Lil D is officially a toddler, she is 18 months old. She has developed many fine and gross motor skills that have me impressed with each new development. Her cognitive development is superior for a little one learning two languages. The only area of concern for me is her language development. I have looked at the research on raising bilingual kids and of course there are opposing schools of thought. One side states kids can take whatever you throw at them.
While the other is against introducing a second language right away. In my case it's too late to stop the train. Lil D has been submerged in Spanish and English from birth. Her primary language has been Spanish, because I am really the only person who speaks to her in English. Cognitively she understands and responses to both, but she is unwilling to mimic or speak words that are recognizable to us. She clearly says "eat", "yay", and "no".
She is very vocal, speaking her own language. Her babbling sounds mostly Spanish with a sprinkling of English. She uses her hands to express herself a lot. I will post a conversation we had about a month ago below and you'll see what I mean.
Latest Developments
- Can position herself to sit on a stool, small chair, or step.
- Runs everywhere, very little walking.
- Developing the skills to walk down stairs holding onto rail.
- Uses a spoon to feed herself. Can drink out of a cup unassisted.
- Imitates scribbling
- Shows affection
- Listens to a story or looks at pictures
- Identifies one or more parts of the body {her nose, eyes, feet}
- Understands and is able to point to and identify common objects {ball, cup, chair, doll, shoe}
- Is able to take off some clothing items {socks, diaper!!, pants}
- Rebellious at bedtime.
- Hates her car seat, high chair, and stroller -- does not want to be confined to one space
- Shows signs of receptive language skills (i.e., understands when spoken to}
- Points to show what she wants
Lil D and our new neighbor, Lil Shelby
Getting a little hang time!! Finally.
Lil D in her Jordache Skinny Jeans
