Further diary entries from the 100% fictional but totally real mother living with the ups and downs of raising bilingual children in a new home country.

Monday

Only two weeks to go now! All the gifts have been ordered – fingers crossed everything arrives in time – especially the rest of the books. I love having new books to read with my little ones! Still looking for a suitable hand puppet, though.

Wednesday

D came out with two more words today (I think): ‘give’ and ‘bread’ – seems like our visits to feed the ducks are paying off! Oh, the word ‘no’ has been a common phrase for a while, of course – as well as ‘mum’ and ‘dad’ (or something that I am convinced sounds like those words). I am starting to believe that she will one day chatter away in my language. Yes, I admit, there are days when I some doubts have crept into my mind, whether she ever will – patience, I keep telling myself, patience!

Thursday

Planning the Christmas menu – funny how I now make traditional dishes from home, some of which I didn’t like, let alone prepare before we moved to this country. It is like with many other things, you don’t appreciate it, before you don’t have access to that easily any more. I do want both D and S to learn about the traditions – and they love when we cook together. Though it does take double the time and gets a bit messy. I am so happy I can live with imperfection – it is all in the name of passing on the culture. (Though my mum would be horrified to see the state of my kitchen cupboards.)

Saturday

Tried to do some writing exercises with S – and again, he was not the least bit interested. How will I ever be able to tackle this problem? I need to find out how other parents have managed this!

Sunday

Yes! Today all of us went to an international food fair at the market place, and I met a fellow compatriot! So happy to chat with him (and his lovely family) – how glad am I that we all seem to get along well. Something really funny happened: their son who is a year younger than S, is well on his way to becoming bilingual and he did speak to us in my language. Well, I say ‘us’ – he wouldn’t speak to me or the kids, only to my hubby (the only one who couldn’t understand him!) Apparently he is used to only men speaking the language – speaking to me was an alien concept to him 🙂 We agreed to meet up before new year, so I am looking forward to convincing him that it is not only dads who know this language!

New to the diary? You can read previous entries via these links:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4