quick update

[beth_leonard]

Here's a quick everything update. Last week was basically terrible with Peter getting up 2-3 times/night for 1-2 hrs and needing to be held and rocked to go back to sleep and not wanting to go anywhere in the car. It started getting better by Friday, but we decided it was best if Jon rode up with us to my parents' house for dinner.

Saturday my brother and his family were in town and we had dinner with them and his in-laws. We got to watch the video of George's change of command to his new post. One of the comments his boss made in the speach was, "Captain C. was chosen for this post not because of his seniority, but because of his proven track record of excellence." I'm a proud sister, what can I say.

George & Emily's daughter was as cute as cute can be. She is almost 6 months old now and she had on these little socks that are painted to look like little black shoes. I didn't bring my still camera, only my video camera, so I don't have any close ups of them.

On Sunday Megan was baptized at the 7:30 am service at the church we grew up in. In the morning Peter was fine, but by noon he had a fever of 101.6 F armpit. He threw up in the car on the way home. The fever finally broke Tuesday morning, the Tylenol we gave him at 6 am was the last that he needed, but he hasn't slept while not being held other than a few hours a day. Jon and I are both pretty tired but we're getting more books read while holding sleeping toddler. We need a stronger night-light in his room.

I tried to schedule more pre-school visits this week but two out of three places haven't called me back. Next week I'm seeing someplace Monday and another one on Friday.

I finally cleaned out my work room so that it's nearly Peter safe. At least now I can work in there while he plays with toys without my worrying about him hurting himself or my stuff. It's not safe unsupervised because of the computer of course, but when I'm working in there I'm pretty aware of whether he's on my lap or not.

GS meeting Tuesday night. One of the parents downstairs with Peter and Jon said that Peter speaks like a 4 or 5 year old. I think that's pushing it a bit, but it does reinforce that I want to try to give him the gift of a second language while he's still soaking it all up like a sponge.

Made it to swimming today. Didn't nap yet. Now's my chance.
--Beth

Comments

Second language

[upsilon.livejournal.com]

I entirely agree on the importance of a second language. I'd like to learn Spanish in the next year or so so our child (due in May) can have some exposure. My wife already speaks Spanish quite well (fluently at one point, but she admits she's a bit rusty lately)...

I just need to find the time and resources...

Re: Second language

[geofizzgirl.livejournal.com]

Look into the "one parent, one language" approach: Each parent speaks (almost) exclusively one language to the child. So, in your case, your wife would speak Spanish and you would speak English to the child. I know a few families who have done this with great success, such that by age 4 or so the whole family moves seamlessly between languages (even the dad who spoke almost no Spanish before the birth).

Re: Second language

[beth_leonard]

I'll second the "one parent one language" theory. Unfortunately it doesn't work in my family because we're both basically mono-lingual, but it's the recommended method I've seen in multiple places. Your child may have some production language delay in the beginning, but will understand both of you and catch up quickly by age 3 or 4 according to the instructor of the parenting classes I took.

Jon and I both speak some German, and when we do it to each other Peter is fascinated, but neither of us speaks well enough to converse in daily life without extreme fustration on our part. We've also taken one quarter of Mandarin and hope to take more (especially if Peter's studying it) but our time for adult enrichment classes has been extremely diminished since Peter's birth. He was born one week after the final in our Chinese 1 class.

--Beth