My Apologies October 23, 2012

Do you ever feel like life is just running away with you? Like you’re being pulled along at warp speed, and it’s all you can do to hang on tight while it all whizzes by? That’s basically how I’ve been feeling for about the past 6 months. There’s something about this second pregnancy that is making time fly by faster than ever.

And of course I have a million and one things on my to-do list that I’d like to get done before this baby decides to make an appearance – in about another 6 weeks. We still don’t even have the nursery set up! (We are getting close, thankfully.)

Unfortunately, this means my blogging has taken a back seat. I’m at least trying to collect the ideas for the language themes here. But I have to admit, I have really not been keeping up with reading all the blogs I love to follow. I’m really disappointed, because I do so enjoy reading all the stories from fellow bilingual families. I appreciate this blogging community so much and find such extraordinary inspiration from all who participate and share their experiences.

For now, though, I think I’ll be taking a kind of hiatus. I know when the baby arrives, I’ll be even busier … not to mention more tired! So I want to apologize for not keeping up and not commenting the way I’d like to. I will get back to it whenever I can!

Liebe Grüße!!!

Bilingual Family Profiles April 18, 2012

A couple of fellow bloggers have started adding interview-style profiles of other bilingual families to their blogs. It’s a great way to learn about other families, how they approach bilingualism with their children, and make new connections! There is usually a set of questions about why you chose to be bilingual (or multilingual), what style you use, the rewards, the challenges, etc. You can be as brief or as thorough as you want. I myself tend to be a little wordy, I think

I now have profiles posted on two blogs: Bilingual Babes and Simply Bike. I really enjoyed filling out the questionnaires. I think it’s useful to stop now and then to revisit the reasons we put all this effort into our children’s bilingualism. And participating in these interviews is a great way to do just that.

One of the most interesting questions for me is about the effect on my emotional relationship with Aleksander. I wrote about this issue once before – over a year ago – and it’s still a challenge. I have a hard time comforting or disciplining (ie, thinking really fast on my feet!) in German. It can feel so unnatural to me. I also think that because my English is still stronger than my German, I somehow assume the same is true for Aleksander. His English is definitely more dominant, but does that mean he wouldn’t understand more nuanced language when I try to talk to him about why he’s upset? Not necessarily. But it’s so hard to know. Then again, I just spent a good 30 minutes trying to figure out why he was so upset when I put him to bed tonight, and I’m still not sure we figured it out – and that was all in English! So maybe communication in general is just tricky with a 2-year-old!

I’m really grateful for the opportunity to share more about our bilingual story through my fellow bloggers. It’s a great opportunity to reflect and to read about others. Not only that, but the number of hits on my blog just about quadrupled today! So a big thank-you to Bilingual Babes and Simply Bike!!