Small Victories

There is nothing quite like knowing you are the floor show for nearby shoppers.  I understand how trying to speak Spanish to my son in public might attract attention. It's not everyday (here in Indiana) that you see a 5'10 blond haired, green eyed adult speaking Spanish to an adamantly English speaking child. Or said adult asking specifically for Spanish titles. Or said child child declaring, "Mommy you got to speak Engwish!"

I took my kids with me to the local book store and was looking through the Spanish children's books. I found Go Dog Go and a Curious George book that I thought looked cute and bonus: they were in Spanish! So I called my son over and we had this conversation:

-"¿Te gusta este libro, ¡Corre Perro Corre¡, o prefieres Jorge Curioso?
-"NOT THOSE books Mommy! I not like those!
-"¿No te gustan éstos?"
-"No! Yucky!"
-"Bien, ¿Cuál libro quieres?"
-"NOT THOSE!

The joys of conversing with his age group made only more delightful by the added language! During this exchange, there was another mother and her two sons, slightly older than mine, who were hovering nearby. The boys were pretending to be interested in books, but would keep looking at us and shuffling closer to hear what was going on. Well, in for a penny in for a pound right?

-"Entonces, ven aquí y busca un cuento que te gusta."
-"I want THIS one!"

Success! He chose a Spanish book that would be perfect for practicing animals, colors, location words, and more; our audience evidently decided that my son was in no danger from the strangely speaking lady; and my son felt proud and possessive of his new book. A winning trifecta :)




In the last three days, we have read his book several times and each time I have had him repeat the names of the animals in Spanish.  I have really emphasized the verb estar too. So who do you suppose did a vigorous happy dance when after we read it this evening I heard my son looking for his daddy saying, "¡Papî! ¿Dónde estááás?" Yup! That would be me! Small victories my friends...small victories.