Language development

Dadadaaaa 

This is particularly interesting to us because currently we have three languages in our environment. It might mean that the babbling phase may be a little delayed. When I wrote in an earlier post that the Monkey isn't saying individual words yet, and in fact seems to have regressed slightly, I am aware that multilingualism is most likely the cause for this. Although of course I would prefer seeing some sort of verbal communication develop, I appreciate that it is a lot to take in.

At home we speak German and English. Our environment is Spanish speaking, which is becoming even more relevant now that our son is going to nursery two afternoons a week. This is bound to cause some confusion at some point. But we are using the One Person One Language (OPOL) approach, and I feel confident that, with time, our Monkey will work out which sounds belong to which language. 

I do find it fascinating to see that he can understand "Give this to Papa" and "Gib' es der Mama". It will be interesting to see which languages will stick. A child, so I have read, may go the way of least resistance with his language. So he may well end up speaking Spanish and English, with German being the minority language. 

Because I enjoy reading, the following books are currently spread around the house, so I can sneak in a quick read at nap time or in the evenings. Be Bilingual by Annika Bourgogne is, so far, an interesting read. She explains how it works in her family, but also references other books and research. I quite like her practical tips, and look forward to trying them out over the following years.

Another interesting book although it feels not quite as scientific as I would like, is Small Talk by Nocpla Lathey and Tracey Blake. The author is a speech therapist and draws on years worth of experience which means that there are plenty of case studies and examples. Her practical ideas on language development are really easy to integrate into the day.

I appreciate that it may not be as easy as I envision it now.... But whatever happens, our son has the amazing opportunity to be exposed to several languages and this in itself will help language acquisition even at a later stage.

If you're raising your child bilingual, let us know your thoughts and tips. It would be fantastic to hear of other families' bilingual journeys.

Where we are at

by Anna

1 year review

It was time for the one year review and I am happy to say that the Monkey passed with flying colours. Here are the measurments:

Head circumference 49cm = 96th centile (wow big head!)
Height 79cm (although he did wriggle a lot, so this might not be 100% accurate) = 89th centile
Weight 10.46kg = 75th centile

Amongst other things – development and milestones

Since we are slowly expanding the blog and won't be writing just about food any more, but also parenting topics, developmental milestones and the likes, I thought I share with you a little bit more where we are at...

Milestones are a hot topic with new parents, and there can be a lot of boasting how amazing one's child is. Some are already walking at nine months (admittedly I have seen one such child), others are (according to their parents) already using enough words to explain quantum physics. 

We all know that every child learns in its own pace. And the child that is walking early may not be too bothered about other things, and vice versa. Our monkey is definitely not a child prodigy, nor particularly fast with any of the developmental milestones. Does it bother us? No. We think he is doing just fine.

At 12 months and 2 weeks our almost-toddler's development

What he is doing (amongst others)

• stacking Ikea wooden stacking rings (started this two weeks ago)

• putting lids on things, including lipstick caps (started this at roughly 11.5 months?)

• cruising like no man's business (been doing this for a fair while, without bothering to progress to walking)

• crawls like attempting to break a world record for speediness (he dragged himself for a long long time before starting to properly crawl at 10.5 months or thereabouts)

• feeding himself more or less successfully (by which I mean, only half goes on the floor)

What he doesn't yet do (yet)

• say individual words (in fact he has regressed from mama to daaaaaaaa for everything - but since he has three languages in his environment this is probably not surprising)

• walk (although he has just three days ago attempted his first step, purely by accident, and he does enjoy pushing the high chair through our living room)

• stand freely by himself

• quite understand the very cool Bobby Car he got from his grandparents for his birthday

He loves:

• music and jumping up and down in our arms "dancing"

• "stroking" the cat

• splashing with water no matter how big or small the container

• tactility games and songs like: Wind the bobbin up, Row Row Row the boat

• playing peek a boo – it is still the most entertaining game at this point

• pointing my finger to illustrations in books for me to name them


So you see... Every child is so different. I think what is most important is to enjoy the journey. This first year has already fled by.  I am happy we are not wishing it away by wanting our Monkey to do things he isn't ready for.