Bonding with the Minority Language? April 10, 2012

I’m still amazed by how aware Aleksander is of the difference between his two languages. He’s constantly naming them, depending on what we’re speaking … or what he wants to be speaking. For the most part, he shows a strong preference for English. And I’m not really all that surprised. It’s the language he speaks with everyone else, and even Mama probably speaks more English than German – despite the best of intentions! And so, often when I greet him in the morning with a big “Guten Morgen!” he in turn implores, “English, English!”

But something new is happening. We were visiting my parents in Florida for a week, and when we returned home I hurt my back lifting luggage (foolish of me!). And so I haven’t spent a lot of time with Aleksander. What I’m noticing is that he sometimes will ask for German! He’s done something similar where he reminds me that we’re supposed to be speaking German when I accidentally slip into English. But that usually happens when we’ve been speaking German consistently in the morning. With all the visiting and my not feeling well, I have to admit that my German-speaking has definitely been slacking. So this request to speak German from Aleksander comes more out of the blue. I have a feeling that he’s beginning to understand that this language is something special, just for the two of us. So as he’s missing me and the time we usually spend together, speaking German is one way we can still connect – even if Mama is flat out on her back!

Of course, it’s possible I’m reading into this. It’s mostly just a gut feeling. But I think I’ll run with it. It sure feels good!

One other interesting thing happened the other night. My parents are now visiting us (lucky timing with me still getting over this backache), and I was doing my best to help my mom put Aleksander to bed. Since she was in the room (and it was nighttime – our regular English-speaking time), I was speaking English. But then he picked out a German book to look at: Eric Carle’s Tier-ABC. He loves this book. But we’ve always read it in German. He was really just looking at the pictures. But I asked him what some of the animals were. I was amused to find that he sometimes didn’t answer. He just sat there in silence looking at the picture. He didn’t know the names for certain animals in English! So I asked in German, “Wie heißt das Tier?” And he immediately gave the answer. I guess certain animals like bats and hedgehogs just haven’t come up in his English books! But it’s fascinating that when I asked for the name of an animal, he wouldn’t answer, because he didn’t know the word in the language we were speaking. He simply would not code switch. It surprised me, because he regularly mixes the two languages. And he didn’t have a problem switching to German when I did. It’s all just so fascinating to witness!!

On the Road Again March 29, 2012

We’re traveling again! This time we’re just in Florida to visit my parents. The flight was only 2.5 hours – piece of cake compared to flying across the Atlantic!

It was only about 4 months ago that we flew to the Netherlands, but already Aleksander has changed so much. On this flight, he had a very difficult time during take-off and landing. It was a bit bumpy and then he did not like that feeling you get as if the plane is falling out from under you. I wonder, too, if the air pressure hurt his ears. Although at first he wanted to stay in his own seat, he decided that sitting on Mama’s lap was a better idea, as she could comfort and reassure him. At least there was a lot to see out the window, which provided a lot of good distraction!

He also didn’t nap on the flight. At first it didn’t seem like a problem. He was so happy to see his Granddad and Dearie that his tiredness was forgotten. He even went for a walk/run after dinner. But the next day he came down with the same cold PER had. I wonder if the missed nap had anything to do with it? It’s such a shame. I was up with him so many times last night, and then he woke up at 7 this morning (early for him). So once my mom got up, I went back to bed! Not so good for getting out and enjoying all the warm weather! Although we have been to a playground twice, and Aleksander just loves it

I’ve been trying to speak as much German with him as I can. Which isn’t a whole lot. I even brought German books and things on the plane, so I could keep it going. And our first day here, I managed to speak a good bit of German before naptime, as I always do. But this morning when he woke up, the last thing on my sleep-deprived mind was speaking my second language. Aleksander – my little language police – informed me almost right away that I was speaking English. And I was just too tired to care. I’m hoping he’ll sleep tonight, so we can try to get back on track tomorrow.

Meanwhile, I’ve been working on a new page for my blog that is all about travel. It is still a work in progress, but there are lots of tips about things to bring on a plane to keep a toddler occupied. I’m still road-testing some of them, so I’ll update next week sometime after we fly back home. And if you have anything to add, please let me know!

We also have another international flight coming up at the end of May!! PER announced last week that the prices for flights had come down enough to be reasonable (still not great but I guess they won’t break the bank!). So we’ll be going back to the Netherlands. I’m so excited to take Aleksander over in the late spring, so we can spend more time outside. There should be a lot more to do with him this time. I don’t know if we’ll head over to Germany. We may save that for another trip.

For now, we’ll just enjoy the beautiful Florida sunshine!

Talk, talk, talk!!! December 16, 2011

Ohhhh, yeeaaaahhhhhh! (That’s one of Aleksander’s favorite things to day – must get it on video….!)

We have words! Lots of words!!!

It turns out we had to go to the Netherlands for Aleksander to start talking in English! All of a sudden, we realized he was adding about one word a day – sometimes more! It’s so exciting. And so much fun

Here’s the kicker…. I finally decided to schedule the speech evaluation. They came two days after we got back from Europe. And of course, since he’d started talking, everything was (to coin a phrase from my mother) hunkydory! He scored about 2 months behind his actual age, which is no big deal. On their scale – where 100 is perfectly average and anything below about a 73 is indicative of a problem – he scored a 91. Tja! No worries there!  So all that frustration and going back and forth on my part for no reason at all.

So… on to the good stuff. My favorite thing that Aleksander is saying (other than “ohhhh, yeeaahhhhh”) is “BEEP”! It’s so funny. Any time anything beeps – like the microwave – or honks – like a car – you hear this little “beep” come out of his mouth. You just can’t help but smile when you hear that! Well, maybe that’s not exactly a real word, but it’s just too cute!

Okay, so what are his real first words turning out to be? (I say “real” because he’s started talking before, but then stopped. So I don’t know if those words count.) And I won’t count words like Mama and Daddy, hi, and bye-bye, since he’s been saying those for a while. These are sort of in order:

• go (or more like “go, go, go, go, go!”)
• nein (his 3rd German word, after Raupe and bitte!)
• Elmo (sounds like Eeee-mo)
• no
• pop
• beep
• car (sounds like goy-a)
• bus (without the “s” so far)
• go car (yup! a two word phrase!)
• oh boy
• hide
• more (sounds like moy – I guess that’s what he’s doing for “r” at the end, like car)
• peas
• please
• apple
• hot
• up
• on
• light
• mooo

He’s also saying names of his friends, his cousin, and one of his babysitters: Luca, Zac, Eamon, and Emma. So far Logan is too hard. But I think he’s trying it out.

It’s so much fun! I know he’s understood me for a long time. But now, even a simple “yes” makes it feel like there is a real interaction going on.

In addition to words, Aleksander now also says about half of the letters in the alphabet! We knew he was recognizing the letters, thanks to an alphabet puzzle and the letter magnets that go with the easel he got for his birthday. When he started saying them, at first I thought it was a fluke. It started with vowels: O, E, A, I – still no U, but I guess that one is harder. But then he added D, B, and Z. Now he also says F, H (sort of), K, M, N, P, R, S, T, V, and Y. I know I am his mother and therefore am astounded by all the brilliant things he does, but this does seem rather amazing to me. Am I wrong?

*   *   *

In other news, we returned from the Netherlands on Monday. I’m SO glad we went! It was a fantastic trip. And everything went so well, we’re already talking about going back in the spring! Aleksander turned out to be a great traveler. There were a few bumps along the way, but overall he did amazing! On the flight home, he fell asleep for about an hour right after take-off. That was it for a nap. But we were able to entertain him for the most part. He did walk around a bit now and then.

There were three things that turned out to be the most entertaining. One was his Playmobil toys (a few people, some animals, and most importantly the slide). We did break down and get a portable DVD player. That was a lot better than the entertainment options offered by the airline – anything in the kids genre was too old for Aleksander, and he wasn’t interested. The only problem was that he wouldn’t wear the earphones, so I ended up just using the volume on a low setting. He couldn’t hear it that well, but I didn’t want to disturb anyone. Last but not least, I had bought some Colorforms of The Very Hungry Caterpillar. That was such a hit! He loved peeling them off the page, sticking them on one of the two boards it came with, and then taking them off and putting them back on the paper. Back and forth, back and forth. They’re so much better than stickers, since they only stick to the boards. There’s no danger of them sticking permanently to any part of the plane.

Visiting my in-laws was a wonderful experience. Oma got Aleksander up every morning (which his parents greatly appreciated!). He enjoyed playing with the toys they had and running circles in the living room. He helped Oma with the cooking, setting the table, and cleaning up. There was also a little playground just down the street. He loved the slide and enjoyed the new experience of a see-saw. One morning, Oma & Opa took him to the shopping center. It’s about a 10-minute walk. Aleksander apparently ran the entire way there! I think he favorite part – other than playing with Oma & Opa – was looking out the window of his bedroom. The house is on a somewhat busy corner, so there was a whole lot to see – cars, buses, bikes, people, dogs, planes, birds, a canal. It’s so boring now that we’re home again!

*  *  *

I almost forgot to write about Germany!! PER and I drove two and a half hours to Münster. It was a great choice! The Weihnachtsmarkt was fantastic! It wasn’t just on the Marktplatz, it took up almost the entire Altstadt. It just kept going and going and going. And it filled me with all that cozy (yet cold) holiday spirit. There were lecker (yummy) things to eat and of course I couldn’t leave without a mug of hot Glühwein.

We spent an awful lot of time in the bookstores, too. I was a little disappointed in the big chain, Thalia. I did buy a number of books, but I thought the selection was a bit limited. We did better at a children’s bookstore I’d found online before we left. The woman who owned it was very helpful in finding some wonderful books. Between the German books and the Dutch books, I filled a small suitcase of books to bring home! Good thing I’d packed light on the way over!

So that’s an update for now. We’re all under the weather after our trip. I can’t believe it’s only 9 days until Christmas! I have a half-decorated tree up and a wreath on the front door. And that’s it! There’s still so much to do. The only downside to our trip. But I love decorating for the holidays. I just wish we had more time to enjoy it.

Sinterklaas December 3, 2011

Well, go figure. Of course after bragging about how well Aleksander was adjusting to the time change and the travel, he had a funny night’s sleep and a difficult nap today! He was chattering away last night from about 11 to 12. I went in to settle him down and tell him to keep the curtains closed. That seemed to do the trick. But he woke up crying around 3:30 am. Then today, he had quite a fit when I put him down for his nap. Finally PER went back in to settle him down. He was standing outside of his crib! We think he tried to climb out and actually fell! The crib is quite low to the ground, though, so no real harm done. And it has a side that actually comes out. So we’re testing out how he does with the freedom of being able to climb in and out of it by himself. Have to get back to you on that one….

This morning we ventured out into the rain. It is the Netherlands, after all! We all got quite wet as we walked to the local shopping center. But we had to get there today to see the Zwarte Pieten! They’re the helpers of Sinterklaas. Like Germany’s Nikolaus, Sinterklaas arrives toward the beginning of December, but on the 5th as opposed to the 6th. He arrives on a boat from Spain and has many helpers – the Zwarte Pieten – to make the toys and deliver them to the boys and girls. It translates as “Black Petes”. They’re Moors from Spain, and so they are dressed up with black faces and wear black gloves along with a traditional costume.

Aleksander isn’t such a big fan of strangers these days. He’s even very shy in our music class that we’ve been going to for over a year! So he didn’t really take to the nice lady dressed up as Zwarte Piet. She even tried to win him over with the pepernoten they hand out – a kind of small ginger cookie. Nope. He was having none of it. So his first experience with Sinterklaas has not yet been successful. We’ll see how he reacts Monday morning (the 5th) when there’s a present in his shoe!

Hello, Europe! December 2, 2011

We made it!!!! We arrived in the Netherlands yesterday morning. Aleksander only slept about 3 hours on the plane. Nevertheless, he did amazing on the trip!! Of course, he was so overtired that he couldn’t help crying a little. But we held him and soothed him, and he was okay. We even had several comments on how well behaved he was!!

Surprisingly, Aleksander is adjusting to the time change really well. It worked out that he was up for a few hours when we arrived and then went down for his nap at his usual 1pm time. We had to wake him at 5, though — no easy task! Then back down at bedtime at 8. Again, he had to be woken up this morning at 9. But he’s been playing happily with the few toys Oma & Opa saved from when their boys were young. And nothing like a new space to explore!

We had a quiet day at home today. So tomorrow we’ll start to do some exploring. And then we do have some visits with friends planned this weekend and next.

I’m so happy to be back in Europe! I can’t believe it’s been over three years since we’ve been here. It feels so normal!! And that’s a great thing

As for speaking German with Aleksander…. well, I’m just going with the flow here. I think he’s getting a little bit confused hearing Dutch now, too. However, a happy little accident is helping out. I forgot to pack books for us to read to Aleksander at bedtime. But before we flew over, I ordered some things from amazon.de. So I have a few German books to read to him here! We have a great Eric Carle alphabet-animal book (Tiere-ABC) that has been lots of fun. And then of course, we’re heading to Münster next week, so I’ll be stocking up even more!

I had a lot of fears about traveling with Aleksander, but he’s proven to be a great little traveler! I’m soooo glad we came! It’s amazing to be able to share all this with our little boy

So many little successes! November 20, 2011

I can’t believe it’s been a month since my last post! Where has the time gone?? So here’s the update!

Aleksaner is progressing slowly with his language. He’s up to about 10 words by now. But here’s the good news…. he has two words in German! On Sunday we had his birthday party (yes, he’s two years old!!) and the theme was The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Since then he’s been saying Raupe (“caterpillar”) constantly! It sounds more like “owwbaaaah”

Then just yesterday, I asked him to say bitte (“please”) when he asked me to get him something. He usually signs it, but this time he signed and said bitte, bitte!! It was clear as a bell. I was so excited! He repeated it about 1,000 times as he was going down for his nap  -  bittebittebittebittebittebittebittebitte….. He may have said it a few too many times, though…  You know when you say a word too many times and it starts to sound funny? Well, I wonder if that’s what’s happened to him! He’s still saying bitte, but it’s not so clear. Ah well, he’ll get there!

I finally decided to schedule the speech evaluation. I met with the coordinator from our county last week. But we couldn’t schedule the evaluation until mid-December. So we’ll see….

The reason it’s taking so long is that we’ll be in the Netherlands! I can’t believe we’re going so soon! I finally started making my packing lists and looking for tips about traveling overseas with a toddler. Any advice?? I’m mostly concerned about him sleeping on the way over and also dealing with jet-lag. We’re not bringing his carseat, since my in-laws have one for us to use when we get there. So we’ll use the CARE strap on the plane. I wonder how he’ll be sleeping semi-upright. I guess he sleeps in his carseat sometimes, so it should be okay. At least we’ll have some extra hands to help out when we arrive.

And I’m so excited to go to Germany! We finally settled on Münster. I booked the hotel last night. It should be right near the Christmas Market! I think I’ll need a few hours to browse through a bookstore, too

The German story hour finally started the first Friday in November! Our first session was quite a disappointment. No one came But the second week we had three families! And the third week we had one repeat and three more families!!! We even had a grandmother join us, because she wants to learn German, since her son and his family will be living in Germany for three years. The level of German among our visitors is varied. We had a native-speaker mother, a woman who majored in German in college, a heritage learner (who didn’t actually pick up much German from her father), several German au pairs (whose charges don’t speak German … yet), and a German grandmother. It’s wonderful to have so many different people! I’m just so excited that we’re getting visitors and can continue in the new year! We’ll have a hiatus now until our special Christmas session on December 16th. I’ve been keeping a blog of all stories, songs, and other activities from each session. If you’d like to see what we’ve been up to, you can check it out at German Story Time.

The story hour is also proving to be a great way for me to connect with other German-speakers. I’m not only meeting other parents like myself. But I’m also learning about other programs in our area. One mother started a nature-based program for children that sounds like a lot of fun. And I just got a message from a woman who started an after-school language program right in my backyard! Amazing!

As for my own endeavors to speak German with Aleksander, I’d say it’s been a little hit or miss. Some days are great. Others … well, I could do better. My in-laws were visiting in October for about 2 weeks. I took advantage of having extra help to get a lot of things done outside the house, so I wasn’t around as much then to speak German with Aleksander. Not to sound like a broken record, but I still have trouble when we’re out in public. Ah well. I suppose the most important thing is that I keep trying!

Odds and Ends September 22, 2011

It seems a lot has been going on since I last wrote! So here’s an update on a few things that are going on in our bilingual world….

Aleksander’s speech—  After thinking and thinking and thinking about it, I’ve finally decided to wait a little longer before pursuing a speech assessment. From my perspective, I see progress in Aleksander’s speech every day. He babbles all day long, testing out all kinds of sounds. And I’m pretty sure he’s trying out new words, even if he’s not saying them very clearly or consistently. Words like “balloon” and “ball” and even “Gabel” (fork). He’s also starting to say “bye-bye.”

Most importantly, we know that 1) he doesn’t have a hearing problem, and 2) there are no issues with comprehension. He understands everything I say  -  in German and English  -  even without additional cues like pointing or context or tone of voice.

I observe Aleksander playing with language all day long. He’s still learning new signs (his latest is “bubbles”) and uses them to tell me things or identify pictures. Lately he likes to do the motions to songs like “Itsy-Bitsy Spider.” It’s pretty funny, because he doesn’t want me to sing or sign them with him. So it’s just silent as he goes through the motions

Another thing that is both amazing me and cracking me up is his sense of humor  -  he’s actually teasing me! Sometimes when we look at a book, I ask him where things are, such as a butterfly. He points to several other images, and I say what they are. Then he kind of giggles and finally points to the butterfly! Can this even be possible?! I don’t know, but that’s what he’s doing!

Story Time—  I finally met with the director of the library, and we are setting the German story time idea into motion. She suggested we start in November and try to focus in part on holidays. So in addition to a couple of themes such as the farm and vehicles, I’ll plan sessions for Martinstag, Nikolaus, and Weihnacht. I’m really excited about it! And a little nervous, too, now that it’s really happening   I’m also having trouble finding books for the holiday sessions. Any suggestions???

Europe, here we come!—  Out of the blue, PER brought up the idea of going to the Netherlands in December. What?!? Really?!? YES!!! We’re really going this time. We’ve booked the tickets and everything. We’ll go after Thanksgiving for about 12 days. Of course I’m still a little nervous about international travel with Aleksander. I’ll try to be as prepared as possible. But since we’re doing it, I figure I may as well try and relax and just go with the flow. I’m really excited about heading back to Europe and visiting our friends. And the bonus is that we get to go to a Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas market) in Germany!!! Hurrah!! That was always one of my favorite things about living in Germany. Now we just have to figure out where to go. Any suggestions? Maybe Münster? Düsseldorf? I generally prefer the smaller towns, but I just don’t know this area. So we’ll have to see….

European Adventure? June 7, 2011

Last week, we finally applied for a passport for Aleksander! His picture looks like a mug shot, of course   By the time they took it, we’d been at the post office for almost an hour, and it was already past his lunch time. That’s a recipe for one cranky kid!

Here is the passport photo. Just to show the happy kid he usually is, here’s one of my recent favorites from his bath, too

Passport Photo

A Happier Aleksander

But who cares what the picture looks like?! This is our “ticket” back to Europe!! Okay, so we don’t actually have tickets yet. But now the possibility is there. We have a few other things to sort out before we can book a trip (getting PER’s permanent green card, making sure my in-laws are up for a visit after my father-in-law has surgery later this month, seeing if PER can actually take time out from work, and dealing with the possibility of buying a house and moving – no big deal!).  But we’re thinking about a trip at the end of July!! That’s so soon!!

I’m so excited about the prospect of taking Aleksander to the Netherlands. And I’m also completely freaked out! I flew with him once when he was 4 months old. But that’s it. And it was only a domestic flight to Florida. I’m also concerned about his sleeping patterns when we travel. Aleksander is a champion sleeper (I won’t elaborate, or you might never want to hear from me again!), but when we travel, it seems like all hell breaks loose. Of course, we haven’t been away since Thanksgiving, so I’m going to have to take a leap of faith that he’s matured since then and will handle it better. It will also help that we’re visiting family, so I’m sure my mother-in-law won’t mind taking over for a bit when we arrive, so PER & I can take a nap

Now, let’s get back to the excited part!! We haven’t been to Europe in three years. (I think that’s the longest hiatus I’ve had since I first studied abroad in 1996.) Marrying a European definitely came with the bonus that we would travel to Europe at least on occasion   It doesn’t hurt that the Netherlands just happens to border Germany! I’m just itching to get back to Germany. To hear the language, to be surrounded by the culture. And of course, I can’t wait to introduce Aleksander to Germany! I’m not so familiar with the region that borders the Netherlands, so I don’t know yet where we would go (any suggestions??). But I don’t know if it even matters. Just being there will be fantastic!! (Clearly I’m excited – just look at all the smiley faces in this post!)