Spring Is In The Air

Some sure signs that spring is just around the corner in Spain:

Melon wrapped in ham appears as one of the appetizer choices on the menú del día.
Strawberries with whipped cream appear on the dessert menu.
The baby bucket brigade begins to show up at the park
It stays light out until 7:30-8pm.

A Tribute to Pretty P.
Pretty P., Ravashing R. and Beautiful B. That was our gal-pal group. We spent many a nights together having fun in Old City. In fact, our catchy nicknames were given to us by the parking lot attendant. Those were our single days when we were all living in the Philly area. Hard to believe just 7 years later two of us not only not live in Phila but we live in different countries! Add to that two of us now being married with children. So, we have added Adorable A. and Enchanting E.

All of these fun names are to the credit of Pretty P. who was always really effective at scoring a discount at the parking lot with her demure smile.

Catching Up on Life

Wow, almost a year has passed since my last post. Where does time go? I suppose I keep pretty busy with work, the dining club and the playgroup. One friend asked me how I keep up with everything...well now you know...sometimes things just slip through my fingers.

Celiac Disease
I suppose the "big news" since I last posted is that AR has been diagnosed celiac which has forced us to rethink our eating habits. Celiac, for those unfamiliar with the disease, is an intolerance to gluten, a protein found in wheat and other main grains...specifically: rye, barley, and oats. "Safe" grains for AR are rice and corn among a few other lesser known grains.

Initially we thought the transition to gluten free was going to be difficult. However, with just a few minor adjustments and the help of the ACM (Asociación de Celiacos de Madrid) food guide we develop our weekly shopping list around the brands that have certified their products gluten-free. What also helps is that we don't have the habit of buying many prepared foods. Most everything we eat is prepared from scratch which means less preservatives and other gluten-containing ingredients. I have learned to make gluten-free muffins which have become AR's favorite. As soon as he sees the cookie jar filled with them he doesn't want to eat anything else for breakfast.

The road to his diagnosis was a long one and started when he was just 8 months old and demonstrated serious digestive problems. More serious, however, was the plateau he hit in his growth chart. He literally stopped growing for a few months. All of this occurred around the time that we started him on cereal. After various blood tests and on other investigations, a test for intolerance to gluten came back positive and our pediatrician sent us to a specialist who then recommended the biopsy of the small intestine. This was the defining proof that AR is intolerant to gluten. However, it doesn't end here. Around 6 years old we will have to re-introduce gluten in his diet and then run tests again and check his tolerance.

Bilingual Babbling
AR's vocabulary and verbal skills continue to grow. He has begun to produce 2-3 word sentences, primarily in Spanish but a couple in English as well. His English is a bit weaker, but that is to be expected. Eventually he will get better. I continue with his bedtime routine of reading him 3-4 books. He also has the chorus of Row Row Row your boat down pat and loves to sing it with both Mommy and Papá.

The Northern Stars English Playgroup has also been a big help to his linguistic development. At least that is what I think...and perhaps I am a bit biased since I started the group. We are now about 50 families strong who get together on a monthly basis to "play" in English. There is a nice core group of families who participate regularly and it has been wonderful developing friendships with others going through the same challenge of raising a bilingual child. Most of the families are following the OPOL method so that makes it even easier to compare notes.

Future Plans
The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades.... isn't that a blast from the 80's past! We are trying to be optimistic and plan ahead. There will be big changes for one of us in terms of employment so with that in mind we have decided to look into other entrepreneurial ventures. Do keep tuned as we move ahead with our development and share details here!

Wishing everyone a wonderul Easter!

"Ya 'ta"...All Done!

This is an exciting time with AR. Actually, every living, waking and sleeping moment with him has been exciting...But now we are in communication mode and it is fascinating to watch him pick up two languages simultaneously. This is the extent of his vocabulary so far (at least what we can understand of it):

English
ma-ma (mommy, of course)
da-da (daddy)
duh (duck)

Spanish
gua gua (agua)
Papá
ya 'ta! (ya está -- all done!)

Mommy has been really good about following the OPOL (one parent, one language) method. Papá, on the other hand, will find himself in hot water one day. The theory is that if the parents follow the OPOL method, the child will learn to separate the two languages and know who he should speak which language to. So in my case, if the theory is right, AR will always speak to me in English (at least intially).

However, since Papá speaks to him in both English and Spanish, AR will grow up thinking that Papá really speaks both languages. In reality, Papá just picks up on a few key sentences he hears me say ("give me a kiss", "pick it up", "mmmmmm yummy apple", etc.) and when he sees that I get a positive response, he also uses them! He gets frustrated at times because he feels that AR understands English much better than Spanish which is why he reverts to the simple English sentences. I have to laugh when Angel tells me that AR brings him books to read...but they are all in English!

I highly doubt that AR understands English better than Spanish. I am the only one who really speaks it to him on a consistent basis and we are only together in the mornings. Then he heads off to his daycare, which is all in Spanish, until his father or his abuelos pick him up around 7pm and continue communicating to AR in Spanish. Next year the daycare has programmed to change their curriculum to bilingual instruction...or at the very least, will have some English incorporated into the day's activities.

It is never to early to start worrying about the education of your child here in Spain, and especially if you want to raise him bilingually. We just learned that the public school in our neighborhood started bilingual education with this year's (Sept. 06) entering class. By the time AR is ready to go (Sept. '09) they will have had a couple of years under their belts to get the wrinkles out of the program. I am breathing a big sigh of relief because the only other option would be to send him to a private English school...to the tune of 700-800€ per month ($953-$1,090) ouch. We had already pulled him out of his English speaking daycare when the director announced that the rates were going to increase to $680 per month next year (with the surcharges for extra hours, snack, etc). Actually, our reasons for pulling him out were others, but the money factor certainly did not help the situation.

We are not completely out of the woods since spaces in the public school system are limited and with the boom in immigration lately -- both legal and illegal, the competition has become fierce. Of course the spaces in the public schools are awarded on a point-based system with those having the highest number of points the greater advantage. Points are awarded on the basis of your income (the lower the better), siblings (if you already have a child enrolled in the public school), where you live (your proximity to the school...the closer, the better), etc. Someone told me that with me being a native English speaker, AR will stand a better chance of getting into the public bilingual school. I have yet to confirm the rumor.

Anyway, for now we will continue our language development at home and with his friends through the Northern Stars Playgroup!