Bi-lingual Lingual Learner Update

I've had a bit of blogger's block lately.  Lots going on, but not much specifically NEW to write about.  So, time to give you an update on an ongoing story here...Elijah's journey to becoming a bi-lingual kiddo.

As of 4 months ago, Elijah wouldn't speak in either Portuguese or English.  He knew words, but he refused to say them on anyone's terms by his and he even refused to point at objects he knew when I said the names.

Now, he is really taking off in English.  BIG time!  He was SO far behind his age group, but now I really think he is closing the gap with the average 2 year 3 month-er.  It's really exciting to see.  He says tons of words and most importantly, he wants to learn them.  He constantly points at things wanting to know what they are called and says the names of objects and practically requires that I repeat it correctly so he can see if he got it right.  It's not even enough to say "good job!".  For example, if Elijah points at something and says, "orange", he wants me to confirm by saying "orange".  He is also really into letters and numbers.  He can say the names of about 8 letters when he sees them, and he can count to 10...something that took us completely by surprise.  He sometimes still messes things up, but he's well on his way.  I could be reading into it, but he really seems to be studying language and trying really hard to get a hold of it, now that he's seen how useful it can be.  Oh and just as a test, I showed him a picture of one word for each letter of the alphabet, completely a random list that I didn't make up.  And he knew 20 out of 26!  And why should he know xylophone anyway?  SO awesome, considering he literally refused to say or repeat even "ball" or "car" a few short months ago.  

In Portuguese, Elijah is still way behind.  He knows just 4 words solidly.  But even in Portuguese something exciting is happening....courage!  He is finally choosing to repeat words in Portuguese, something he refused before.  And at "preschool" today I went to pick him up, and I told him in Portuguese to say bye to everyone, and he turned around and said "tchau!".  I was really proud, but even prouder but I walked by the room and two teachers were commenting on how far he's come to even do that!  Another teacher also came up to me today and asked me what "baid" means.  I had to think of a looong moment and realized Elijah was trying to tell the teacher about the band-aid he was wearing.  She said he kept coming up to him all day and saying it.  He also apparently says "O" a lot, which he does at home too...whenever he sees the letter O anywhere or even a circle :)  She wanted to know what that meant too.  As we walked out the door, he pointed at a sign that head the numbers 1-5 written on it.  He wanted the teacher to tell him in Portuguese one by one what they are called and he repeated each one.  Another teacher told me that every day as he comes in he points at her and asks "tia???"  in a way that is looking for affirmation.  "Tia" is aunt in Portuguese, which is what school kids call their teachers here.  So I guess he was trying to confirm that he is in fact calling her the right thing.  Slow by steady but I"m glad he's opening up!  The teachers all say he comes up to them trying to communicate during the day, but they can't understand and they're all cheering for him to take off in Portuguese too so they can get to know him.  I can't want to see where we are 6 months from now.

Lastly, one funny language related thing I want to add it.  We don't intentionally teach Elijah Portuguese at home.  We just speak to him in English (and Jeyson sometimes in Spanish) and figure he will learn Portuguese around town.  But the funny thing is everywhere I go with Elijah, people ask me (in Portuguese obviously), if Elijah is going to learn Portuguese.  It makes me laugh, because the person through the very fact of asking me the question in front of Elijah IS teaching him Portuguese.  So, I tell them, yes he is in a Portuguese class right now by being present :)  

It's really fun to see our boy grow and develop in so many areas, and especially in this area of being bi-lingual, which is new also for me.  I hope someday soon he can have them both down solidly and we can begin to focus on Spanish too.