Oops, I Forgot

This past weekend Bean, Mr. Bean, and I went to visit our families. We live about 500 miles away so it was quite a drive. Bean is not good with long car rides. This meant we had to stop more than I wanted to.

When we got there, I immediately started speaking to him in English. I didn't even realize it at first. Then something popped in my head and said "HOLA!" and then I switched back to Spanish. But really, the whole weekend I spoke to him mostly in English with a bit of Spanish sprinkled in.

Why? Was it because everyone else was speaking English so I just started speaking it? Was it because I wasn't watching my Spanish movies and listening to my audio courses? Was it because I didn't want anyone to feel left out? I have no idea. Usually when we go in public I don't care if anyone feels "left out" because I am talking to my Bean- not them. So I don't know what happened.

My mother jokingly made a comment that Bean was going to get older and not understand English so I guess that I was speaking some Spanish. But still, I feel that I slacked off, so excuse me while I go find my iPod so I can get back to my Platiquemos.

No Soy Latina, pero....

( English is below.)

No soy Latina pero a veces cuando escucho mi música, soy blacktina. No me digas nada cuando mi cumbia, reggaeton, merengeue, o otra música esta en la radio. Es tiempo de bailar, mover mi cintura, y mi nombre es Juanita Domingo Santiago de Acha.  Mira, nada con r porque no puedo rrrrrrr.

Escucha esto y dígame que no le hace quiere bailar. No ver el video si los niños están en la cuarto, pero sólo escuchar. No es nada malo, no es sólo una parte pequeña que no me gusta.

¿Quieres bailar?

Progress...Check!

Besides responding to "let's eat!" in Spanish, Bean also responds to "Dame beso" (Give me a kiss) and leche (milk).

When I say "dame beso" he smiles, then I put my cheek next to his lips and he tries to give me a kiss. All he does is open and close his mouth, but that's good enough for me. When I mention leche his eyes light up and he'll rock his head back and fourth.

He also waves his hands back and fourth when I sing Dos Manitas, Diez Deditos. 

He's still a little sprout, and really we just started this last month, so I'd say that's pretty good. I am getting pretty close to only speaking to him in Spanish. My constant immersion has really helped. The more I watch tv, read, and listen to music in Spanish- the more I feel comfortable speaking it.

This is reminding me of the days when I was younger and I was so into the language. I think that I thought I was Latina. I was so wrapped up in it that at times I'd forget words in English. It was as if my brain would get in these Spanish modes and that was all I knew. I see it creeping up because I keep speaking to my husband in Spanish.

The other day he turned to me with the most serious look on his face and said "I....don't.....understandddddd.....whattttttt....youuuuuuuuu....arrrrrre....saayyyyying".

Then we laughed. 

La Cucaracha Did What?!

Bean was having one of those days where he couldn't be out of my sight without having a meltdown. So I decided to snuggle on the couch with him and watch Spanish cartoons on Youtube. He is fascinated by my laptop so I knew that would settle him down.

I happen to come across a Speedy Gonzales cartoon. When you are a child you don't realize what messages certain cartoons are trying to convey; so to see these same cartoons as an adult can really be an eye opening experience. Aside from the stereotypes, I was quite surprised by this little song.

Spanish Friday

I not only want Bean to be bilingual, but I also want him to be biliterate. After all, if he is going to learn to speak Spanish, he might as well learn how to read and write it. That being said, I am going to start participating in Spanish Friday, which basically means, much to my chagrin,  on Friday's I'll write in Spanish. Thanks to Latinaish for the idea. I'm so rusty but here we go...

No me gusta escribir en espanol. No me gusta leer en espanol. Pero es necesario. Cuando era en la universidad, escribía todo el tiempo. Entonces necesito relajarme y escribir.

Hablé que no puede estudiar gramática porque no es natural. Pero necesité revisar, especialmente los mandatos. Encuentré un sitio para este. Dr. Lemon tiene mucho información sobre los verbos. Me gusta este sitio porque las páquinas son muy breves.

Un otro sitio que necesité este semana fue Study Spanish; en particular la páquina que explica como escribir a máquina los acentos porque yo nunca recuerdo.

Press 1 For English...Press 2 If You Are Upset

I'm not political, so don't even go there with me. But I did find myself shaking my head in agreement with this quote from a few years ago. (Emphasis mine)

"Understand this: instead of worrying about whether immigrants can learn English—they’ll learn English!—you need to make sure that your child can speak Spanish. You should be thinking about how can your child become bilingual. We should have every child speaking more than one language. Yo! It’s embarrassing… it’s embarrassing when… when… uh, Europeans come over here. they all speak English. They speak French. They speak German. And then we go over to Europe, and… and all we’s can say is “Merci beaucoup.”- Barack Obama  (Video)

I live in my own little world and march to the beat of my own drum so in general, I surround myself with people who are supportive of language learning. But every so often, I get a nasty whiff of the "This is America, learn English" crowd.

Vamos a Comer

I posted this on Twitter awhile ago because it's just funny to me.

Whenever I say "vamos a comer" Bean opens his mouth so his pacifier falls out and then he starts making faces like he is chewing. He looks like a cute little muppet. You'd have to see it to get the humor, but it proves that he is learning!

Do Small Changes Equal Big Results?

Photo By Dominik Gwarek

I've been making small changes in hopes that they'll lead to big results. Based on reading blogs like Spanish Only and AJATT, I feel pretty confident in what I am doing.

I am so busy these days with work, starting a new business, watching the baby, and studying for a class- I feel like I don't really have room to add Spanish in there. So I am trying to ease it in as much as possible.

I usually have some background noise going when I'm working so I've added a "Spanish Contemporary" station to my Pandora account.