Uno, dos, tres…

One, two, three…

One of cool mommy friends, Dariela, told me that I’ve let my Spanish talk with Izzy go off the deep end. This was after Dari asked Izzy, “Izzy, quieres jugo de manzana?” She asked her if she would like some apple juice. Izzy said, “I want apple” and pointed at the bottle Dari was offering.

When Izzy was born, I promised myself that I was going to speak to her exclusively in Spanish. This rule applied to her teachers at day care, Grandma Loly, my mother, and myself. Unfortunately, my friends have noticed the change and have given me a nudge. Nudge noted.

Since last week, I’ve been speaking to her in Spanish and boy it’s hard work. Kids are extremely smart; so don’t underestimate the amount of languages they can absorb.

Izzy understands Spanish, but will not speak it. My goal is for her to be bilingual – fluent in both Spanish and English. Speaking to her in Spanish is easy, but I keep on catching myself saying words in English. Her favorite word right now is “Moco” – booger. Yes, booger is the only word she is more than happy to say over and over.

I just recently read a post on Spanglish Baby’s blog called “Loss of the Heritage Language” and it really opened my eyes. This post is about the loss of one’s native language through the generations; the language your parents, grandparents grew up speaking and for me it’s Spanish. Izzy is my first-generation American born daughter and I don’t ever want her to loss the Language and the Heritage I grew up with.

Here’s what I plan to teach Izzy in the following weeks:

• Numeros = Numbers
• Colores = Colors
• Animales = Animals
• Frutas = Fruits
• Partes del cuerpo = Body parts
• Comidas = Foods