The next installment from the fictional, but oh, so real diary of a bilingual mother.

Monday

I must get some new books to read to my kids. I know repetition is good, but I am really getting enough of the inquisitive puppy who gets into all sorts of trouble, not to mention the scarecrow and the owl … The biggest problem is that my darlings know the stories inside and out and I can never take any shortcuts. If I try, they notice and get wide awake from the excitement of it. Perhaps I could find someone who would want to sell books their kids have grown out of, or even donate – I could offer to pay the postage. Must check the Facebook groups. I’d love to buy some brand new books, but I can’t really afford that many … I know what’s going on the birthday wish list for grandma and grandpa! Another translation on the fly it is for tonight then … a bit of brain exercise will do me good.

Tuesday

Posted on the Facebook group and asked if anyone had any spare books – someone already promised to send us some comics, great! Looking forward to reading something different!

Thursday

S really loves the new cartoons we found on YouTube – I can remember watching them with my sister when we were small and amazingly, they haven’t lost their appeal! It’s great we have found something interesting for him – so much that I had a hard time switching the computer off! I have tried restricting the screen time for him, as he can just forget himself when he is on the phone or computer. He has realised that I give in more easily if what he watches is in the “right” language, so he knows exactly what to ask for. I am torn – should I allow him more screen time if it means more exposure to the language?

Friday

Felt lonely today, language-lonely. On a normal day, the only people I speak my language with are my kids. S is now at school and D only speaks a few words, so I sometimes feel like doing a day-long monologue. Sometimes I don’t know what to speak about with D, and I am not at all sure she is interested in my musings … but I keep it up. Looking forward to the next words, though – there is only so much conversation you can manage when the only answer you get is “duck”. That said, she does seem to understand, so most of my questions can be answered with a “yes” or a “no”. Funnily enough, “no” seems to be the favourite in most situations nowadays.

Saturday

The comics arrived – how excited can you be for a bunch of old magazines? Very! Best of all, S also loves them, so we can enjoy the comics together in the evenings. Even better, I will be able to buy some more books from another family – just have to ask hubby to pick them up next week.

Sunday

Turns out that the family selling the books actually live a lot closer to us than I thought, yay! I spoke to the mum over the phone today – she sounded just like me – and we agreed to meet up next weekend. Finally an adult to speak my language with, face-to-face!

New to the diary? Read Part 1 here.