My little bilingual people

My little man is a real communicator.  He can tell you how he feels, what's bothering him and he'll process what's going on around him.  We've been blessed to have friends with us for a while and he'll be the first one to say, "where's so-and-so" if that person isn't around or he'll tell me that someone is hungry and offer him or her food or he'll tell me that he wants to buy so-and-so treats at the store.  The other day he picked up some packaged tofu (think beef jerky round sticks in a plastic pouch with tofu/beef flavor) off the shelf and said that he needed to get it for one of the guys.  I asked my little man if he wanted to get gum for himself or the tofu for the guy. He choose the tofu. 

He can be really sweet.  He's also still wild and will then jump on people sitting on a couch, or put his brother in neck holds and throw things over his head or tell people they need consequences (in his authoritative voice).  It's funny watching his bilingual skills progress.  If he talks to English speakers he speaks English and if not, he just switches languages. One of his favorite lines is "you're naughty."  He's mastered it in both languages.  The other day he told a local woman that she couldn't go anywhere and that she was naughty.  Obviously she was just an innocent girl who encountered my moody 3 year old.  Ahh, my wild child.  I love him. 

He doesn't often meet other little kids that speak English.  So a lot of his communication is things he learns from other people (or what he hears Dora or Thomas the Train saying in Chinese.  Even Fireman Sam and Charlie and Lola have dubbed voice overs happening).  He picked a fight yesterday with an older boy (maybe a 6 year old?).  He looked at him and started to tell him that he wasn't going to share his toys and this and that.  The boy looked at his mom and said that my little man was bullying him.  My little guy finally apologized and we're trying to work on him being nice to people.  No bullying!  He tries to blame it on characters from Thomas the Train Engine and so I've banned Thomas (in English) for the moment.  As he will readily tell you, "Diesel 10 is a bad influence on his life."  Today my little man's name is Thomas.  Maybe tomorrow it will be Buzz (Lightyear).  We are living in a Thomas world at the moment with the Fat Controller (he is very happy to tell people they are the Fat Controller - some people are a bit confused when this happens) and other Thomas characters.  I imagine at some point we will come back to reality.   

This week he has an opportunity to meet some other little people that speak English.  I'm trying to encourage him to make friends with people.  I took him to one little boy and tried to get him to say hi but my little man anxiously said, "Mommy, I'm SHY!  And I want you to be shy too!"  I got the hint. 

 

Maybe tomorrow we'll try again:)

 

As for my other one.  He's enjoying getting lots of attention and is trying to be very culturally sensitive.  People like to always touch my little boys so he just grabs and touches them first.  Whether it's on a bus, train, or a sidewalk, he grabs fingers (hair if I look away), food, jackets, etc.  The other day he walked past lines of people and put his hand on each person.  There I was wondering, "Do I say STOP touching people or do I let him say hello the way he's seen other people always say hi to him."

He just turned 1 year old not even a week ago.  The year went by so fast.  Now he's walking, babbling, blowing kisses and developing his own personality.  He's also only slept through the night once:)  Usually he wakes up about 3 times.  I really don't like controlled crying.  Thinking about that and anticipating it will happen at some point.  Soon. 
 

My little guys keep me on my toes and keep me laughing.
 

Thanks for reading! 
Hope you guys are having a great 2013!