Miguelina

Blue Ribbon BBQ

Check out Girl's Guide to City Life for a review.

The "Oh. Wow." Factor

For the love of God, people...don't try to guess a pregnant woman's due date.  Is it not obvious that no good can come of this?

Almost two months ago a nice cashier at the local supermarket was trying to calm my son down while I punched in my PIN code.  She told my son, "you're such a big boy!  And soon, very, very soon, you will be a big brother."

I just smiled and tried to give the woman a way out by ignoring her comment.  But she insisted.  "When are you due?", she asked, with a kind smile on her face.

"Not 'til April."

"Oh.  Wow.  Here's a sticker for the boy."

This happened in late November.

Just last week, the parking attendant at the OB's office - a large scruffy man who usually takes my money without even the hint of a hello - had a huge grin on his face as I pulled up. 

"Lemme guess...Don't tell me...February, right?  Am I right?"

"Nope."  I said as I dug around my purse for my wallet.  I knew where this was going. 

"January!"

"April."

Silence.  Then he waved me off.  At least I got free parking.

The irony is that I haven't gained nearly as much weight as I did with my first.  But my belly is quite big -- of almost comedic proportions.  (HOW DOES THAT HAPPEN?)  I honestly can't blame these people for assuming I'm due any minute.  But can't they keep their mouths shut?

(Don't ask for belly pictures.  They're not coming.  Nooooooooo.)

In Praise of Toddlers

Toddlerhood - the mere mention of it sends chills of fear down the spines of most new parents.  We've all heard of the terrible twos.  We've seen the brats throwing tantrums at Target.  I myself have marvelled at how quickly my son has learned to say "NO!" and "MIIIINE!" and have spent many afternoons on the kitchen floor asking a semi-verbal yet hysterical 22 month old "What do you want?  Your car?  A cookie?  Milk?  Shoes?  What?  What? Whaaaaaaaaat!"

Yes, this stage is hard, but so is the newborn stage and I hear that teenagers are no walk in the park.

But what you rarely hear is that toddlers can be a delight.  It's fun to finally get to meet that little person you've been taking with you everywhere for the past year and a half.  Now that I'm expecting another newborn, I kind of wish we could fast-forward through the first year so that #2 can be a toddler and can get to play with his brother.

Yeah.  You heard that right.  I just wished for two toddlers - CRA-ZY.

I love the fact that I know that my son is a full-fledged chocoholic.  Give him a piece of chocolate and the delight in his eyes will melt you heart faster than the chocolate buttons he savors and seems to nibble on for hours, trying to make the sweetness last. 

I love seeing him play with other toddlers - the giggles when things are going well, the anger when he gets mad at some toddler transgression (perhaps a child has taken his spot in front of the play stove?).  I love the developing friendships, and the way he interacts differently with individual children. 

I love the fact that he may be going through his first crush.

I love that he won't let us feed him.  That he won't use "baby" spoons, and insists on using the same utensils as Mama and Papa.

I love smushy loud sticky toddler kisses.  I love stealth tickle attacks.

I love that when he is ready for bed, he screams "BYE!  BYE Mama!  BYE Papa!  BYE-BYE!"  We try for a sweet goodnight whispering, "Good night...we love you!" and singing lullabyes but our toddler simply waves us off with a "BYE!  BYYYYYE!"

I ask him if he wants to join a group of kids who are playing, and his big eyes shine as he enthusiastically nods yes.  I'm filled with pride as he approaches the group all alone and sweetly says "hiiiii!".   My big boy!  It breaks my heart when I see the look on his innocent face when the kids - in true toddler fashion - turn their backs on him, and he comes running, lips trembling, back to me.  How I hate those kids at that moment!  How I wish I could make everything better!  How suprised I am at my ability to not only console him, but to encourage him to go to other children - and he does, despite the recent snub.  I never knew I would be able to let go and let him be happy and play.

Because they want to be independent, but they still need you.  As parents, we may be working ourselves out of a job - but oh, what a ride!

Bilingual, Baby!

One of my New Year's Resolutions is to be more consistent in speaking Spanish to my son.  After all, we are a multilingual, multicultural family.  I grew up bilingual in English and Spanish and can understand some French because I studied it as my foreign language in school and I worked in a French company that paid for private lessons.  (I've tried my hand at German because my husband is Austrian, but I'm no good at it.  In fact, I'm VERY quiet when we're in Austria.  I smile, listen, and nod my head a lot.  Which come to think of it, might be one of the reasons my husband likes going there so much.)  He's fluent in five languages - sometimes I forget which ones, so there is no way I can test his skills.  But I believe him. 

Anyways...

You would think that raising a child that speaks two/three languages would be easy for a couple like us.  It is not, and it is highly frustrating.  We continue to work on it, because we both intellectually understand the advantages of speaking more than one language.  You know what they are too.  But I will list a few here anyways:

1.  Going to school almost anywhere you want.

2.  Awesome career opportunities.  Would you rather get the job that sends you to Paris, Buenos Aires and Rome or stay chained to your desk all year?

3.  The ability to see life from different perspectives.   Think about it.  Syntax, or the way we put words together, defines the way you think.  The way you think defines the way you live.  I know that I think and act differently in "Spanish" and in "English" and I personally think that it is a good thing to have that choice.

4.  Traveling fearlessly - because you can tell where the public toilets are.  Being in a strange country is hard enough without having to depend on the kindness of total strangers.

5.  Making friends easily, at home and abroad.

6.  Fitting in almost anywhere - or nowhere at all, if you don't want to.

7.  Knowing when waiters are talking trash about you behind your back.  (Seriously, if you only speak one language I highly recommend you run out and get yourself some Berlitz tapes - most waitstaff probably hate you and talk bad about you, right in front of you.  Not to make you paranoid or anything.) 

In addition, like all parents we want our kids to have the best things we had as children - and if you speak more than one language you get to celebrate more holidays and play more games.  I have fond memories of discovering the English language as a child, and I know that our children will be grateful if we can at least pass on some of our skills to them.

So why has it been so hard to teach my toddler Spanish?  It's only Spanish!  Let's face it, it's everywhere:  there's "Diego and Dora" and "Handy Manny" and all these books and tapes PLUS the fact that it's my mother tongue, and I have to tell you - it's still hard.  There are many reasons for that, but I will save those for another post.  Suffice it to say that people that want to teach their children other languages need all the help they can get.  So I did some online research and was excited to find so much information out there for people like me.  People who need help.

Here are some links.  I will add more sites as I find them.  Let me know in the comments if you have any sites I should add to this list.

ARTICLES & INSPIRATION

Multilingual Living Magazine (Click to get a free issue of their magazine.  This month's issue is packed with 114 pages so it's a good one to get you started.  This magazine is entirely run by volunteers, and I have decided to volunteer my time as well.)

Hispanic Online

WEBMD:  Raising a Bilingual 21st Century Child

Multilingual Children's Association

Raising Bilingual Children:  The First Five Steps To Success

WEBMD:   Never Too Early To Learn Second Tongue

Bilingual Families Connect

Bilingual Babies (Message Board)

Bilingual Family Newsletter

ACTIVITES

LiteracyCenter.Net - Play and Learn  (This site is completely free and has simple letter/color/number recognition games in  English, Spanish, German, and French.)

Spanish Picture Puzzles

English-Spanish Picture Dictionary

Spanish Grammar and Verb Websites

The Translator Alligator

Flashcards and Matching Games

Simple Spanish For Complete Beginners (children'scourse by the BBC)

Spanish Steps (another BBC course, for older kids and adults)

SHOPPING

LanguageLand

AudioVideoLatino

We Love Spanish

ABC Kinderladen

Multilingual Matters

Magellan Toys