New year - new timetable. First I though we have been spending less time with English in 2014, but I was mistaken. We are spending more time with the second language than according to the previous year's timetable.
Here is the new chart:
49 % English time, 51 % Hungarian time
Of course we are flexible, this is just the plan. An illness, some unexpected visitors or a change in our helpers' schedule can alter the timetable but this is more or less the main framework.
You can see two areas in the timetable (Friday late afternoons, and dinner-/bath time) which are neither clearly dedicated to English nor Hungarian, or, I can put it, they are the most uncertain periods of the week. The reason for this is D. has been working a lot and because of his long hours we never know if he is at home at these times or not. So when he can't make it we use English. This is how we compensate for missing daddy.
Our native nanny, A., comes twice a week, a total of 6 hours per week.
A. and E. are reading Berry and Dolly
The timing of the Helen Doron sessions has been moved from the mornings to the afternoons and on a different day (Wednesday) but we still have one occasion per week. To be honest, we are not listening to the CDs as often as we used to. It is mainly because E. is a little bored of them (me too...) and she knows them all by heart, so what for? Still, she enjoys the lessons, especially painting (I'll write more about it in another post) and moving water from a teapot or a dish to a cup. Playing with scrunchy balls -crumpled newspaper sheets with cello-tape around them- and pots are also among her favourite activities. We sometimes play with them here at home as well.
Fascinated by the baby paint
Even if it is a Grandma day (using Hungarian) at the end of the day I always try to fit in some English playtime, cooking time, shopping time or playground visit etc.
whisking egg yolk
The weekends are the trickiest. As I really want father and daughter to build a strong and warm relationship we (the three of us together or just the two of them) have quite a great number of programmes in Hungarian environments. I find this more important than the language development.
Daddy time
However, at weekends I always try to spend some hours with English. These are not long, and not so interactive or highly communicative activities, like watching videos in English, or reading a story in English.
I'm looking into our bilingual future with confidence and great hope. 2014 will be even more successful than 2013 was.
Most of the evening routine is done in Hungarian. This is Daddy's favourite time spent with E. that I would not like to take away from them. On the other hand I don't want E. to miss the English vocabulary of the evening routine. Not to mention the fact that reading bedtime stories only in Hungarian is a heartbreak for me. So every now and then (like 2-3 times a week) I try to convince my husband to turn into English. And it works brilliantly.
Let's see the programme step by step (the ideal version): 18:45 - watching videos: D. sits down in front of the computer to watch some English videos with E: (the usual collection of E.'s youtube videos, or this idiotic Meow, Meow song in the Tamil language:
Don't ask me why they watch it. One guess is E. LOVES it, the other is this is the way my husband rebels against the English evening routine - just kidding ;)
In the meantime I do some things around the house, preparation for the feeding, E.'s room, jammies etc.
If I happen to sit down in front of the computer with E., I prefer to watch a Peppa pig episode or The Going To Bed Book by Sandra Boynton or one of E.'s favourite song Twinkle Twinkle Little Star with the owl:
19:00 - taking the bath: E. sits in the bath and the sea creatures are jumping in one by one - the crocodile, the starfish, the octopus, the whale, the turtle, and then an extra duck, some measuring spoons of different colours, sometimes a filter and more bottle caps. So she can hardly move in the water.
We usually name the animals, sometimes we attack her with the animals, and spay her with water, of course, while we comment the happenings in English. But mostly we follow what she wants to do.
Sometime she asks for her plastic book - one is a biblical story of the lost lamb, the other is Vizipók and his friends. I tell her the Lost Lamb story in English, we talk about the pictures, and at the end I ask her to show me the shepherd, the lamb or other things in the pictures. But I'm in trouble with Vizipók as I don't know the names in English or they sound really silly (Ormányosbogár = Snout Beetle, Keresztespók= Garden Spider) so I rather hide this booklet when we have a bath in English.
Another favourite is Mommy Duck and her ducklings. Mommy Duck can carry 3 little ducklings on her back. When we play with the ducks Mommy Duck is swimming around E. and when the ducks are behind her one of the ducklings is taken off Mommy Duck's back (by D.). In the meantime we sing 5 Little Ducks (well, three in this version). E. is so cute as she is trying to turn back to see how the ducklings disappear, but usually she is not quick enough.
Another activity is toothbrushing. E. asks for her toothbrush, then she brushes the crocodiles teeth while we are singing This is the way we brush our teeth. She also wishes to brush Daddy's teeth or mine. Every now and then she brushes her own teeth as well. If she is not in the mood, I do it for her, which she doesn't really like.
When we are finished in the bath we say good bye to the toys. E. hands me the toys one by one and we say good night to them. If I tell her to look behind because there is one more toy, she understands it perfectly and turns around the grab the object. While we are putting the toys away she is waving good-bye.
19:30 - getting dressed into pyjamas:
We usually play the changing table games I have already posted about. D. puts on E.'s jammies and sleeping bag. He usually sings some songs. I prepare her milk. E. turns off her light, only a bedside lamp is on. Then E. and I sit down in the rocking chair to drink her milk, and D. reads a story or two. If we read in English at the moment we are reading the book: How Mama Brought the Spring by Fran Manushkin. It's for kids around the age of 5, but E. adores the pictures in the book. Before E. finishes her milk, D. says good night to her and leaves the room. Then we turn off the light and talks to the angels. I say thank you for the nice day and recall the lovely happenings of our day. E. often repeats the words she can also say like, baby, happy, her name or grandparents' name, Daddy, Mommy etc. SO actually she thanks for everything that happens to her. Then I put her down into her bed (she says 'bed') and I give her dummy (she says 'dummy') and I give her a textile nappy and her doggy she always sleeps with. I kiss her goodnight and leave the room. Most of the time she falls asleep within 5-10 minutes. Sometimes she chats to herself a little. If it's an English evening she talks to herself in English.
So here are some expressions how to say good night:
Sleep well
Sweet dreams
Nighty-night
Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs bite (you can find the origin of this phrase here - quite interesting, worth reading the theories. The one I like the most is the rope idea.)
I say good night to everyone with this Beatles song:
