In the past few months, Ju has started saying a few words--mama, papa (for papai, daddy), Dete, car (sounds more like carro, actually).
And his favorite, pretty much all-purpose word, quer, which means want.
Here is a typical conversation with Ju:
Quer?
Quer!
Quer o que? (What do you want?)
Quer!
And so on.
(He's also taken to doing this really cute thing that E. used to do, and I'm told I did too, where he clenches his teeth in a weird grimace until his body starts shaking. But I digress.)
Dete speaks to him all morning in Portuguese, of course, and Dan speaks to him primarily in Portuguese, too, as do I, to a lesser extent.
It just seems to come more naturally with lots of words.
He plays peekaboo in Portuguese, for example (Cadé? Achou!)
There is part of me that feels a little sad about this. Why? I'm not sure. I guess it's just the inevitable pang of having to leave my baby with someone else, evidence of Dete's bond with him, which of necessity has replaced mine to some extent.
It makes him feel a little more distant, a little bit unknowable.
Mostly, though, I think it's really cool that he is learning Portuguese so well.
2 comments:
um, the clenching his teeth until he shakes? is about the cutest thing I have ever heard and I pray I get to see it happen with my own eyes. I want to eat him!
There is something very connecting about speaking the same language as some one else. I think with my Ju, I just got used to it, after all, he was born here, so why wouldn't he speak more Portuguese than English. His first words also included the nanny's name, and were mostly in Portuguese, even his first sentences - "assistir carros" and "papai pum." Actually, now that I think about it, most of the English he spoke early on was connected to food, and to me, as I was the food, so I guess that makes sense - "apoo" (apple), "boob" and "mommy."
On the other hand, without doing a TMI, I don't feel as much connection using something other than English for some situations, in bed for example, but even with the simple phrase "I love you." It's something I am still feeling to a certain extent, like, disconnected. I can say "amo" all the time, but it doesn't hold the same weight as "I love you." Nor does it when I hear it.
I don't know if you can relate to this. I think you can though.
I am really going to miss you guys.
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