Bi-Lingual Children

First, David's swallow study went well, and he has no physical problems in his throat that are causing eating problems. The speech pathologist was able to share some other possible reasons and suggestions for the problem, so we will be working on ways to evaluate those with an occupational therapist and explore some creative new methods for helping him to eat more foods.

On to a different subject...it seems my children are becoming bi-lingual. The influence of Dora the Explorer over the years and the newer show, Go Diego Go, has helped the boys pick up some Spanish phrases. For example, one day Nathan got stuck while he was doing something and started yelling, "Ayude me! Ayude me! Help me! Ayude Me!"

The boys also use the Spanish words arriba and abajo when we are driving and going up and down hills. As we drive up the hill, they yell "Arriba!" When we go down the hill, "Abajo!"

A couple of days ago, we were watching Go Diego Go, and David decided that it was necessary to translate for me. When Diego said, "Hola," David told me that it meant hello. He also translated the Spanish name of an animal, a color and one more thing I can't remember. At one point, the character Diego said a complete sentence in Spanish. David looked at me and said, "Oh, that poor little animal is hungry." Right after that on the show, Diego translated his own sentence and said, "This poor animal is hungry."

Needless to say, I was quite shocked and was quite proud that David was gaining such a command of the Spanish language. At least I was until I found out that David had already seen the show. (Little Cheater!) What a let down! No...not really. I am thankful that they have picked up some of the Spanish language and hope that I can do more to help them become bi-lingual. I would really like them to learn several different languages because I think it will help them in their lives. However, I don't think I am going to let them learn the same languages because I am afraid of how they would use it against me!