), and so my son talked to him in this language. In the end, I had to translate. He's better at languages than my daughter. Just yesterday, my daughter was telling me about a friend of hers -Spanish speaker- and a baby's bottle, so I asked whether she knew how to say baby's bottle in Spanish. She couldn't remember, but my son quickly offered the word: Grandpa says "biberón" (=baby's bottle). I also loved the explanation. It isn't a Spanish word, it's what "grandpa says", but he did understand my question.