The Boy and the Girl often end the evening together in the tub. "Bubbles!" cries the Boy as he runs to get L.
Sometimes, L gets an urge to play teacher.
language
Teaching the Boy
Use Your Words
“Yes or no?” I ask the Boy.
“Tak,” he replies.
Yes or No?
E is entering the wide world of language, three languages at a time. He grunts and coos sometimes, but he's started using a few words, both Polish and English. For example, he has a "Yes" grunt and a "No" grunt, but he also says "Yes" and "No." Sort of. When I have difficulty discerning whether his grunt is affirmative, I ask him, "Yes or no?"
"Tak" comes the reply.
Return to Russian
What happens when you throw a group of thirty-somethings from Poland together with a babcia who used to teach Russian? Everyone sings all the Russian songs they can remember from elementary school Russian classes.
Dac, Redux
When L began speaking Polish, we made a video of her saying her first word.
Now that the Boy is beginning to speak, we thought we’d do the same.
With the same word.
Clipped
“Jew!” the Boy cries, pointing feverishly. Yet we’re not playing I-Spy in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. The Boy is just thirsty, and he clips most of his words. Our cat, Bida (“Poor thing” in Polish), becomes “Bia.” Big sister’s name gets the middle vowel and consonant removed, so she becomes simply “La.”
Explaining in Poland
I’ve only now been getting around to the videos from Poland.
P-english
Mama, masz cos twardy żeby bear down on?