A Little Help from the Grandparents
My parents and sister visited over the past 2 weeks and we had a lot of fun! As a mother, it’s always a HUGE help to have family in town to help corral the kids. As a mother of bilingual children, my family has been a significant boost to my oldest daughter K’s Estonian speaking skills (and potty training, but more on that later.) K is actually speaking in Estonian with me periodically again. She just needed to witness Estonian conversations going on around her and then sure enough, she started speaking it more as well.
My 17 month old, A, is still not saying much in any language though one morning recently I heard here clearly say “Emmi valja voodis” (Emmi I want out of bed) from her crib. Daddy and I are trying to give her more words, but I am still thinking that Amelia is having a more difficult time figuring out two languages and here’s why. I speak with K in Estonian, but mostly K answers back in English. So what is A to think? To a toddler just learning to speak, figuring out that your sister and mother are speaking in two different languages to each other during the same conversation has got to be confusing. I’ll keep you posted. I try to remind K that A speaks Estonian so that K and A will speaking in Estonian together, but that is not happening yet and I am being very low key about it so I don’t cause a language rebellion. This is tricky stuff!
As for potty training, K is doing great! I just needed someone to watch A so that I could sit with K in the bathroom and work on the potty process without litte sister being a distraction. Thank you Vanaema and Vanaisa (Grandmother and Grandfather)! K has the drill down pretty well for #1. Pee, flush, lid down, wash hands, two Reese’s Pieces, pants back on and a sticker for her “Potty Log.” K is just so proud of herself and so am I. She even does well with public toilets. Now we just need to work on #2.
Unfortunately, Tuesday I will again be flying solo in the parenting department as my family will all have gone home to Florida and Maryland. Let’s see how the Estonian speaking, potty training and new words go.
