Sunday, January 18, 2009

From the mouths of babes


I love to hear the funny musings and mispronuciations from my sweet 4 year old. As a bilingual child, he had a longer silent period and but when he did speak, he was proficient in both languages. I am happy to say that all is developing as it should be and we were never concerned about delays or confusion in regards to his language skills. He is still our "tremendo", wearing SuperHero costumes daily and harassing our sweet puppy. But my husband and I are constantly amused by some of the funny things that come out of his mouth! Here are some of our bilingual favorites:

* When talking about his excitment, he told me " i have have cerditos in my tummy". He knew that his sister has butterflies in her tummy and he has cerditos. Sounds logical. :)

*We conduct our family meals in Spanish, so he frequently tell us ' listo para helado'. One of the incentives we give for conversing in Spanish is dessert, so he starts the conversation by telling us he is ready for ice cream.

*The letter 'F'still alludes my son both in English and Spanish. When using his best manners, he tell us ' por savor' in place of 'por favor'. It is hard to understand, but we know he is trying to be polite.

* After a recent visit with Abuelita, he picked up on her favorite expression of " Ay Chihuahua". My son adds his own twist to the expression by frequently saying " Ay Chihuahua Captain Underpants'. Apparently this is to show extreme surprise. :)

*A big fan of Tom and Jerry, my son was thrilled to hear the phrase " toro, toro, ven aqui'. He uses this phrase for just about anyone. Recently when my brother in law was over, my son wanted to show him a new toy, so he summoned his tio by calling ' toro, toro, ven aqui".

Teaching Spanish to our children is a joy and at times a challenge. We are dedicated to keeping the language alive for them and offering them opportunities to foster their bilingual skills. Although my 4 year old son is ' contra la corriente", he keeps us smiling and laughing, as we know he is absorbing and retaining his bilingual skills.

Feel free to share some funny quotes! i love hearing what our sweet kids have to say!