New Language

These last couple of weeks have been fun to watch Adaline explore her growing vocabulary. Random words are popping out of her mouth and she is learning to express herself. Recently she used her first comprehensible sentence:

“I sit with Mommy!”

She babbles frequently. Sometimes she whispers and sometimes she yells and it is almost always difficult to understand one, let alone all, of the words she is saying. But in this instance, the words came out clear as a bell. It’s a pretty good parallel for her relationship with Mrs. Bluth.

To add some more context, we were eating dinner at the table and she was sitting in Mrs. Bluth’s lap. However, Mrs. Bluth was trying to eat her soup and Adaline was just getting in the way. But there was no way she was giving up her prime real estate on mom’s lap. And so, like many other times every day, Mrs. Bluth gave up her comfort for Adaline.

Language is fascinating to watch develop. We probably don’t speak more than 25% of the time in Spanish to her, but we do try. For some words and concepts we have tried to be very consistent. Interestingly, as soon as she learns a word in English, she never says it again in Spanish. She still understands, but doesn’t like to use it. Also, a lot of the most common words we are using tend to be easier in English (ball vs pelota, shoe vs zapato).

And, like I mentioned before, she is learning not just the vocabulary but also the volume. If we whisper, she whispers. She has a prayer voice for prayer time. She gets loud and animated when excited.

Sometimes she knows that words won’t get her the reaction quick enough that she wants. Ever since the Air and Water Show, she always notices the airplanes and helicopters around the city. She hasn’t learned the word for either (both are difficult in English and Spanish) so when she hears or sees one, she immediately grabs your face and points you towards the observed object.

And that is the other parallel that helps describe Adaline. When she is determined to do something (like showing a plane), she is so excited and passionate that she can be a little clumsy (grabbing your face).

But she does it in an effort to share her world with us.