whatMsg?

“Emmi, päike läheb looja.”
“Päike läheb looja.”
“Emmi, miks päike läheb looja?”

Translation:

“Emmi, the sun is setting.”
“The sun is setting.”
“Emmi, why is the sun setting?”

This was K’s first “why” question and I though it was a great one. It also happened in Estonian which was also interesting.

Wednesday, August 6th was a tough day for me as I spent most of the day in doctors offices, radiological suites and eventually an operating room. By the time the sun was setting I was sedated, having severe nausea and facing a 30 minute ride home in the car and wishing for unconsciousness. My kids however had other ideas as they had spent the day without me AND it was 2 hours after their bedtime. Also, I didn’t want an 18 month old and almost 3 year old worrying about me too much and so I put on a brave face, tugged a smile out of somewhere and tried to keep up with the conversations that I was bombarded with which is when the conversation above took place- almost before we were even out of the hospital parking lot. It is amazing that even just spending a day apart from the kids, how much they develop in just one day. By the way, my answer to K’s question was that the sun is setting because it worked so hard all day to give us light and warmth and now it has to rest to do it all again tomorrow. I wasn’t in a place to explain the solar system to an almost 3 year old We have books and the internet and I’ll get to that another day here real soon.

Otherwise, it was very notable that K was obviously concerned about me throughout the day when she would occasionally see me and only spoke with me in Estonian. It makes be think that when she is being deeply personal with me it happens in Estonian and otherwise, with just daily life she mixes things up a bit and says whatever is easier I think. I was quite touched, though I did have to apologize to Daddy since I usually make a point of making sure he knows what the conversations are about but I just didn’t have the energy that day. Poor Daddy didn’t get a recap of the first “why” question until almost 24 hours later even though he was in the car for the conversation.

Update on A: she is saying more and more words and has conversations though for the most part I still can’t quite make out what she is saying when she strings words together- other than “gimme” which I guess is technically two words.  Figures that would be her only phrase.  Otherwise, the nouns are coming along in a mix of Estonian and English. I’m waiting for the “ah ha” moment when things click and we start understanding each other better since poor A gets quite frustrated with us sometimes and has quite a little temper. K is going to preschool in September and so 3 days a week I will have 2 hours to spend one-on-one with A to work on things without her big sister taking over.

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.

I video conference with my parents weekly as it is a great way to keep in touch with grandparents who live over 3000 miles away. We were video conferencing yesterday and for the most part K would speak to my parents, who speak Estonian, only in English. I couldn’t help but feel a little embarrassed, like I wasn’t doing my job teaching her the Estonian language. I’ve explained the situation to my parents before, but still, I was feeling embarrassed. I just can’t think what else I could be doing but at least take comfort in the fact the K understands Estonian perfectly as does 16-month old A. I keep trying everything I can think of. Perhaps with my parents and sister visiting in 3 weeks for 2 weeks, the kids will hear more Estonian conversations and will say a few Estonian words as well. I’ll be sure to let you know!

I can’t help but wonder in what language A will speak when she starts talking.  She’s 16 months old and saying a few words here and there along with a lot of phrases that I just don’t understand yet.  She understands just about everything I tell her in Estonian which I continue to find amazing though so far most of her first words are all in English despite the fact that I only speak Estonian with her.  It must be her sister’s influence.  A says Emmi (my name), Doggy, K (Her sister’s name), Daddy, cookie, “that’s bird”, “that’s books”, “my milk” and some other things along the way.  Everything she says is so adorable and of course I can’t “correct” her to speak in Estonian with me since she is using her words correctly.  So, I say in Estonian with a lot of excitement, as an example “To on oige, to on lind!” (That’s right, that is a bird!)  As with first words, I really just want to jump up and down and repeat what she just said in English but am trying to stay true to my commitment to bilingualism and so I don’t do this though it is killing me.  I feel that if I were to fall off the wagon now then there would be no turning back and we’d be an English only household.  This is also not the biggest challenge I fear I will face, though it is a little frustrating to not give in to the joy of her first words regardless of the language.