Back from the dead

*dust, dust* It's been well over a year since I last posted here, and I think it's clear at this point that I'm just not going to manage to keep up a teaching blog! Next year I think I'm going to take a break from all the FLEX classes altogether, so my role is going to slide over to 100% Momma and 0% English teacher.

Having said that, I do have this knee-high constant companion who is running around with bobbing ponytails and repeating everything I say, so in that respect I am also very much an English teacher still. And it's here that I am blessed with the enormous rewards and satisfaction of seeing her language develop on a daily basis.

So, I'm thinking of trying to resurrect this blog and use it as a place to write about her journey towards bilingualism, and document the fun moments of her early years with respect to language development. I'd like to do some book reviews and also use this as my little space to talk about how wild it is to see my daughter communicate in a language that isn't my own. This is why I'm here, in fact -- my husband and I both wanted our children to be as fully bilingual as possible, and we felt it was much easier (and more likely to succeed) for me to be able to teach our children English while living in France than it would be for them to pick up French in the US. And for the moment it seems to be working!

Another goal is to figure out how to record her speech over time and post the snippets. Right now she is saying, "Yes, I do!" to every question with a positive answer and it totally cracks me up:

"Stinkerbella, are you hungry?" "Yes, I do!"
"Did you go to the park with Daddy today and see the ducks?" "Yes, I do!"
"Were the ducklings there, too?" "Yes, I do!"

I'd also like to record her "reading" her books, which is something I think she picked up from her older pal, Clementine. Stinkerbella quickly discovered she could put off bedtime by asking for a turn to read, so she's been pretty motivated.

That's the plan for this blog in a nutshell! If you're here, I'm guessing you're either related to us or interested in bilingual toddlers, so thanks for stopping by!