Updates for the year 2022

 I’ve been wanting to write more about the boys linguistic development, but I’ve been caught up with other matters. My year resolution is to post one entry per month. 

Ethan: he is 3yrs and 6months today. He has developed so much in all areas possible. Linguistically, he’s able to communicate 90% of the time in Spanish with others. This means, he doesn’t make a distinction of who is able to speak English or Spanish. For example, he speaks to his “papi” in Spanish, and we all know, Shae doesn’t speak Spanish. I remember, Evan going through this phase as well. One of the words that Ethan loves saying is “mirà” - look. I think this is wonderful, because this conjugation of this verb “mirar” - to look is done in Honduran Spanish. 

Evan: he is 4yrs and 11months old today. He is such a remarkable kid as well. His ability to communicate in both languages never ceases to surprise me. He’s able to correct Ethan, and tell him to speak English to “papi,” he’s even corrected me when I speak Spanish to his little classmates, he says “Mami, ellos hablan inglés.” 

Final notes: sometimes I wonder what would happen if Shae spoke Spanish or if he spoke to the kids more in English. Since the primary contact they have is with me, I believe this specific situation created the perfect atmosphere for the kids to have Spanish as their primary language. I don't speak English to the kids unless it l around with other parents that don't speak Spanish. But even then, I tend to translate back and forth. In the case of my friend Nancy, both her boys are entirely bilingual and efficiently manage both languages. I believe he specific situation fostered this linguistic ability for his boys. For example, her husband is more involved with his kids. Her husband is monolingual in English, so the kids were able to make this distinction at a much earlier age.