The past 2 weeks I have been making it a goal to speak only in Spanish for at least an hour to Samuel! We do it in the mornings after his first nap. This is mainly for me right now, to get me used to thinking and speaking in Spanish. Even though I know it fluently, its hard to turn that switch on and say everything in Spanish (to think in Spanish)... I mean everything! Even all that baby talk we do with them like they understand us haha! Just in everything I do I'm telling him what I'm doing. Like wiping his mouth after he eats, being silly with him, changing his diaper, playing with toys, body parts, etc. Its been sooo good for me! I'm noticing the more I do it the more it becomes natural. My goal is that as he gets older, I'd speak as much Spanish to him as I can, hopefully majority of the day! When he learns his first few words, we'll teach them to him in Spanish as well.
That is how I know Spanish... my parents never sat me down and gave me lessons, I just heard it all the time! We learned English by going to school. It is amazing how the brain works, how a child can absorb, learn, and retain two different languages with out even knowing it! I remember going to a small after school program my mom worked at, I'd sit in there while she taught the kids. I remember them doing their alphabet and I did not even know them in Spanish. One day I just tried saying them in bed over and over because I remembered most of them or over heard her. The ones I did not know, I'd ask my dad and re say them. I taught myself how to write and read as well and growing up we'd write our grandparents letters and my dad would mail them. Spanish is so easy to write and read, its spelled and pronounced the way it sounds, unlike English.
I definitely want to pass this language down to our children. It's part of my family! Also, I don't want it to end with me and years later when my children have children, here my grandchildren say "yeah my mom's parents spoke Spanish but..." And it's SO useful in today's world!
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