Daddy

Julia and I have been in Brazil since the 25th of November. At first, she was amazed with so many exciting people and things and toys and trees. We came alone, and even during the 3 long flights she was totally fine and happy. On the 3rd day, though, she got scared. And she cried all day long, in a tone I hadn't heard before. She was clearly sad and, to my view, missing her dad. Julia and Michael are very close, he is the one who gets her in the cot every morning, reads to her almost every night, and they have lots of loving moments by themselves. But on the 3rd day in Brazil she realised all the exciting changes meant there was no more daddy around. And she also realised that all of a sudden not only mummy was speaking Portuguese with her, but everybody else. I suppose that was strange. On the 4th morning we talked to Michael in the skype, and that's when she said, for the first time clearly and loud, "daddy". And she waved to him. I could never imagine Julia was to speak her first word, in English, during her trip to Brazil.

(I am not considering all the mama-dada-baba. And I wonder if she was already saying daddy before, but not yet understood?... Who knows).

Eyes-nose-mouth

For some time I've been teaching Julia "eyes, nose, mouth" (in Portuguese). As I say each word, I touch her face, then we touch my face, etc. Last week for the first time I asked her "where are mummy's eyes?", and she touched my nose. I thought oh well it was just a coincidence (that she touched one part of my face, even though the wrong one -- but we love any achievement, even if a bit wrong, isn't it?). But she kept doing it every time. Some days later, her dad asked where were his eyes (in English), and she did the same! Now when we ask she stops before touching our nose, and thinks a bit, but often touches the mouth or nose before the eyes. She does it right in the third attempt.

I recently realised she is really learning things pretty fast (oh so obvious but I suppose you know what I mean?), so I'm all the time trying to teach her new words and concepts. Yesterday during a nappy change she was clapping hands but suddently I asked her where is your foot? And she showed me her foot! As straightforward as that. Is it quite obvious for a 10-month baby and I'm a bit out to lunch? Maybe.

I always think Portuguese will be in disadvantage here, because English is the predominant language at home (and second I think it is Oshiwambo, between Julia and Maria). But I might be wrong.

Little chatterbox

It might be a bit early to start this blog, as Julia is still not speaking any specific language but her own. Indeed my decisions are quite often premature, but the reason for that is so I have an opportunity to think/register every little (and sometimes seemingly meaningless) language development of Julia. I am sure they will add to something interesting later on, and show us lessons in terms of what is and what isn't meaningful.

I read in different places, and the Pediatrician confirmed, that children who is bi/tri/multilingual tend to speak later. It seems to me they need more time to absorbe information and understand that there are different ways of saying the same thing, and different receivers for each way. So I am quite impressed with the little chatterbox we have at home. Although the dialogues are sequences of baba-dada-mama--therefore not really comprehensable--, she has clear intentions. I think the video below shows that quite well. I wasn't expecting it so early, she started with 6 months.

So now I wonder which language she will choose for her chatterbox routine... or will she choose one?

Chatting over dinner

Julia about 4 months ago, making a very clear statement (!) about something that only her dad understood (he was the one behind the camera). She was about 7 months old at this time.

The first

First post, never an easy one. So here we go. My name is Clarisse, Julia's mother, Michael's wife. I'm a Brazilian, married to an Australian, living in Namibia. Julia will be 11 months soon. Her first words are still to be understood, but they are already been said. Lots of dada-mama-papa, sometimes as a clear statement, others more as small chat.

There are three languages at home:
- Portuguese: my mother tongue, language I speak with Julia,
- English: Michael's language, the language we speak between ourselves, and Namibia's official language (although you might want to name what they say Namlish), and
- Oshivambo, one of the Namibian local languages, spoken by Maria, Julia's nanny. They are together everyday, so a big part of her awake time she is with Maria.

Both Michael and I work a lot from home, meaning we can eventually give her lunch or read a book during our working hours.

I have been reading a lot about how to raise a trilingual baby, and recently found interesting resources and blogs from families on a similar situation as ours. It's definitely exciting and I feel like embarking in this adventure that is to watch Julia's endeavours. Because I love action research, I decided to register her development in this blog. I am sure this will be something interesting for us as a family to revisite in the future, and maybe even to share with others (although I can't promise much on that side).

Of course I'm not English native speaker and I won't bother my husband asking him to review every post, so please bear with me.

So here we go...