Reading and Walking....

One of Hannah's favorite past-times is going to the bookcase she has in her room and taking the books out while she looks at their cover. She also has books in the baskets on the floor in her bedroom, so everything is within her reach. So she is always grabbing books off the shelves, even in my office, putting them on the floor and then going through the pages in them.

Today, we went to Kids Space, to participate in the Mommy and me course. She liked it a lot. But what was interesting to see was that when the two workshop leaders picked up a book and started reading, she was the first kid in the room to immediately tune to the books. This was interesting because when it came to games she was not the first one to catch on to them. She would do her own thing for a couple of minutes. But when she heard the teachers reading, she immediately approached them and tried to touch the book. The books were in English, and although she is not used to hearing books in English, she did not reach negatively to them! And she was tired when we left the Kids Space!

Taking these classes is a learning experience for me since I don't have the education in English. So when parents sing the songs, the song about the spider, etc., I never know the words. And I am a little self-conscious. But I say to myself: Well, they don't know the Spanish songs I know! Just kidding... But what is interesting is that if I feel in the minority because I don't know the songs in English, one can only begin to imagine how a child who does not speak English or does not have references in English can feel in the classroom... Not a good feeling!

We had a wonderful time today!!! Kuki
P.S: She also did some artwork.... Well, I did it.... It'

Hannah is learning to say Chau Chau

Hannah has been hearing us say Chau Chau since she was born. Whenever someone leaves the house, we say: Chau Chau. And when I say goodbye to her, I usually say: Chau, Chau, Chauuuu! I also sing a song to her that goes: Chau Chau Adios....And this morning, when I started singing the song, Hannah said: Tau tau, a... I guess this was her attempt at saying Chau, Chau, adios....And the T sound was like the Spanish t....Very interesting.....I tried to record her as she said tau tau, but I did her by putting her in front of the computer and opening audacity..... Not the best way to do it....I will need to find a more naturalistic way to do it! Saludillos, Kuki

Hannah claps her hands!

On Wednesday, May 2, I had to go to Old Town to get estimates about a dinner we want to organize to thank the mentor teachers in the practicum course. So I went to several restaurants...though this is not the story.

What IS the story is that I went into Barnes and Noble and Hannah, for some reason, must have liked the place. She started laughing non-stop! And the more she laughed, the more she got tempted! And she laughed even harder! You could hear her laugh from a distance!

It was incredible... To the point that a woman looked at her and said to me: My God! I can't stop looking at her. Is she always like this? And I said: She is a happy baby but I have to say that she is very excited.... There was a young guy sitting on the floor and reading a book. He kept turning over to look at Hannah. And he smiled and smiled. But he did not say anything....

Then, we went to an Argentine restaurant, Il Capo, and Hannah suddenly started clapping and clapping. She had clapped before. But this time she did it for several seconds. And when I celebrated what she did, she kept doing it.... It was a wonderful day! Kuki

Hannah is walking!

Hannah is walking! Last week, it was only three or four steps at a time. Now, it's non stop! She can walk long distances, like 3-4 meters. And she reminds me of La Momia, a famous wrestler in Argentina, who was part of Martin Karadagian's Titanes en el Ring. For those of you who read Spanish, here is a link to a page that has some info on Titanes en el Ring. http://memorias.todouy.com/memmasinfo9.htm

Also, here is the song that accompanied La Momia as he walked toward the ring:
La Momia, luchador sordo mudo,
es mas fuerte que el acero,es el paladín de la justicia,
La Momia, protege a los buenos, castiga a los malos, y quiere a los niños muy tiernamente,
La Momia es justiciera, La Momia, La Momia,La Momia, La Momia, La Momia... Música aquí.

Hannita reminds me of La Momia because she keeps her body straight and tries to balance her walk with her arms, which are firm. She is so funny! Me hace derretir el corazon cuando la veo caminar! So whenever I see her walking, I start singing the Momia song.

We will be celebrating her first birthday on the 19th! A year has gone by too fast!!! Kuki

The Incredible World of Technology

Today, I participated in an all-day workshop organized by Coastline CC. The objective of the meeting was to help design multimedia materials for EFL students in China. After the Chinese materials have been published, then they will publish materials for Spanish speakers in the US.Why was the meeting so interesting?

The people attending were TESOL faculty members, faculty members from Applied Linguistics programs, the USC people who are doing the work on gaming, people from MIT, and people from Berkely.To hear these people talk about gaming and education was incredible! One of them said that now teenagers use email for "formal" communication purposes. And they use email to send thank you notes to their friends' parents.

So the disconnect between what we, adults do and what teenagers do with technology is incredible!Hannah will experience this incredible and challenging world! Scary but true! Kuki

....And she is trying to walk

Hannah is trying to walk... She is holding me from one hand and she tries to take steps. She has given two or three steps with one of us holding her from one hand. And she is having a lot of fun! She clearly wants to be independent. She is feeding herself and now she is learning how to walk.... She seems so small and in need of protection and then she turns around and she is taking risks! But she is having a lot of fun... She is laughing and enjoying life! Cheers, Kuki

Hannah is feeding herself

How exciting! Hannah wants to feed herself and I have noticed that when she does, she eats more.

I have learned to place the food, cut in relatively big pieces (underline relatively) on her tray. And she starts picking up the food. Of course, I also want her to eat vegetables that I put in a spoon. She will eat them, but she eats a lot more when the food is on the tray. And she has a lot of fun!

Now, I have to convince myself that the area around her chair is going to be full of leftover food. Boy do I love the dustbuster! I used to have it in the garage. Now I have it in the kitchen all the time. It has become another kitchen utensile!

Hannah and dirt....

I should say that besides food, Hannah wants to eat the dirt in the pots. Alan came up with a creative solution. He found the boppy that we used to use when Hannah was born and he put it around Hannah's favorite plant. Of course, she is very frustrated now. She is trying to find an opening to put her hand in... She has not been able to find one but she is still trying.

She has also tried to "attacked" another plant. To my surprise, she has not realized that there is an area where she can reach the plant from.... Thank God for this small favor!

If anyone has any advice, I will welcome it! Cheers,
Kuki

Hannah says Mamá for the first time

On Tuesday, March 20 and Wednesday, May 21, Hannah clearly said Mamá looking at me. On Wednesday we were walking in the parking lot of the Home Expo and Hanni looked at me and very calmly said: Mamá. I got so emotional! It was wonderful!

Hannah's eating habits!

Hannah is going through a phase when she wants to eat everything we eat. For example, if I am eating LaCreme by Dannon, she will want it. I gave her a little to taste and she loved it! SHe was making lots of sounds indicative that she liked what she was eating. She said mah mah mah. And movia la lengua y se relamia los labios! Y se reia como loca!

She did the same with the pizza, and of course, my dad and I felt that the pizza is too spicy for her. So we gave her a little bit of the crust. And she loved it.

And again, she did the same thing with croissants... What can we do? She loves to eat... And she is having fun experimenting....And we are always there to protect her and support her...

Hannah is climbing the stairs!

Tomorrow, February 19, Hannah will turn 9 months. This past week, besides babbling, Hannita has begun to climb the stairs, with us behind her of course. But it's incredible to see how she climbed all of the steps, on her own, without any problems or doubts. When she had three steps left, at the top, she stopped, turned over, and looked at me. So I picked her up and we stopped there.

Hannah is growing so fast! Saludos! Kuki

Hannah's "Babbling"

Hannah is making new sounds. She made the first distinguishable sounds yesterday, the 15, for the first time. And these sounds are beginning to sound like words. She is saying bah bah bah, mah mah mah, and the first one she made was: pah pah pah. She is making sounds non-stop and these sounds are very different from the sounds she made last week. She is a lot more advanced. She is clearer and the sounds are stronger.

There are a lot of people who are afraid that bilingual children's speech will be delayed. In Hannah's case, this does not seem to be the case. It could be because this is her developmental pattern. In fact, so far she has been doing everything "early." SHe began teething when she was three months old. She turned over on her own the day she turned 4 months, she began crawling, with difficulty though, when she was 5 months. So it could be that she will start talking early. However, it could be that my dad's presence, with all the input he gives her, may be helping her. One of the good things about my dad (and there are a lot!) is that he repeats whatever he says to Hannah many times. He also adjusts his speech to meet Hannah's level of understanding. So this is great for Hannah since she hears the same words many times.

The other thing that is happening is that Hannah began to crawl up the stairs! This is scary! But she can do it alone. I think that having the carpet helps. If it were up to hear, she would climb the 18 or 17 steps, with us behind her of course. But we don't let her do it.

It's wonderful to see her grow, healthy and happy! Kuki

Hannah ya esta crawling y trata de pararse

Como pasa el tiempo! Hannah ya crawlea! She is a most confident crawler and she tries to chew on whatever is at hand: paper, toys, trash bags. Just anything! So we are after her all the time....

At the same time, Hannah is trying to stand up. She still does not have balance because she stands on the tip of her feet. But I am sure that she will soon start standing up on her own.

She is using the CD player as a walker. But she learner (how???) to open up the player and tries to get the CD out....Ay Hannita Hannita!

It's wonderful to see her react to new experiences, new noises, new toys, new things that she discovers in the house. I am looking at the world in a whole new different way, because of Hannah. And it't not that I am only talking about a figurative way of looking at the world. Nope. I am lying on the floor with her, so I am at floor level, so I can see things from a different angle!!! Cheers, Kuki

Hannah se da vuelta y esta crawling

Hannah empezo a darse vuelta en la cama, en la crib, en donde sea! Esta semana, la semana de Octubre 2, Hannah empezo a tratar de darse vuelta y daba un 90 degree turn, pero le costaba darse vuelta porque el brazo se la atoraba. Pero en un par de dias, Hannah le gano al brazo! Y empezo a darse vuelta, cada vez mas rapido.

La otra cosa que Hannah esta haciendo es esta empezando a crawlear. Esta crawleando con la cola, como si nadara de espaldas. Y tambien es rapida mi nena! Pero tambien esta luchando para crawlear para abajo. Claro esto le cuesta porque requiere mucha coordinacion. Tiene que empujar con la rodilla y la cola, y tiene que estar para abajo. Pero ya me la veo crawleando en un par de dias.

Ahora, Sabado 7 de octubre, Hanni me esta mirando desde el bouncer mientras yo escribo este texto. Esta muerta de risa, porque el vibrador del bouncy le mueve el culito. Asi que de a ratitos, me mira y dice algo y se rie. Le gusta que la cola se le mueva! Y me mira con cara picara y se rie.... Esta tan linda la gordita! Saludos, Kuki

Mama habla dos idiomas!

As you already know, we are speaking two languages to Hannah. However, what I want to describe is how Alan and I communicate with Hannah when we talk to her at the same time. For example, today we had one "conversation" with Hannah, one in which we tried to explain to her that she is teething and this is why she is in pain. So Alan explained the situation to Hannita in English. He used vocabulary that was quite sophisticated. After he said what he said I naturally repeated the same idea in Spanish. Mind you, we were not doing this intentionally, I just started doing things naturally. SO I told Hannah what the problem was. She looked at Alan and looked at me. She did not seem confused. What IS interesting is that when she hears me speak Spanish she communicates with me very naturally, plays, responds by cooing, etc. However, the few times she has heard me speak English, she noticed that I was doing something new, different. So she looked at me with her big eyes, looking surprised. So I think that she does realize that there is a difference between the two languages and she notices when we are speaking one or the other....

Recommended Books

In this entry, I would like to recommend two books on bilingualism. The first book is by Ellen Bialystok, an expert on the topic. The title of the book is "Bilingualism in Development: Language, Literacy, and Cognition." Here is a review of the article that was published in the Bilingual Research Journal (by NABE). However, I found the review on a site titled Find Articles. The review is excellent because it gives you a summary of the different chapters in the book.

For more information on the book, go to the Amazon site, where you can browse through the book.

The second book that I want to recommend is titled "Childhood Bilingualism: Research on Infancy Through School Age," edited by Peggy McCardle and Erika Hoff. This book is by Multilingual Matters, whose books are quite technical. This is not to say that Bialystok's book is not technical. Not at all. The difference is that the Bialystok book is written by one person, one point of view, and the other book is an edited volume and showcases studies. On the other hand, Bialystok's volume showcases her work over the last twenty years. In any case, I would still recommend Childhood Bilingualism since it looks at issues such as processing two languages, learning two languages, literacy in two languages, etc. Very interesting! Here is a picture of the cover.

For those parents who want something easy to read, I would recommend reading a book titled "Child Language: A Resource Book for Students" By Jean Stilwell Peccei, published by Routledge. Easy to read though the focus is NOT on bilingualism...

Enjoy! Cheers, Kuki

Code-switching y otras yerbas

En casa se hablan dos lenguas: Spanish and English.

Up until Hannah was born, Alan and I used a lot more English than Spanish. When we talked about issues related to work, we used English. When we talked about his family and social things in the US, like the economy, political events, etc we used English. In terms of tv, we usually watch all of the soap operas on Telemundo and Univision. I also watch all the gossip shows in Spanish. Mind you! IT's not that I'm glued to the tv, it's that I work with the TV on as background noise. During the day, if there is a good Court TV trial, then I watch this trial in English. As for TV in English, we watch Law and Order, Desperate Housewives (though not regularly during the second season), and Grey's Anatomy....Also sometimes, we watch Without a Trace. With my family, we only used Spanish, and with Alan's family only English.

When Hannah was born, I naturally started speaking to her only in English. It's not that I made a conscious effort, though we knew that we would be raising her bilingually. But for me it was natural to speak to her only in Spanish. All my vocabulary about children and for children is in Spanish. All the poetry, lullabies, etc that I know are in Spanish. All of the input that is usually given to children I know it in Spanish. Therefore, why would I use English, when my language in English is less rich, less complex, and less interesting?

So at home we do a lot of code-switching, meaning that we alternate between languages. However, I could see that we were shifting toward the use of English more frequently than Spanish. This ivent was to be expected since I have lived here for 16 years and though I have opportunities to use Spanish, they are less frequent than the opportunities I have to use English.

Now we Hannah things have changed. I speak to her all in Spanish and Alan speaks to her mostly in English, with some Spanish language use. However, Alan and I speak Spanish and English when we are with Hannah. And Hannah watches TV in Spanish (children's programs in Spanish on Telemundo, Telefutura, etc) and in English, all the Sprout programs, which is PBS (see September 3 entry).

However, when I talk to Hannah I still code-switch. For example, I will say to her:
Hannitah, te escracheaste toda. (you scratched yourself)
Mami, vamos al co-sleeper (for crib)
Como te gusta que te pampereen eh!

O cuando hablo con Alan, nuestros dialogos son asi:
Alan to Lia: Hi! I am here
Lia to Alan (from the bedroom with Hannah): Hi! We are here! Upstairs
(Hannah looks afraid because she does not understand where the voice is coming from) so Lia to Hannah: Mami mami, no te asustes, es papa! Es papa! Hola papi!!

And she is not confused. SHe knows when we are talking to her in one language or the other and she reacts positively to both....
Cheers, Kuki

On Hannah's Character

Hannah is growing a lot every day! Desde que mi papa se volvio a Argentina, estamos viendo como hacer para que Hannah se acostumbre a que ahora las tareas se dividen entre Alan y yo, y Ana.

Cuales fueron los efectos del abuelo Yaco en el desarrollo de Hannah? Primero, Hannah se acostumbro a salir todas la mañanas? Esta claro que a Hannah le gusta la naturaleza. Le encanta comer mirando el verde del jardin. Y le encanta que la saquen a "caminar" por el cul-de-sac. Y por caminar quiero decir que Hannah quiere que el cochecito no pare! Y que pueda ver el cielo y los arboles. Creo que esta claro que a Hannah le gusta la naturaleza. Cuando esta afuera o cuando esta en el family room y puede ver el jardin. Y a Hannah le gustan los ambientes claros!

Asi que desde que Yaco se fue, Alan saca a caminar a Hannah todas las mañanas. Primero come un poquito, bien temprano. Despues juega un ratito, y ahi ahi Alan la saca a caminar media hora y Hannah vuelve, come otro ratito y esta chocha!

Para mitigar la falta de mi papa, que se la pasaba hablandole a Hannah en castellano, hacemos que Hannah hable con mi viejo todos los dias. Que quiere decir esto? Que mi papa le dice algunas de las frases que le decia todos los dias a Hannah: Que ruido hace el gatito? miau miau miau... Y el perrito? Guau guau guau... y asi repite los nombres de algunos animales y Hannah se mata de risa cuando lo escucha por telefono. Y se rie y trata de agarrar el telefono y hace como que se lo va a comer de la emocion que le agarra. De esta manera hacemos que Hannah reciba input en castellano y mantenga el contacto con mi papa...

Esto es todo por hoy! Saludos, Kuki

El Libro Preferido de Hannah

Todos tenemos un libro preferido, o un genero que nos gusta leer. Desde que le empezamos a leer a Hannah, tratamos de "exponerla" a distintos autores, distintos generos, y distintos tipos de libros. Esto lo hacemos porque queremos que pueda desarrollar un lenguaje rico. Mi preocupacion en este sentido es que con todo el motherese que le estoy dando, mi lenguaje cuando me comunico con ella es bastante limitado. Entonces uso los libros para exponerla a mucho mas vocabulario del que uso normalmente con ella.

Sin embargo, a pesar de esforzarme en leerle varios autores y distintos libros, todos los dias vuelvo al mismo libro: Nanas para Soñar. Cuales son los motivos por los que creo que a Hannah le gusta tanto este libro?

1. Nanas no es un cuento, Nanas tiene rimas y poesias cortitas, muy cortitas, y todas riman. Cuando leo las rimas, suenan como canciones muy cortitas, y como la entonacion que uso es muy sonora, creo que tiene un efecto notable en Hannah. Cada vez que Hannah escucha una rima o poema, me mira con los ojos bien abiertos y hace sonidos, y los sonidos son bien notorios.

2. El vocabulario es limitado y se repite. El vocabulario de Nanas se repite constantemente. Habla de flores, miembros de la familia, angelitos, animalitos (sobre todo pajaros). Y esto ayuda a exponer a Hannah a un vocabulario mas extenso al que esta expuesta habitualmente, pero al mismo tiempo, mas limitado que el de los libros.

3. Finalmente, Nanas, como libro es mucho mas lindo, divertido, creativo, que los otros libros que tengo para Hannah. Los cuentos no tienen coherencia. Los autores de los libros no le prestaron atencion a la coherencia de los libros. Es que creen que los chicos no se dan cuenta si los libros no tienen sentido? Una lastima....

Ahora mi challenge es encontrar otros libros como Nanas para que Hannah no se aburra.... Saludos, Kuki

Hannah is growing and growing!

Hace 15 dias que no posteo nada. Lo que paso es que mi papa vino a conocer a Hannah, y me dedique a el y a Hannita. Por esto este post va a ser, mas que nada, un resumen de las cosas que pasaron entre el 14 de agosto y hoy.

La semana del 14 de agosto, el 17 mas especificamente, Hannah descubrio la tele. Claro, como para que no... Nosotros prendemos la tele, mas que nada las noticias, en cuanto nos despertamos. Entonces, que hacia Hannah? Movia la cabeza, 180 grados, para quedarse frente a la tele y asi mirar lo que fuera, noticias, futbol, basket, etc.

Al principio, dijimos "Que cute... Hannah descubrio la tele." Entonces decidimos poner Sprout TV. http://www.sproutletsgrow.com/ Este canal, que es de PBS, esta disenado especialmente para chiquititos. El programa que no dejamos que Hannah vea es Teletubbies, no nos gusta. Los que mas nos gustan para Hannah son Barney, a quien Hannah ya reconoce, Pingu , que tiene un diseno muy lindo, es educativo y el pacing es excelente para chiquititos. El otro cartoon que nos gusta es Caillou, un nene de cuatro anyos que esta en el proceso de sociabilizacion. En general, el pacing de todos los programas de Sprout es adecuado para los bebes y toddlers. Tambien las voces no son altisonantes y son muy soothing. Asi que todo esto calma a Hannah. Y para rematarla, los cartoons son educativos, aunque por ahora, esto no tiene importancia desde Hannita's point of view.

Despues de un par de dias de Sprout, decidimos que tenemos que empezara a dosificar la tele para Hannah. Asi que ahora ponemos la tele SOLO cuando queremos que Hannah vea a uno de los cartoons apropriados para ella. Pero no hay mas comer con cartoons or poner la tele enseguida, claro salvo si habia algun partido del mundial de basket, pero esa es otra historia... Que bajon! Hannah espero que dentro de cuatro anyos no perdamos por un punto. Pero igual estamos orgullosas del equipo argentino. Hasta la proxima, Kuki