Mama, I want pink Eis.

Simon said his first full sentence today. "Mama, I want pink Eis." (Eis=ice cream). It was really fun to hear him say it, knowing that it was the first time he had really put it all together. Subject, verb, adjective, direct object. A very proud moment for this mama.

Truth is, this trip has been very impressive from a language stand point. In just 5 weeks, he is making big strides in English, but huge strides in Swedish. It is so nice for him to spend more time with his Pappa and be exposed to more Swedish. He is not only saying a lot more in Swedish, but he seems to recognize that I speak English and Pappa speaks Swedish. For example, today when we saw some chickens (in a box on a crowded street in Hanoi) he pointed and said, "Mama, chicken." Then he said to me, "Svenska, kyckling."(Swedish, chicken.) He actually told me that he was telling me that it was chicken in Swedish. It's great. Another time when I pointed out a bear at a park, he turned to Pappa and said, "Pappa! Bjorn!" We even play a game called, "How does Pappa say...?" and he clearly understands what it means.

All that brain activity requires lots of rest.

I am so amazed and jealous of the child's brain. I often look at him with such wonder at the capacity of his little brain to learn. It's such a natural, fluid process for young children. Compare that with all the text books, verb conjugation exercises, and embarrassing language mishaps that come with learning languages later in life. What a gift!

Not only have I been impressed with his English and Swedish, but his Thai, Lao, and Vietnamese are coming along. Okay, I exaggerate. Hello and thank you are about as far as it goes. But what I noticed in Laos, was that when I would ask him to say "thank you" to someone, he would turn around and say "kop jai," thank you in Laotian. And one morning when we walked downstairs and I said, "say good morning" he busted out with "saibadee."

And now in Vietnam he has picked up a few words again. Children have amazing brains!

*Disclaimer: These are my phonetic spellings of Laotian words that I am not even sure how to pronounce. If Simon could spell, he could probably do better.

 

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