BRENIN: Luca, you put it on backwards. LUCA: I know, it’s backward.
BRENIN: No, backwardzzzz.
LUCA: Brenin, I said backward. It’s a word.
This was a conversation I overheard my girls having yesterday, and it put a smile on my face and made me reminisce about a day not long ago when our conversations involved lots of pointing and one word sentences like, “Drink?” or “Potty?” There were websites on my “favorites” list that were devoted to Amharic translation that I could run to when I had to explain that “hit” was “no-no” or find out if she was “all done” at dinner time, and pages of my English-Amharic phrasebook were dog-eared and tabbed for quick reference.
While Luca’s efforts to learn English began immediately upon our meeting, in recent weeks we’ve noticed significant progress in her language development with use of complete sentences and seemingly infinite vocabulary. I’m amazed that after 5 months I’m deleting my Amharic links, have packed the Amharic dictionary away and have a fully communicative, English-speaking child before me!
As you can imagine, an intense amount of mental energy is dedicated to learning a language, especially in the absence of one’s own native language to fall back on. With this rather intense distraction out of our sites, Luca has been free to focus all of herself on bonding and other ordinary child development, and we’ve noticed a beautiful release in her. As if we could have imagined greater happiness, the days grow sweeter and sweeter.
Luca, my love…Ewedishalehu.
This was a conversation I overheard my girls having yesterday, and it put a smile on my face and made me reminisce about a day not long ago when our conversations involved lots of pointing and one word sentences like, “Drink?” or “Potty?” There were websites on my “favorites” list that were devoted to Amharic translation that I could run to when I had to explain that “hit” was “no-no” or find out if she was “all done” at dinner time, and pages of my English-Amharic phrasebook were dog-eared and tabbed for quick reference.
While Luca’s efforts to learn English began immediately upon our meeting, in recent weeks we’ve noticed significant progress in her language development with use of complete sentences and seemingly infinite vocabulary. I’m amazed that after 5 months I’m deleting my Amharic links, have packed the Amharic dictionary away and have a fully communicative, English-speaking child before me!
As you can imagine, an intense amount of mental energy is dedicated to learning a language, especially in the absence of one’s own native language to fall back on. With this rather intense distraction out of our sites, Luca has been free to focus all of herself on bonding and other ordinary child development, and we’ve noticed a beautiful release in her. As if we could have imagined greater happiness, the days grow sweeter and sweeter.
Luca, my love…Ewedishalehu.
1 comment:
Those two little chickies make me smile all of the time. I don't live far, but your blog keeps me even closer. Thanks Bear. What beautiful granddaughters you have given me.
Love,
Momma
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