Yes. We now have lessons weeknights at our home from 9-10:30pm. I am trying to study during the day a little too. I´m buried in flashcards at the moment trying to memorise the majority of the verbs. Seb is still a better student than me which bugs me--he always had to memorise things in school in France and he is good at retention. We Americans are not so good at that sort of thing.
2. Lose 11 kilos (going from 61 to 50 kilos --my pre Little S weight)
Yes. Going well thanks to The Maneater. I´m at about 58 kilos today and my clothing options have really expanded. Last month when I traveled to France I had to wear maternity jeans! Thank god those are history.
3. Read 1 book a month and organize books (Dewey decimal system most likely)
No for the reading. I haven´t been reading any books but parenting books lately. The book organizing went really well though. It´s not dewey but it´s by categories. I have caegories for history/biography, new age and philosophy, geography and travel, fiction, art, language, language dictionaries, and French literature (in French). We painted these ugly cherry-colored bookshelves a nice flat, black. They were in the house when we moved in.
4. Organize the office (scary place where we can never find anything).
Yes this is coming along well. We still have some storage issues on the desktop. It´s a magnet for junk.
5. Start scrapbooking for the kids (I have all the stuff just never had time--it´s important because I´m going to lose all the trinkets I´ve saved)
Sort of. My first step has been to stock the majority of the photos in an album marked "First Year." Both Charlotte and Little S will have their own photo books. The scrapbooking will come after this.
6. Stop shopping at Walmart, ugh! (it´s a hypermarché here and right up the street from us so I´ve become lazy about my principles)
Nope. No progress on this whatsoever. It´s so damn convenient. I´m drowning in plastic bags though. Walmart and I definitely have a love-hate relationship.
7. Learn to sew (I bought the machine...it´s a start)
No progress. My first project will probably be a draft guard filled with beans to put in front of our front door.
8. Start or join a bookclub (I may have to start one because I haven´t heard of any--it will be hard to order books too so I´m not sure how it will work)
No. I´ve asked around about how it could work and how we could get our books. That´s the only progress I´ve made.
9. Work with Little S on his English one afternoon a week (so he learns to spell with phonics)
Not really. We´ve been doing some alphabet puzzles together. And actually some bilingual kids mom´s have advised me that we NOT work on any English reading while he´s immersed in Spanish but I´m not so sure about this. They feel it only serves to confuse them. I tend to think kids are sponges at this age and you should begin helping them read in all languages when they´re young. Thoughts? Opinions?
10. Learn to bake bread and make tortillas (our household help may be able to teach me to make the tortillas)
No. I have oven issues. The oven turns off after 20 minutes and goes on this wild "beep" fest. It won´t come back on for another hour. It´s weird. I´m afraid to try my hand at bread baking only to have my results fall flat because my oven conked out. Okay that´s my excuse. As for the tortillas I have no excuse other than that we haven´t yet found a housekeeper.
5 comments:
Wow, you've done a lot. Go you!
(I write this from my messy office in my bathrobe. I still don't have bookshelves and my files are scattered on the floor and across boxes. Talk about bad energy.)
As for the English, he's a sponge. It will be MUCH easier for him to pick up now than later. Also, he knows Spanish is for school and the outside world while English is the language he shares with you. Kids are must better at this sort of thing than adults give them credit for. Go for it!
Hello? Typos, anyone?
About Little S and his English, from being around many ex-pats whose kids were being raised multi-lingual (often 2 parents with different native tongues, a nanny with a 3rd, and sometimes a 4th), I agree the child may have some issues at the beginning. But they catch up very soon. As long as each person speaks to him in one language, it seems that helps limit the confusion. Do you usually speak to him in French or English? Can you speak to him in only English? I wouldn't worry too much about the 3rd language, he'll sort it out, esp if he learns to think of Spanish as his school/playing with friends language. You're right, they're sponges.
That said, our local elementary does Spanish immersion but I'm hesitant to put A in that if she is not already fluent for a 5 yr old in French. But that's more because she doesn't get much French exposure and it's kind of critical she learns it well. We have a few years before I need to worry. As it is her babysitter speaks to her in Spanish a lot (DH does French and I do English only).
jennifer - it sure looks impressive doesn´t it.
cherise - we do like you guys with everyone speaking their native tongue.
So much to do- you really need to get that housekeeper sorted out! (Actually, when you first talked about it, I thought to myself that someone with two kids under the age of 4, learning a new language, and solo parenting when her husband is on business trips SURELY could use help around the house) Haven't any of the women from the "Meet Chris Party" been able to suggest someone? In Paris, the Mommy Mafias biggest job is passing around good cleaners and babysitters. Even if you aren't using someone else's cleaner, its likely to be a sister or cousin, which I think makes it less risky to have a stranger in the house.
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