My Bilingual Boys

Moona Luna

2011-04-18T04:51:00.000-07:00

I can't say enough how important music is to language learning. Tatiana over at Wanna Jugar With Migo is giving away a copy of this fun bilingual CD. Go check it out!

Review: Foreign Language Friends

2011-03-25T13:54:00.000-07:00

I was recently asked by Denise Leitch of Foreign Language Friends to review her online Spanish language learning program. She explained that the target audience for the program is children aged 2 to 8. Since I have a two year old and five year old, my children would certainly fit into that category. However, since Spanish is their first language I decided to have my six year old English-speaking niece be my guinea pig on this project.

What is it?

Foreign Languages Friends is an online computer learning program that uses a "theme-based, full immersion approach" to learning Spanish. The child is given the choice of several themes, such as food, farm animals, and transportation, and through several different exercises practices the vocabulary words related to that theme. Some of these activities include matching games, a cartoon that uses the target vocabulary, a spelling bee, a sing-a-long song, and printables.

What I liked:

Eye-catching graphics

Quality, clear sound

Easy to navigate for my Kindergarten-aged niece

You can keep up with your child's mastery of an activity on the Progress Tracker.

Themes use relevant, interesting vocabulary

Vocabulary is repeated several times in several different contexts

Fun, engaging activities

What I would like to see:

My sister sat with my niece as she used the program and the only complaint that she had was that she did not understand some of what was said during the cartoons and the sing-a-longs. My suggestion for the company would be a "cheat sheet" with the translated dialog and songs for parents for this type of activity. Although I commend the company on using a "full immersion" approach, I know as a parent, who would like to be involved in the language learning process, I would like to be able to help by following along and answering questions.

Overall opinion:

I was very impressed with this program as a vocabulary-building activity. My niece very much wants to learn Spanish so that she knows what her cousins are saying. ;) She played several times and had to be pryed away from the computer each time. I quizzed her afterwards and she learned several vocabulary words from just a few sessions. She may be attending a Spanish immersion school next year and I think that she would benefit from the vocabulary that she can learn from this program. The Spanish vocabulary is too simple for my sons but I would be very interested in a French version of this program.

Disclosure: I was given a free trial of this program to review. I did not receive any other compensation from the company. All opinions are mine, my niece's, and my sister's.

My "Baby" Turns 5

2011-03-15T15:06:00.000-07:00

While he slept I covered him in balloons.....

and then I made him a rocket ship cake to go with his Buzz Light year themed birthday party....
at Chuck-E-Cheese.
Since the day he turned four, Diego declared himself "almost five." He began to plan his fifth birthday party last spring and even made invitations last summer. I think it turned out to be a wonderful day and I am so proud of my sweet, sensitive, intelligent, silly little boy.

Te quiero mucho!!

Bowling and Mini Golf

2011-03-08T18:21:00.000-08:00

We recently found a fun playarea close to our house with a special child-sized bowling alley. The bowling balls are smaller and lighter and the lanes are shorter with bumpers on each of the sides. This was Diego's first experience bowling and it was a big hit. We are definitely going back next week when his cousin comes to visit.

I love his technique.
Afterwards, we tried mini golf for the first time also. Diego did not like this nearly as much because, to tell the truth, he was not very good at it. His friend who came with us is younger and was surprisingly good. Diego was not happy about this but I thought it was a good lesson that everyone has strengths and weakness and that it is ok to lose sometimes. We are still working on losing gracefully and I think that we will be for quite awhile.
All in all, a very fun day.

Finally Finished!

2011-03-07T18:37:00.000-08:00

My boys are HUGE Lego fans. Usually they just play with the bucket of random Lego pieces and build whatever their creative little minds can think up. Diego, however, received a few Lego kits for his birthday and Christmas and we are slowly putting them together. I don't know how many pieces came with this Toy Story Trash Compactor set but it seemed like a million. Well, it is finally finished! Now a question for other Lego fanactics... What do you do with the large sets after you have played with them for a few days? Do you leave them put together on a shelf to admire? Or do you take them apart to put together another day? I'll admit that the latter option gives me a headache just thinking about it.

Book and Dessert

2011-02-11T18:18:00.000-08:00

We have checked out this very cute bilingual book from the library several times. The book is written mostly in English but very cleverly inserts a Spanish vocabulary word or two on each page. Not to ruin the surprise ending but the animals attempt to make a cake which ends up on the floor. To salvage their dessert, they turn the cake into pineapple upsidedown cake.

The book includes a recipe for pineapple upsidedown cake at the end of the story so the boys and I decided to make it for our dessert.

Texas Snow Storm

2011-02-06T19:15:00.000-08:00

My kiddos are always so excited for snow since we rarely see it here in Texas. Schools were actually closed for 5 days in the last two weeks. The first storm only brought us ice and very cold temperatures. Luckily the second storm delivered some snowball-ready snow.

CSN Review

2011-01-31T18:51:00.000-08:00

CSN Stores has over 200 online stores where you can find everything from beautiful furniture to a fun swing set. They have generously offered to let me review one of their products. I'll be back soon to reveal the product that I chose.

Featured Swing Sets

little tikes view all

CSN Review

2010-12-02T19:45:00.000-08:00

I recently had the opportunity to choose an item from CSN stores to use and review. They have a wonderful variety of products for the whole family from toys for the kids to home decor. This time I actually chose something for myself. One of my goals for the next year is to cook a greater variety of dishes but I lack quality kitchen tools. When I saw this Calphalon Unison Nonstick 12" Covered Omelette Pan I knew that it would be perfect addition to my kitchen.

Here is a picture of my first dish cooked in my new pan, a chicken stir-fry. The meal come out delicious and healthy in part due to the non-stick surface. The pan was also very easy to clean.

My experience with CSN was very favorable. The product was shipped very quickly and arrived within the time stated on the order. The product was properly packed and arrived in good condition. I would recommend this product and CSN stores in general.

Disclosure: I was provided the opportunity to choose and review a product from CSN stores. The opinions expressed here are my own.

CSN Review

2010-10-27T19:44:00.000-07:00

CSN Stores has over 200 online stores where you can find everything from great cookware to beautiful wardrobes to chic lighting pieces!

A couple of months ago I conducted a giveaway for a gift certificate to CSN stores. Now they have generously offered to have me review a product. Stay tuned to see what I chose to review....

Muy chido

2010-10-11T10:49:00.000-07:00

I just thought that this was muy chido (very cool). Diego used his shape blocks to make this casa for his spiders.

Firetrucks

2010-10-10T10:42:00.000-07:00

October is fire prevention month and a firetruck will be visiting Diego's school next week. To prepare we made our own firetrucks and read a ton of books from the library.

For Mateo's projects I have to prepare the pieces ahead of time and he sticks them together with his much-loved glue bottle. We talk about the shapes, colors, and sizes of the pieces.

Diego's projects are completely independent. I love to see what comes up with. Unlike Mateo, Diego hates glue and will only use tape.

Finding material in Spanish is always a challenge. I am always thrilled when I come across some free bilingual material like this Fire-Rescue Department Coloring Book from the city of Dallas.

Halloween Letters

2010-10-08T18:15:00.000-07:00

Last year Diego and I made several fun Halloween projects and I am in the process of planning this year's projects. Here are a couple of our Halloween-themed letter projects from last year.

G de Gato

B de Bruja

My little pajarito

2010-10-07T19:00:00.000-07:00

Like I mentioned before, Mateo and I do a letter project while Diego is at preschool. This day we made the letter "C" decorated with "corazones" of different sizes and colors. This isn't a particularly interesting or creative project but I took a picture because Mateo decided that he was a bird and insisted that before we started he needed wings. He tore a piece of paper in two and handed it to me. With just a little bit of tape I had a happy little pajarito. Two year olds are so funny.

StArt- Frida

2010-10-06T14:00:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite artist is the Mexican painter Frida Kahlo. I was fortunate enough to see some of her original works and visit one of her homes while staying in Guanajuato, Mexico.

I was very excited to find a children's book that discusses the life and art of Frida Kahlo. We own the Spanish version of this book but it is also available in English. It is worth checking out the book just to see the unique and interesting illustrations.

One of the things that we learned about Frida was that she learned to paint by copying the paintings of other artists while she was bedridden with illness. We had not painted for quite a while so on this lovely autumn day we drug out the easel and painted out in the backyard. The boys (well, Diego) tried to copy some of the paintings from the book. Mateo, who LOVES to paint, had fun mixing colors and ended up painting his arms and face and calling himself "Hulk."

Diego did SEVERAL paintings but one of my favorites was this copy of the skeleton seen below. We will definitely do this process of copying works from different artists again. It was good practice paying attention to detail and sparked his interest in artists.

I am linking this to StArt at A Mommy's Adventures.

Hispanic Heritage Month

2010-10-05T10:32:00.000-07:00

In the United States Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated from September 15th to October 15th. We started our activities on September 16th which happens to be Mexican Independence Day. We talked a little about it the day before but I was surprised at Diego's interest in the day. When he woke up on the 16th, I asked him what day it was, expecting him to say "school day." Instead he sat up and reminded me that it was "el día de la Independencia de México." He, of course, was correct and wanted to immediately start to make a flag of Mexico. So before breakfast he made this flag to take to school to show his teachers. I was particularly impressed that he remembered the eagle with the snake in its beak standing on a cactus. :)

Mateo, of course, had to get in on the action so we tried to make a torn paper flag, thinking that he would love to tear the paper. He was not very interested so the flag was never finished.

We read our favorite book about Mexico, Nos vamos a México several times. There is an English version as well called Let's Go to Mexico. I highly recommend it for preschoolers since the illustrations are beautiful and each page takes you on a journey through different parts of Mexico.

After reading the book, Diego searched the pages for symbols of Mexico to make a "pared de México" (Mexican wall.) One of Diego's favorite things is to make a "wall" of different things we are studying. Our house has become quite colorful.

Finally, we talked a lot about how much Mexico means to our family. We looked at maps and discussed that abuelo and abuela used to live in Mexico. I showed Diego the cities that I have visited in Mexico and we looked at pictures of my travels. Here I am on top of a pyramid outside of Mexico City while on a college trip.

I also pulled out the items in our house that came from family members and my travels around Mexico. Here Diego is posing with an onyx chessboard.
We tried to play "balero." Something that I am convinced I will never be able to do.
I think Diego's favorite part would be the fact that he learned that he has been to Mexico and not his little brother. I was three months pregnant with Diego when I took a group of high school students on a trip to Mexico. He will proudly tell you that he has been to the top of a pyramid but he couldn't see anything. :)

Another great giveaway from Spanglish Baby

2010-10-03T20:38:00.000-07:00

I own two puzzles from a great bilingual company called Ingenio. It is very hard to find quality bilingual learning tools for my boys so I would love to win this Mexico Learning Puzzle that is being given away at Spanglish Baby. Check it out and enter to win by October 10th at midnight.

Giveaway- Spanglish Baby

2010-10-03T19:53:00.000-07:00

Spanglish Baby is giving away a personalized item of clothing from a fun internet company called Make A Fan. You can choose t-shirts, bibs, or baby items personalized with your child's name to show your support for your favorite Mexican soccer team or national pride celebrating the Mexican Bicentennial. Run over to Spanglish Baby to enter to win.

Learning French- Frog Puppets

2010-09-10T13:58:00.000-07:00

One of the biggest challenges to teaching my children French is that I do not know it. Teaching them Spanish has been fairly easy since I just speak and play with them in Spanish. I have needed to run to my Spanish/English dictionary on occasion but for the most part it has not required a lot of work on my part.

My decision to learn French along with my children has reminded me how difficult is it to learn a language as an adult. I am now fluent in Spanish but it has taken me twenty years to get to the level of fluency that my four year old has obtained in the last two years. This has just reinforced my determination to continue with the French while my children are young and they still have the ability to soak up languages like a sponge.

The two keys to success for a non-native speaker to teach their children a foreign language are preparation and fun. Since I do not know the vocabulary or phrases in French myself, I have to learn them beforehand. I make myself cheat sheets with the words and phrases that I want to use during the lesson.

In this lesson I wanted to say (in order):

frog

Are you hungry?

I am hungry.

I am not hungry.

Do you want a fly?

I want a fly.

***Correction from card below. Forgive me, I am a beginner. :)

I am hungry. J'ai faim

Fly. mouche

After I am prepared, I try to make it fun. We painted these green frogs since it was frog week.

Finally, we play in French. I would ask Diego's frog if he was hungry and if he said yes, we would still a fly to his tongue. When his frog's tongue was full of flies, we practiced saying that he was not hungry.

Frog Unit

2010-09-09T13:07:00.000-07:00

Our topic of study of the last two weeks has been "ranas" (frogs.) The majority of our activities included reading a ton of books about frogs and various worksheet about the life cycle of frogs that I have picked up from various places.

One of our fun frog-related art projects was these handprint frogs from Handprint and Footprint Arts and Crafts.

A fun surprise this week was finding this little guy out on the patio. He must have known that it was frog week. :) I think the best lesson of the week was researching to decide whether our new friend was indeed a frog or actually a toad. We finally decided that he must be a toad based on his rough skin. It was a great lesson in comparing and researching.

We also spend a great deal of time discussing the life cycle of the frog. A few of our library books gave us enough information to make our own representation of this cycle. We began with the eggs, then the "renacuajos" (tadpoles), then the tadpoles grew legs, and then finally they became frogs.

As usual Diego was a very good student and participated in all of my planned activities. When we are done, however, he always has his own plan. As soon as we finished the life cycle of the frog, he wanted to do the life cycle of the bear. This entailed us taking turns drawing the bears getting bigger and bigger. He is such a funny little guy. :)

Weren't we going to learn French?

2010-09-08T13:30:00.000-07:00

I will admit that our French lessons were non-existent over the summer. Language is very much a use-it or lose-it type of skill so we have had to review a lot of our previously learned material. We are back in the swing of things and I am trying to find fun ways to add a little French into our daily lives. To review some of the vocabulary that we learned at the beginning of the year, I made this simple board game. We use a regular dice and you have to say the name of the object or color in French if you land on it. It is not fancy, I know, but Diego loves to play board games right now so it works for us.

Geography Placemats

2010-09-07T13:01:00.000-07:00

I have mentioned these before but I just love the travel magazines that I still receive since I took a group of high school students abroad to Mexico several years ago. Diego loves to flip through the pages and ask me questions about the places that he would like to visit. This day Diego decided to make placemats using the pictures from the magazine.

What Mateo has been up to..

2010-09-06T15:00:00.000-07:00

One of the benefits of Diego being in school two days a week is that I can finally spend some one-on-one time with Mateo. I am sure that it is normal for the second child to lack alone time with parents but it has always bothered me.

My children could not be any different. If one likes an activity, you can be sure the other does not. Diego not like to paint with water colors at all. On this morning I discovered that Mateo LOVES it. He painted several pictures for his Papi who was working out of town.

Now I have to correct myself, the boys do have something in common. They both love to build. Mateo has the best fine motor skills of any two-year-old that I know. He can build anything with the tiniest Legos and manipulate these TRIO blocks that used to be difficult for Diego. In this picture Mateo built an "avión."

By this age, Diego knew all of his letters. Mateo can just now identify the letter "M." We are starting to do a letter of the week project to introduce his letters and to work on his vocabulary and pronunciation. Mateo is seeing a speech therapist for a speech delay and other speech-related problems.

Of course when Diego came home he had to make an "abeja" as well. I love his use of bubble letters. I asked him why he wrote like that because I had never seen him do it before. He told me that he wanted to write that I did on the banner we made for Papi when he went out of town.

End of Ocean Unit

2010-09-05T12:33:00.000-07:00

We finished up our summer-long ocean theme a couple of weeks ago. Due to many issues, I am way behind on posting. My blog is a scrapbook of my activities with the boys and I hope that I can keep it up. I am sure that we will redo several projects in the future and it is also helpful to look back and see what we already did. Yesterday I was scanning our activities from last fall trying to get ideas for this fall.

We put most of our projects in the "ocean" that we painted earlier in the summer. They will be hanging in the playroom for a couple more days and then it will be replaced by the next bulletin board. The boys really enjoyed displaying their artwork this way and watching as we filled up our little ocean scene.

Florida Vacation

2010-08-03T19:24:00.000-07:00

We were fortunate enough to get to visit my grandpa who lives in the Florida Keys again this summer. My husband could not come with us on this trip because of work but my wonderful mother came along to help keep the kids safe and me sane. :)

Here are some random pictures from our trip. If anyone is planning a trip to the Florida Keys with kids, let me know. I have experienced it twice now and I can give you some pointers to survive, I mean, have a good time.

Change of Scenery

2010-08-03T19:19:00.000-07:00

Playing with playdough is nothing new for my boys. I just commented to my mother the other day that I think we could throw out all of the toys in the house and just keep building blocks and playdough and the boys would hardly notice. Just for a change of pace on a morning with beautiful weather, we pulled our little table and chairs to the backyard and set up the playdough. They had a blast and the clean-up was easy. Win-win situation for all of us. My favorite part of this photo is Mateo's headband. You might recognize the yellow crepe paper from the tentacles of our jellyfish that we used to countdown to our trip to Florida. After removing each one, Mateo insisited on wearing it. :)

Just Being Silly

2010-08-03T19:18:00.000-07:00

How bilingual children play

2010-08-03T19:11:00.001-07:00

At four and a half years old, Diego is definitely a bilingual child. Spanish is still his strongest language with a larger vocabulary but English is catching up at an amazing rate. He still only speaks Spanish with his father and I (something that I very much encourage) but he will switch to English or Spanish depending on the language preference of his playmates. He really has only one friend with whom he speaks Spanish. This little boy's parents do not speak English and his mother babysat for the boys while I worked. Now that his friend has entered school, I have noticed that they will sometimes speak to each other in English. This is usually when I will interrupt the conversation and ask a question in Spanish to get them back on track. It is critical to Diego's longterm language success to have many Spanish-speakers in his life.

Between Diego and Mateo, they almost always speak Spanish. I know that is it a little deceptive but if Diego says something to Mateo in English, I gently remind him that Mateo does not understand English and he must speak to him in Spanish. Diego is Mateo's hero and wants to do everything exactly like his big brother. If Mateo is going to be bilingual, it is imperative that his brother speaks to him in Spanish.

So what language does Diego speak while he is playing alone? Both. In the picture below, Diego had built two robots. One was speaking English and the other was speaking Spanish. At one point I heard one robot yell at the other, "Pero no hablo inglés!" (But I don't speak English.)

Vacation Collage

2010-07-26T18:36:00.000-07:00

This week we are finishing up our summer-long study of the ocean. The highlight of course has been visiting the beach not once, but five times, while we were vacationing in the Florida Keys. Even though my grandpa lives there and I have visited the Keys several times in my life, the first thing I always do when I arrive is pick up vacation pamphlets to look for coupons and deals on local attractions. This time I decided to bring them back home with us so that the boys could make a collage to remember the places and experiences of their vacation. Diego loved this project and couldn't wait to show Papi his collage. Papi could not make it this year because of work. :( Mateo just enjoyed making huge puddles of glue.

Bilingual Homeschooling Blog

2010-07-22T18:57:00.000-07:00

We are back from our trip to Florida. I haven't downloaded any pictures yet so I will wait to talk about it. I will say that changing a dirty diaper in an airplane bathroom during turbulence has been added to my list of least favorite things to do.

I would like to take the opportunity to give a shout out to one of my favorite new blogs. I have been following Monica's other blog Latin Baby Book Club for awhile now because it is full of great reviews of both bilingual books and books in Spanish. Monica recently started a new blog, Mommy Maestra, to chronicle her journey into bilingual homeschooling.

This is a topic that fascinates me because I do not know what the future holds concerning our children's education. My oldest son attended a Spanish immersion preschool last year and will again this year. The school plans to offer a Kindergarten class that we would gladly take advantage of it, but then what?

We have a few choices. Diego could attend our local public school which is within walking distance from our house. This choice is not acceptable to us since the school is an English-only environment as it has no Spanish education. We want the boys to be educated in both English and Spanish. We could try to send the boys to one of the Spanish immersion or bilingual elementary schools scattered around the area. The problem with these schools is that they are extremely difficult to get in. You have to live in that specific area and even then a lottery system is used to select students for the program. If I could find one and could afford it, a bilingual private school would be an option. So far I haven't found any. This is shocking to me given where we live.

Many people have suggested that I just let the boys go to public school and the boys will keep their Spanish because it is our home language. I know from experience that it is not that easy. One of our nieces did not speak a word of English until she started Kindergarten. By the end of the school year she was fluent in English and now as a third grader, she refuses to speak Spanish. I taught a Spanish for Native Speakers class at the high school level for five years. The majority of my students who grew up in the US spoke Spanish at a conversational level but could not read or write. While speaking Spanish is a very useful skill, the job market for these kids would be greatly widen if they were able to read and write in Spanish at the same level that they are able to read and write in English. This is what I want for my children. I would like for them to receive a balanced education in Spanish and English.

At this point in time, bilingual homeschooling seems like an attractive option for our family. I think that I could provide the type of education that we desire for our children. I love that Monica has started her Mommy Maestra blog so that I can get a glimpse into the life of a successful bilingual homeschooling family as we try to make this huge decision for our family. Whether you are homeschooling bilingually or not, I highly recommend this blog for excellent advice and information.

Family Dinner and Movie Night- Finding Nemo

2010-07-01T17:44:00.000-07:00

Dinner time at our house is rarely fun. The boys are actually good eaters but my husband works long hours during the week and is often gone during dinner time. This makes for a tired mommy by this time of day and I am usually get ready to get everyone feed, bathed, and to bed.

However, I could not help but be inspired after reading the fun Dinner and Movie Nights by Jaime at Momma's Playground. When we found out that Papi would be home for dinner on Wednesday night, we planned our own. We used the movie "Finding Nemo" as our theme because we are studying the ocean right now and because it was available at the library. :)

First, we prepared our placemats. For two of the placemats I wrote NEMO and other designs in glue and the boys covered it will sand.

After they dried, they looked like this.

For the other two placemats we made more handprint clown fish. We also used this to make Father's Day cards. Diego continues to be fascinated by the relationship between the clownfish and the anemone so I used my hands to make the anemone (in green.) He told me the other day that he was a clown fish and I was like anemone and then hugged me afterwards. I (think?) that was a complement.

Next, we took out our shells from our last trip to Florida and examined them closely.

We decorated the table with a large beach towel as a tablecloth and other ocean-related items that we found around the house.

We prepared the meal which consisted of "ocean water" or blue Kool-aid with fish and star-shaped ice cubes, fish sticks, and shell-shaped macaroni and cheese.

Finally, we enjoyed our meal (with shades on, of course, since we are at the beach) and watched the film. It was a big success and I am sure that we will be planning another one soon. I am also proud that besides the macaroni and cheese it cost me nothing. I just used things that I found around the house and a free video from the library. :)

Garden Update

2010-07-01T05:25:00.001-07:00

Back in March we had a great time planting a backyard garden. The was the second year in row that we attempted a garden and we had very high hopes of producing a lot of vegetables to eat this summer. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate and the extremely hot temperatures did not allow many vegetables to grow. We actually were only able to eat two very small yellow squash and a handful of lettuce. This did not bother the boys at all. They have had a great time watering their plants, examining all of the bugs that the garden has attracted, and most of all, watching our sunflowers grow. For some reason the weather conditions must have been just perfect for sunflowers because we ended up with six plants and dozens of flowers. I would say that this garden, despite its lack of produce, has been a huge success and we are looking forward to trying again in the fall.

Pulpo

2010-06-28T18:30:00.001-07:00

We have been reading a ton of books about the ocean lately so I gave Diego free range of the craft closet when he wanted to make a "proyecto." He chose to make a pulpo (octopus.)

Count Down to Florida

2010-06-25T19:29:00.000-07:00

Diego is very excited about our trip to Florida and has never ending questions about it. One of the most frequent is about when we are leaving. We created this count down to Florida medusa (jellyfish). Each morning he pulls off one of the tentacles and knows that when the medusa has no more tentacles it is time to go to Florida!

Little Boys and Big Trucks

2010-06-25T19:25:00.001-07:00

One of our first outings after school let out was a big truck exhibit at one of our local libraries. I was sure that this would be a big hit with both of the boys but as you can see from some of the pictures below, it was a rough morning. I will blame a lot of it on the very hot, muggy weather and the crowds but the boys were very grouchy. Getting any picture at all required some bribery and my lowest point was losing my patience with Diego when he refused to get inside the helicopter for a photo and yelled at him. I try very hard not to embarrass my children and I felt very bad afterwards. Looking bad I wish that I would have put away the camera and just walked around or better yet, left the exhibit. Later when I asked Diego why he would not get in the helicopter, he told me that he was afraid that it was going to take off with him inside. I learned some valuable lessons that morning.

Potty Training

2010-06-23T15:12:00.000-07:00

Guess what we are reading?

I bought this book for Diego when he was two and I had not planned on pulling it out for a few more months. Mateo, as usual, had other plans. With no prompting from me, Mateo has decided that he is ready for potty training and is actually very successful at it. The process with Diego was long and difficult so I decided to wait until Mateo was three this time to even introduce the idea. I do not know if it is the fact that Mateo wants to do EVERYTHING just like his big brother, but this time around I think will be much easier. Even though I am not a big fan of changing diapers, this is another big sign that my "baby" is growing up fast. I can't help but smile though because he is just so proud of himself.

Painting the ocean

2010-06-22T06:12:00.000-07:00

As part of our ocean unit this summer, we are creating an ocean scene in the playroom with all of the animals that we are learning about. The first step was to create an ocean background. I do not have a large piece of blue paper and the budget for materials is tight right now so we made our own by painting a large roll of brown paper.

We haven't painted in quite a while and the boys were very excited.

Mateo reminded why we paint OUTSIDE!

We had planned to paint the bottom of the ocean yellow for the sand, but the boys decided to add their own touch and put their hand prints in the "sand." I like their idea much better and there was no way that we were going to paint over those precious hands.

When we were done we celebrated with "paletas." Diego, as usual, inhaled his in five seconds. Mateo generously shared his with his brother. Great afternoon!

Our Bilingual Father's Day

2010-06-21T04:36:00.000-07:00

My parents do not speak Spanish. My husband's parents do not speak English. Thankfully this does not present a problem for my sons since they are bilingual. Living in the US, we knew that the boys would learn English so we have focused mostly on Spanish in our household. This presented the unusual problem that Diego could not communicate with my parents (without me translating) for the first three years of his life. Well, Diego absolutely adores both his Papa (grandpa) and his Abuelo so we sent them both a Father's Day card. Diego dictated as I wrote. I am amazed that he fully understands which language goes with which person and can turn them off and on as needed. Here are the two cards that we sent. On the back of each card Diego drew several games of tic-tac-toe so that he can play with the grandpas the next time he sees them. :)

Feliz Día de Padres

2010-06-19T08:42:00.001-07:00

I found this great idea at Handprint and Footprint Art. Seriously, if you are looking for a handmade gift to make with your little one, check out her website.

We have been reading tons of books about the ocean and fish. Diego's favorite fish is definitely the clown fish. He is fascinated how the anemone stings everyone else but does not hurt the clown fish.

I tried to make our Father's Day's card fish look like clown fish using orange, white, and black. I was amazed at how well the boys sat still while I painted their hands -especially my squirmy Mateo. I think that Papi will love it!

Feliz Día de Padres!

Little Boys and Big Trucks

2010-06-17T20:00:00.000-07:00

Vacation!

2010-06-17T19:22:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I revealed our summer "school" plans to study the ocean. That decision was largely influenced by our upcoming trip to the Florida Keys. We are extremely fortunate that my grandfather lives in the Florida Keys and we were able to go for a visit last summer. It is a little unexpected and last minute but we have decided to make the trip again this year. Apart from getting to spend time with and getting to know my wonderful grandpa, the boys will have such a fantastic time.

Last year Mateo was 14 months and Diego was three. To be completely honest the trip was very difficult. Mateo was still not walking and refused to sleep during the 15 journey in two cars and three planes. I had just stopped breastfeeding Mateo so his schedule and mood were already messed up and the added stress of traveling made for a fussy little guy. If my wonderful mother had not gone on the trip with us, it would have been a hundred times harder. I should give credit to Diego who was absolutely wonderfully behaved both on the plane and the trip as a whole.

Even with the difficulties, it was a great trip and we have special memories. To refresh Diego's memory of the trip, I pulled out the photo album. I was really surprised about how much he remembered. I am excited to experience the islands with them again now that they are a year older. Diego is excited too. He already packed his backpack. :)

Here are a few of my favorite photos from our trip last year:

Summer "School"

2010-06-17T04:40:00.000-07:00

Our summer calendar is already filled up with park playdates, library storytimes, and a couple of trips out of town. Since we will be so busy, I decided to keep it simple and concentrate on one theme for our summer learning. We will still check out books on anything and everything under the sun but for the most part we will be learning about the......

OCEAN.

One of our trips next month (that I will talk about tomorrow) is part of the inspiration for our summer theme. I am so excited for the boys to learn about the ocean and then get some hands-on experience.

When I pick a theme to work on I always do two things. First, I get on our libraries website and reserve every book in Spanish that they have on the subject. Second, I search my favorite learning websites for activities about our topic. Below are some of the links to printables that we plan on doing over the next couple of months. I also have a ton of crafts and other fun activities planned that I hope to share.

Ocean Math

1. Numbers 1-10

2. Octopus numbers to 50

3. Sailboat Grid

4. Clownfish Dot to Dot

5. Lighthouse Color-by-number

Spanish Letters

1. B de Ballena

2. D de Delfin

3. T de Tiburon

Coloring Pages

1. Orca

2. Manatí

3. Sea Turtle

4. Lobster

5. Hermit Crab

6. Pirates

Pollution and Food Chain

Games

1. Turtle Dice Game

2. Pirate Dice Game

Bluebonnets

2010-06-14T19:01:00.001-07:00

I complained the other day about how impossible my children are to photograph. All of my friends took their kids to take pictures with the famous Texas bluebonnets and came home with postcard quality photos. I obviously did not. Even though I did not get that perfect picture I was hoping for (again), it was a wonderful day as a family and that is what really matters (or so I keep telling myself :)

Career Change

2010-06-13T19:35:00.000-07:00

Diego was born at the end of December. I took the two months I was allowed to for maternity leave and returned to work. I will admit that I was miserable. I cried every day that first week back at school. I considered myself fortunate because as a teacher, I knew that I would be home for the summer in a couple of months. When it was time to start school the following August, I had the same feeling of dread. I knew that I would not be seeing Diego much since most days (when there were no meetings) I would be picking him up at 5:00 and he would be going to bed a couple hours after that. It was a very difficult year at work since we were missing several Spanish teachers. I had to do the job of two teachers which meant staying later and arriving earlier everyday. By the end of the school year I was exhausted and, despite everyone telling me that it would get easier, missing my baby more everyday. I proposed the idea of working part-time to my principal and to my surprise she agreed. I have been working part-time as a high school teacher for the last three years. A few months ago my husband was promoted in his job and we decided that I would stay home full-time. I do not know how long I will be able to stay home with the boys, but for now I am extremely happy and appreciate having this opportunity.

Giveaway- Wanna Jugar Withmigo

2010-06-13T19:23:00.000-07:00

Tati at Wanna Jugar Withmigo has another great giveaway. Head over to see how you can win this Spanish CD.

Monkey See, Monkey Do

2010-05-30T20:26:00.000-07:00

It is ridiculously difficult to get my boys to pose for a picture. Usually I have to resort to the surprise attack or just take it even if they are not looking at the camera. That is why, when they request to get their picture taken, I run for my camera.

On this day Mateo found my baseball cap and wanted his picture taken with it.

In line with my children's neverending quest to make sure they are not missing out on what the other one is doing, Diego wanted to wear my cap and have his picture taken too....

and one-uped his brother by having a second picture taken with the cap backwards.

Not to be outdone, Mateo ditched the hat and insisted on a Spider-Man band-aid for his nose and another picture.

Such silly boys.

Just so that I remember in the future: Diego fell at preschool and scraped his nose. It left a huge scab which he, of course, would not leave alone. He hates the sight of blood so we had to cover it will a band-aid. He refused to take it off and looked like that for over a week.

Zoo school

2010-05-30T20:05:00.000-07:00

Besides attending Preschool two days a week, Diego has also gone to a three hour a week class at our local zoo. The first time he attended these classes he was three and a couple of months. His English was pretty much non-existent but I thought since he was virtually immersed in Spanish 24 hours a day that this would be a fun way for him to learn some English. Diego is my cautious child and while he loves to go to the zoo, he has always been a bit leary of animals. I also hoped that this class would help relieve some of his fear as well.

Well it turned out that he loved the class so we signed him up again this past Spring. I was absolutely amazed at how much he learned. Since between the two of us we only speak Spanish, it was fascinating to watch him translate what he had learned in English to explain it to me in Spanish. At times he was at a loss for a word so he would have to ask me how do you say, for example, "compost" in Spanish. His wonderful teacher would tell me that he stayed next to her all of the time because he had so many questions to ask her- in English! Since I hardly ever hear him speaking English I was shocked that he not only had the vocabulary to ask the questions but also felt that comfortable speaking English with her to ask the questions in the first place. I am dying to stay for a whole class next time so that I hear for myself.

It was a wonderful experience and we would like to say, "¡Gracias Miss Wendy!"

That is a picture of a gorila (not Miss Wendy.) :)

End of Year Show

2010-05-30T19:51:00.000-07:00

I can not believe that Diego's first year of preschool is coming to an end this week. I remember dropping him off the first day in September covered in tears. (Me, not him. He was fine. I was a wreck.) He has grown up and matured so much during this school year. He went from a relatively shy child to dancing and singing in the school program. (Ok, so he mostly smiled and swayed back and forth but a year ago he would never have even stood in front of a crowd.) He has learned to write and is beginning to read. He has developed the best since of humor and has made lots of friends. He has also made me very proud by behaving at school and receiving all green lights. (Well, there was that one yellow light.)

This is a picture before his End of the Year Show. He did wonderfully and we planned to go for ice cream afterwards but he fell a sleep in the car. He did get his ice cream the next day.

Congratulations on completing your first year of school Diego. We love you!

#1 Why we are successful: Diego's first language is Spanish

2010-05-30T19:05:00.000-07:00

A friend and fellow teacher asked me the other day how we have been so successful raising our sons to be bilingual. This friend is from the Dominican Republic and his wife is from Peru and he will readily admit that they have not succeeded in raising bilingual children. Both of their children, who are now in elementary school, understand quite a bit of Spanish but will not speak a word of it. My child, Diego, on the other hand, has as big of a vocabulary and speaks with the fluency of any other native Spanish-speaking child.

This has been no small feat and certainly didn't happen on accident. My first language was English and although my husband learned Spanish first, English took over as he went through the school system in the U.S. My husband's family does speak Spanish but since they do not live close, we have had to rely on ourselves to ensure that the boys learn Spanish.

Now that we are four years into this bilingual journey, I would like to reflect on why we have been successful for myself and hopefully to help anyone else who is going through this difficult but rewarding process. I am going to break this into several posts because I believe that there are several reasons.

#1 Why we have been successful: Diego's first language is Spanish.

There are several different ways to balance multiple languages within a home. The two most popular seem to be OPOL (One Parent, One Language) and ML@H (Minority Language at Home.) OPOL is where one parent speaks, for example, English to the child and the other parent speaks Spanish. With ML@H, as the name implies, the minority language is always spoken within the family and the majority language (English) is learned from the environment.

Our particular method is closest to ML@H but we went a step further to ensure that Diego was surrounded by the Spanish outside of the home also. From the time he was born we always looked for Spanish-speaking babysitters, watch television in Spanish, listened to music in Spanish, and even found a Spanish immersion preschool for him to attend. In a sense, until he was three, he was immersed in Spanish. This, of course, caused some problems. Several family members were not pleased that my son could not speak English. Remember that no one on my side of the family speaks Spanish. And surprisingly, several members of my husband's family voiced their disapproval saying that I would be putting him behind all of the other students when he entered school. I will actually have to write a separate post about how I dealt (and still deal) will the negative reactions from friends and family. I have plenty examples.

I have never had any doubt that Diego would learn to speak English. Living in the United States and dealing day to day with the world outside of our home make it a certainty. Diego's big breakthrough with English came a month after his third birthday when he made friends with a little boy who just moved in down the street. Within a month of playing with this little boy, he was forming complete sentences in English. Now a year later, I would say that while Diego's strongest language is most certainly Spanish, his English is catching up fast. I predict that by the time he is six that he will be more or less equally fluent in both languages.

I have been told by many that our method is too extreme. And I will admit that a few times when Diego was two, I felt terrible when we would go to a playgroup and Diego would not be able to communicate with the other children. It is much easier to write this post looking back now knowing that we are being so successful. It takes a strong stomach and a lot of determination but it has worked for us.

Giveaway ends tomorrow night!

2010-05-27T19:38:00.000-07:00

Don't forget that the giveaway for the $50 gift certificate for CSN online stores ends tomorrow at midnight. Thanks to everyone who has entered so far!

Organic

2010-05-15T20:32:00.000-07:00

I am pretty frugal. Ok, my husband calls me cheap. I try to spend as little money on everything that I possibly can. But something has been bothering me lately. I have been reading a lot about the pesticides in our produce. Since I try to get the boys to eat as many fresh fruits and vegetables as possible, I was more than a little disturbed to learn that despite my cleaning and scrubbing, the pesticides still remained in a lot of the food that they eat on a daily basis.

I always dismissed "organic" as another ploy to make me spend more of my hard-earned money on food (a bill that I struggle to keep down.) Last weekend I visited a Whole Foods store for the second time in my life and purchased organic apples and strawberries. From my research I learned that the only fruit and vegetables that are worth buying organic are those that you eat the skin. It is a small step but I feel good about it since the boys eat apples and strawberries every day. I did roll my eyes as a walked by the $5 organic cookie. I'm not ready for that.

Growing Up

2010-05-15T20:18:00.000-07:00

A lot of big changes are happening around our house lately. One of the most difficult for me is to see my babies growing up. Obviously, I knew that would not stay babies forever but seeing my littlest, my LAST baby become a big boy is very hard for me. Mateo has always been small. He measured in the 5-10 percentile for his height and weight up until his last two-year check-up. He is now in the 50th percentile for his height and it shows. He is still very skinny so the baby-chubbiness is all gone and he is all little boy now. I have finally broken down and started to get rid of the baby toys and furniture that will never be used again in our house. (Pause to regain composure and not cry.) I guess that it was not as difficult with Diego because I knew that all of these items would be resurfacing shortly with the next kid. Since there will be no more new babies, it is time to pass these items off to someone else. Last week Mateo used his high chair for the last time and it will be finding a new home in a couple of weeks. I took one last picture of it before I took it out of the room. (Ok, I am crying again.)

I am so blessed to be the mommy of two such special little boys. My resolve is to appreciate each day that I have with them and never take for granted the time that we have together.

Giveaway- $50 gift certificate to CSN stores

2010-05-15T19:57:00.000-07:00

I am VERY excited to giveaway a one-time-use $50 gift certificate to use as you wish on ANY of CSN's 200+ websites. CSN Stores have over 200 online stores where you can find tv stands furniture, toys, home decor, and so much more!

I am not known for my quick decision-making. (Just ask my husband how long it takes me to order at restaurants.) But with this many choices you are sure to find something that you would love.

So.... would you like to win the $50 gift certificate?

Mandatory Entry:

1. Become a public follower of My Bilingual Boys using Google Friend Connect on the right-hand side of the blog and leave me a comment telling me that you are. If you are already a follower, (Thank you!) please leave a comment also with a suggestion of something that you would like to see on my blog (ie. tips for raising multilingual kids, foreign language product reviews, giveaways, or just more cute pictures of my kids.)

Additional Entries:

2. Blog about this giveaway (2 entries). Leave a separate comment for each entry and a link to the post.

3. Visit CSN stores website and tell me which item you would order with your winning gift certificate.

Must have a U.S. or Canada address to win.

This giveaway will end at midnight on May 28th.

¡Buena Suerte!

What my child is reading...

2010-05-15T19:22:00.000-07:00

Here are the favorites of the past two weeks:

Madeline (the Spanish Edition.) I chose this book from the library because I remember it being one of my favorites as a kid. To be honest, I couldn't remember what it was about and reading it didn't really jog my memory either. The big shock was how much the boys enjoyed the book and requested it almost daily. Diego was fascinated with the little girl who was not afraid of anything and had a ton of questions about your appendix and hospitals. I think that our discussions from this book definitely increased his vocabulary from scars, to nuns, to crutches, to the Eiffel Tower. It also gave me an opportunity to talk a little about how Madeline lived in Paris and how they speak French in France.

La Gran Rana Bocona We actually own this book and I am not sure who likes it more, the kids or I. It is just hilarious and I must say that I have the voices of the various animals down. :) This proud big-mouthed frog goes around asking all of the other animals who they are and what they eat. Finally, he meets up with a crocodile that states that he eats big-mouthed frogs. It looks like there is an English version also called the "Wide-mouthed Frog."

Messy Bessy We have started a new tradition at the library where I let Diego choose one book in English. We usually go straight to the Spanish section which is quite a bit smaller so I think that he was a little overwhelmed with all of the choices. He ended up just grabbing a book without really looking at it but it ended up being a big hit with both of the boys. Mateo called himself "Messy Atis" for a few days afterwards.

It is a very simple story about a little girl who has a filthy room and has to clean it up. The vocabulary was simple enough that the boys could understand with minimal translation on my part. Whenever we read in English I stop more often to check for understanding and ask questions. The only issue I had with the book was that Bessy threw all of her toys, games, and clothes in her closet and called it "cleaning up." The pictures even showed it overflowing out of the door. I did give us an opportunity to talk about how to properly put thing away.

Check out Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns to read more great book reviews.

And the winner is.................

2010-05-15T19:13:00.000-07:00

The winner of the GameWright game "Can You See What I See?" is............

****Michelle "I follow on facebook."

Congratulations! I know that your girls will love this game!

Time is running out to win a game from Gamewright

2010-05-12T03:54:00.000-07:00

Don't forget to enter to win my giveaway of this fun game from Gamewright. A winner will be chosen Saturday morning. Go HERE to enter.

Early Summer Vacation

2010-05-10T19:26:00.000-07:00

This last few weeks we have done very little "school" in our house. If I ever get around to downloading the pictures, I would love to share some fun activities about bugs that were a big hit with the boys.

Summers in Texas are hot, I mean HOT! You can usually go outside for a couple a hours in the morning but by 11:00 it is unbearable. Spring and Fall are just about perfect so we have been spending every free minute outside enjoying it. Here are some pictures that I took of the boys last weekend. (Yes, they are still in their pjs. Doesn't everyone play outside in their pjs.?)

Mateo just learned to climb to the top of slide by himself. His favorite activity to do up there is have Mommy put ALL of his plastic dinosaurs at the top of the slide so that they can slide down. And repeat. And repeat. And repeat.

The boys never tire of hunting for ladybugs. We have dozens of them right now. I am still working with Mateo on being gentle with the poor insects. It has got the point where I no longer show him when I find one. I can't have any more deaths on my conscience.

Diego is very gentle with the ladybugs and often asked if he can keep one for a pet. This is a big deal since last year he would not even touch any sort of creepy-crawly.

Mateo is smelling a flower.

Playing with the hose never gets old.

I hate to categorized my kids..... yet. :) But, if I had to I would say that Diego is definitely the intellectual but not athletic one and Mateo will either be a soccer player or a sky diver. I swear that kid would jump off of anything.

Come play at the Childhood 101 We Play link up.

Am I a helicopter mom?

2010-05-10T18:55:00.000-07:00

Last night (while I was up at 3:00 am again with the worse case of poison ivy I have ever seen in my life) I read a couple of interesting blog post about supervising our children and how free we should let them play. The first post was by Natalie at Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns. Natalie has some interesting comments about how we over supervise our children here in the US and do not give them enough freedom. The second post was by Simple Mom asking her readers "How freely do you let your kids play?" I highly recommend that you read both articles and the comments that followed for some interesting opinions on this topic.

This brings me to my take on it. I was raised in the country with a few acres of yard and a busy highway running across the front. As far back as I remember my sister and I knew to stay far away from the highway but had free range to run and play on the rest of the property. We would stay outside together (but without our parents) most of the day and come inside when it was time to eat.

I would love for my boys to have that kind of freedom. Unfortunately, we live in a suburb outside of a large city and the situation is very different. We are fortunate to have a decent-sized fenced-in backyard and the boys are allowed to play in it alone while I am in the kitchen. That is about the extent of their freedom. I would never allow them to play in the front yard without me. Diego has learned to stay out of the street but Mateo proved, yet again, the other day that he still has not figured that out yet. And yes, I will admit it. I am terrified of someone abducting my children. It maybe that I am paranoid or have watched one-too-many Cold Case Files but the thought is often in my head.

We were at the park the other day and I noticed several mothers sitting on one end of the park talking while their two and three years old were on the other side of the park playing, definitely out of sight. They did not check on these kids for about fifteen minutes. I, on the other hand, stayed fifteen feet or so behind the boys but followed them around the park the entire time.

So am I am helicopter mom? I think so. This is probably something I should work on. I think that as they grow up I need concentrate more on teaching them how to make good choices and make decisions for themselves. I want them to grow up confident and not afraid.

Win a game from Gamewright!

2010-05-06T19:30:00.000-07:00

Have you entered to win this fun game by Gamewright? There is still time. Winner will be picked on May 16th. Go here to find out how to win.

Feliz Cinco de Mayo

2010-05-05T18:03:00.000-07:00

I had all kinds of cute crafts and fun ideas of how to celebrate Cinco de Mayo in our household but unfortunately none of them came to be. I am still teaching part-time and I was in charge of our school's Cinco de Mayo program (for the fifth year in a row.) This program included around 100 performers (both student and non-student) and an audience of around 900. Needless to say, as I am writing this in the evening on May 5th, I am exhausted and a poor choice of shoes has left me nearly unable to walk. But the program was a success and the Hispanic students who make up about 20% of our student population were proud to share their heritage.

I would love to move my Cinco de Mayo plans to this weekend but seeing as it is Mother's Day, I am sure that it will not happen. I am not worried. We make sure that our boys are proud of their Mexican heritage all year round. Through the food they eat, the language they speak, the songs they listen to, and our friends and family they are constantly reminded of the beauty of their Mexican side. So even though I let this one slide by this year, we can proudly say, "¡Viva México!"

Taking learning to the sandbox

2010-05-02T19:05:00.000-07:00

Playing in the sandbox is one of my kids' favorite things to do. I received a set of uppercase and lowercase letters awhile back and they have just been sitting in the craft closet awaiting a creative lightbulb to go off in my head. Yesterday before going outside I asked the boys if they would like to go on a treasure hunt. After making various pirate noises that I took as a "yes," we headed to the sandbox. A very simple, but fun game of "dig up the letters" ensued. My favorite part was Diego trying to teach Mateo his letters and Mateo happily repeating whatever Diego said just so happy to be included in the game.

So much for not mixing colors...

2010-05-02T18:57:00.000-07:00

When I bought the last batch of Play-doh, I decided to only give the boys one color so that they would not mix them all together and it would last longer. The boys played happily for awhile but Diego insisted that he needed ALL of the colors. I finally gave up and Diego made the creation below.

Me: What is the world is it?

Diego: A chameleon

Me: Why did you need all of the colors?

Diego: Because chameleons change colors.

I should have figured that one out for myself.

Rosas de Abuela

2010-05-02T18:55:00.001-07:00

My husband's grandmother was very special to him. Unfortunately, she passed away shortly before we met so I never had the honor of meeting her. During one of our trips to his hometown, we stopped by his grandfather's house and he offered us one of his grandmother's rosebushes. I was skeptical as we dug a bunch of leafless sticks out of the sandy ground that we would ever see a rose. Well, I was wrong! Four years later we can enjoy the beautiful roses that bloom in front of our house and pay tribute to a wonderful woman.

Toys my children ACTUALLY play with- Gamewright Giveaway

2010-04-29T03:52:00.001-07:00

In January I reviewed a game that the boys received for Christmas from their grandmother, HISS. This fun matching and snake-building game continues to popular in our house.

I was very excited when the makers of HISS, Gamewright, asked us to review another one their games, Can You See What I See? Finders Keepers Game. Go here to see why we loved it.

Would you like to win Can You See What I See? Finders Keepers Game for your kids? Here is what you need to do to enter. Please leave a separate comment for each entry. Open to US residents only. Winner will be announced May 15th.

1. Visit Gamewright's website and tell me which game would you child ACTUALLY play with.

For addtional entries:

2. Follow Gamewright onFacebook.

3. Follow Gamewright on Twitter.

4. Follow My Bilingual Boys on Google Friends.

5. For two additional entries, blog about this giveaway.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this game to review but all opinions are my own.

Toys my children ACTUALLY play with- Gamewright Review

2010-04-28T10:56:00.001-07:00

Why we loved it:

1. Vocabulary Building- Many of the hidden objects are uncommon (thimble, spring, top) and so Diego has learned quite a few new words by playing this game. So far we have only played in Spanish but I see this as a great way to build his vocabulary in English and French in the future.

2. Versitile- The game includes the rules for two ways to play. One for younger children and one for older children (8 and up.) This means that the boys will be able to use it for several years to come.

3. Durable- The cards, like the ones found in HISS, are very sturdy and can even stand up to being play with by Mateo. :)

4. Fun- The boys have very much enjoyed playing with this game. Diego is very much into reading hidden picture books so I knew that this game would be a hit.

Giveaway tomorrow...

2010-04-28T10:54:00.000-07:00

Please check back tomorrow. I will be posting the Toys my Children Actually Play With post with an added bonus-- a great giveaway from Gamewright.

Giveaway- Spanglish Baby (Ingenio Toys)

2010-04-26T18:00:00.000-07:00

Check out this awesome giveaway at Spanglish Baby. You could win 10 (yes, I say 10) toys from a great bilingual toy company, Ingenio.

Buena suerte!

Easter pictures- Better late than never

2010-04-24T19:36:00.000-07:00

I am so far behind on my scrapbooking. I would love to blame by blogging but I have always been way behind. I fully intend to continue the boys' scrapbooks but for now I am happy that my precious photos are being preserved here also. With that said, I am posting some of the pictures from our various Egg hunts this year. Between, a hunt at my parent's over Spring Break, one at Diego's preschool, one with the kids from our Mom's group, and one at our house on Easter Sunday, we WAY overdid Easter this year. By the last one, the boys had lost some of their enthusiasm for hunt. Still it was a lot of fun and we made some great memories with friends and family.

Farm living is the life for me.....

2010-04-22T11:07:00.000-07:00

Recently Mateo and I had a rare, just the two of us, excursion. We were invited to a birthday party at a farm. We had a great time together and it was fun to spend some one-on-one time with him.

He spent much of the morning following around this farm dog. This kid is quite an animal lover.

He got to explore a wooden train.

And.... he rode a pony for the first time. He did not want to at first but when it was time to get off, he started yelling "MAS, MAS."

Spanish product reviews

2010-04-22T11:06:00.001-07:00

We were lucky enough to recently win the CD Sing-a-Lingo from one of my favorite Spanish learning blogs, Wanna Jugar Withmigo.

We have amassed a large collection of children's music CD's in Spanish because I like to surround the boys with Spanish music while they are playing in the house or riding in the car. It is another great way to expose them to more Spanish speakers with different dialects and vocabulary. We also enjoy it just because we like to sing and dance.

Who would I recommend it to: This is a great CD for beginning Spanish students (both children and adults.) The words are very clear and repeated several times. Each song has a theme (such as washing your hands or setting the table) to teach relevent vocabulary and phrases. There is a translated version of the songs included for non Spanish-speaking parents.

Why we love it: Since we speak Spanish at home, the vocabulary was easy for my sons to understand. We still enjoy listening to this CD because the songs are so darn catchy. You can't help but sing along. Our favorite song is Marcha (March). This song teaches commands by having the kids march, jump, run, walk, and dance. I just wish they would put out a French CD too!!

Toys my children ACTUALLY play with- TRIO

2010-04-22T10:09:00.001-07:00

It is no secret that my boys love to build. We have many different types of building toys that get rotated through the toy cycle. Diego received a box of Fisher Price TRIO building blocks shortly after his birthday. He enjoyed them a lot but they got put back in the closet and forgotten about for the last couple of months. Well, he spotted them last week and they have been used daily ever since.

Here is the picture of the airplane/helicopter that you can make with our set if you follow the directions.

Pros: Great for imaginitive play. (See pictures below.) Diego has created bugs, dinosaurs, robots, planes, a castle, and even a jail.

Great for practicing following directions. The directions for making the items above are easy to follow and Diego can do it by himself. (Although he usually creates his own.)

Cons: The pieces assemble fairly easily except for the blue rods. I remember when Diego first played with this toy a few months ago he would get frustrated because you need quite a bit of strength to insert the blue rods. He now seems to have no problem with assembly.

Overall: This a great addition to our collection of building materials and keeps the boys very busy while I cook dinner. The recommended age is 4-7 and I would agree that four would be the minimum age to be able to assemble the parts.

Here are some of Diego's creations (the middle one is a camel, so I was told:)

Giveaway- Spanglish Baby

2010-04-20T18:35:00.000-07:00

My favorite site for all-things bilingual, Spanglish Baby, is giving away another CD. They actually have great giveaways every week. If you are looking for products or articles about raising a child bilingual, you really have to visit this site.

The giveaway this week is a CD called Fiesta Mexicana by Sones de México Ensemble. My husband's family is from Mexico and some of these songs reminded him of his childhood.

What my child is reading...

2010-04-15T09:27:00.000-07:00

Our stack of library books stands at about twenty five this week. I declared before we entered the building that we were only going to pick out five new books since we have a few left over at home from last week. Well, I forgot about the ten that I had reserved and waiting for me about our new topic of study, bugs. We have checked out quite a few books lately that neither I nor the boys have liked so they were only read once and returned to the library shortly after. Here our favorites from the last couple of weeks.

The hands-down favorite was Mañana Iguana. We read this book every day for over a week. It is a bilingual book but it mostly written in English with a few Spanish words thrown in. I thought that this would turn the boys off to it, but the funny story and repetition kept their interest. I had to stop at the end of each page the first couple of times through to make sure that they were understanding. Basically, it is the story of the Little Ren Hen, but it takes place in the desert with an Iguana playing the part of the overworked "hen" and his friends, Conejo (rabbit), Tortuga (turtle), and Culebra (snake) as his lazy friends who make up excuses why they can't help or that they will do it "mañana" (tomorrow.) I highly recommend this book. If you do not know any Spanish, there is a pronunciation guide for the handful of Spanish words. I just noticed on Amazon that this is a series of books so I am going to look for more at the library.

We read quite a few bunny books leftover from Easter. Our favorite was the Spanish version of the Runaway Bunny called Conejito Andarin. Diego's favorite part was definitely the drawing of the bunnies changing into trees, clouds, and sailboats. He liked to tease me afterwards about going muy, muy, lejos (very faraway.) He would tell me he is going to Saturno and that I have to change into an astronaut to go and get him.

Another favorite library book this past week was En el baño (In the Bathroom.) This funny little book was published in Venezuela and I can't find it on Amazon. It is a toliet training book that explains that toilets are very children and adults but they are NOT for animals. Each page shows what would happen if each animal tried to use the bathroom (the elephant would break the toilet, the mouse would fall in, the goat would each the toilet paper.) Little gross, I know, but it kept the boys giggling.

Head over to Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns to see other great book reviews.

Blog Party

2010-04-15T09:26:00.000-07:00

I am participating in the 2010 Ultimate Blog Party hosted by 5 minutes for Mom. I am supposed to introduce myself so here it goes....

I am a the mother of two wonderful little boys that we are raising bilingual. I am a "gringa" that teaches Spanish part-time and my husband's family is originally from Mexico. We are very dedicated to raising our sons bilingually so that they can communicate with their father's side of the family. I wrote an article for Spanglish Baby discussing our Christmas traditions as a bicultural family.

Photo by Adriana Villalobos

In my blog I discuss:

the toddler and preschool activities that I do with my children (in Spanish, of course!)

challenges of raising bilingual children

learning a third language (we just added French to the mix.)

Spanish books that we love to read

foreign languages CD's, movies, and other products that we love

our favorite toys in our weekly Toys my Children Actually Play with McLinkey

Toys my children ACTUALLY play with- Sharing

2010-04-12T19:00:00.000-07:00

I do not get to see my sister and niece as often as I would like but we try to get together at least every two to three months. My boys and their cousin most recently enjoyed playing together over Spring Break. One of the most exciting parts about visiting someone else's house is getting to play with someone else's toys. My kids have WAY too many toys but nothing is never as interesting as something new and different. To avoid having to buy many more toys, my sister and I have started swapping toys every time we get together. Diego will pick out four or five items that he is willing to part with and we bring them with us. My niece then trades them for roughly the same amount of toys. This works especially well with board games and puzzles. (There is only so many times that you can do the same puzzle.)

The picture below is Diego putting together a Melissa and Doug castle puzzle that we brought back from our trip. He would never have picked it out at the store for himself since it is "para niñas), but since it belonged to his cousin, it was acceptable.

If you have written a post (new or old) about a toy that your child loves to play with and you would like to share, please link it up below.

Finally Painting..... or not!

2010-04-12T18:46:00.000-07:00

I sometimes feel guilty because I avoid some projects because it is so hard to do somethings while juggling two kids. Especially if one of those kids is Mateo, who is always going 90 miles per hour. One day while Mateo was napping I pulled out the paints since we haven't painted in a long time. Here is Diego concentrating very hard...... for about two minutes.

He decided that he didn't want to paint and asked for his markers instead. He drew a great picture of a pirate ship and, to my surprise, wanted to pose for a picture with it. I guess I didn't need to feel guily after all.

Fun in the Sandbox

2010-04-12T18:40:00.000-07:00

We have had just gorgeous weather lately and this is pretty much what you will find the boys doing everyday.

How to Train Your Dragon

2010-04-09T14:05:00.000-07:00

Diego and I recently had a date to go see the 3D movie "How to Train Your Dragon." I mistakenly told him about the trip about a week before and he asked me constantly when we were going. Finally the day before I told him that we were going "mañana." He asked me, as he often does, "Es hoy, mañana?" (Is today, tomorrow?) Well the day finally arrived and we headed to the theatre. It was Diego's first 3D experience and my first time if you don't count the old paper blue and red glasses that they used when I was a kid. He wouldn't keep the glasses on so he watch the most of the movie blurry. The special effects were awesome but there are some intense parts that might scare some sensitive kids. He and I had a great time and I know that he enjoyed the movie because he asked if they would let us watch it again "ahora mismo" (right now.)

Growing Up

2010-04-09T13:55:00.000-07:00

Every month until Mateo was one year old, we would take his picture with a little sign with his age and date so that we could see how he grew throughout the year. Some months he did not want to cooperate (see month nine) and some months I forgot (see month ten) but it is fun to look back at these so I am very glad that we did it. On Thursday, we took a two year old picture of Mateo to add to the collection. He was not interested in sitting still at all and this was the best picture I could get out of thirty but that's our Mateo. :)

Toys my children ACTUALLY play with- Stamp set

2010-04-09T11:10:00.000-07:00

When my mother asked for suggestions for birthday presents for Mateo, I pointed her toward a Melissa and Doug stamp set that I have had my eye on for quite a while. I chose this one because Mateo is dino-crazy but also because came with great reviews from Amazon customers. It is basically a set of eight dinosaur shaped stamps, two colors of ink pads, and five colored pencils. Even though the top of the stamps are multi-colored, the stamps obviously come out one color and the kids have to color them (hence the colored pencils.) The boys have had a ton of fun with these several times in the last couple of weeks. I have no action shots since Mateo tends to stamp dino-prints on EVERYTHING if I am not paying attention. The only complaint that I have is that the top of the box has no lid so it is easy to knock the stamps out if they are not placed on a high shelf far away from little hands.

If you have a toy that your child loves and that you would like to share, please link up. It can be an old post or a new post.

Feliz Cumpleaños a Mateo

2010-04-06T20:11:00.000-07:00

My baby boy turns two tomorrow. I feel extremely grateful and blessed to have a healthy and happy child but a part of me is sad also. We are not having anymore children so this is the end of the baby stage for us. When Diego turned one we started discussing whether or not to have another baby. Now I can not imagine our lives without him. Mateo is such a blessing to our family. He and his brother are best friends and love each other very much. He can be quite a handful sometimes but as soon as he flashes that grin at you, all is forgiven. He is funny, caring, and curious and we love him very much.

Feliz Cumpleaños Matutis!

Move over Eric Carle

2010-04-06T10:53:00.000-07:00

We have checked out and read the book "Oso polar, oso polar" (Polar Bear, Polar Bear) many times from the library and it is one of the boys' favorites. Recently we found a copy of "Oso pardo, Oso pardo" (Brown Bear, Brown Bear) and it was equally popular with the boys. The following project, I am very proud to say, was completely Diego's idea. He wanted to make his own book with a Black Bear (Oso Negro). I provided him with a stack of paper and helped him with the cover paper. This was a great opportunity to talk about cover pages, authors, and illustrators. Besides that, Diego grabbed his crayon and started illustrating "Oso Negro, Oso negro, Que hueles allí?" (Black Bear, Black Bear, What do you smell?) I wrote down his words and we stapled it together like a book. He told me that he would like to take it to the library so that Mema and Papa (my parents) can check it out to learn more Spanish. :)

Another use for Zingo

2010-03-31T13:07:00.000-07:00

Since we had a very busy week getting ready for and hosting family from out of town, we did not get to do many Easter projects. I am hoping to get to do some this week. I do not think that the boys will mind that we are a little behind. One afternoon Diego and I did make up a game using our plastic eggs to practice our French. We continue to get a ton of use out of one of favorite games Zingo. The game was extremely simple. We hid the game pieces in the eggs and took turns opening them. The first person to say the word in French got to keep the piece.

Cascarones

2010-03-26T19:54:00.002-07:00

One of my favorite traditions that my husband brought to our family was "cascarones." This Mexican tradition adds a fun addition to the boiled and plastic eggs that my family has always hunted on Easter morning.

We eat a lot of eggs at our house but we still have to start this process many weeks before Easter. Make a hole in the top of the egg and empty out the yolk. Clean the egg out with hot water and let is dry out completely.

Color the eggs with Easter egg dye.

Fill the eggs with confetti.

With a little glue, stick a piece of tissue paper over the hole to seal it.

On Easter morning we will collect these with our other eggs and then break them over each others' heads. :)

Oh Lily!

2010-03-26T19:30:00.000-07:00

Mateo has never had a favorite toy. Diego has a bear that has been his best friend since he was two weeks old. Mateo, on the other hand, is just as happy carrying around any toy that happens to be in the same room.

One of Mateo's favorite books is "Lily, la ruidosa" about a hippo that makes too much noise. Ever since we read the book, every time he sees a hippo he smiles and yells "Oh, Lily!"

I wanted Diego to have a gift to give to Mateo for his birthday. While we were at the zoo one day I asked Diego to pick out a stuffed hippo for his little brother. When Mateo pulled it out of the gift bag he exclaimed happily "Oh, Lily." He now has to sleep with his hippo every night. I have a feeling that it has something to do with the fact that his big brother gave it to him.

Another use for Legos

2010-03-26T19:16:00.001-07:00

To my surprise, Diego hasn't been into playing with Legos for the last couple of weeks. A couple of days ago, however, I caught him doing this. I never would have thought of using Legos to make letters and write words. He is such a creative little guy.

Mateo's Birthday- Take One

2010-03-25T20:03:00.000-07:00

For the last two years the boys and I have gone to visit my parents, sister, and neice for Spring Break. Since we do not get to be together that often, we try to make the most of our time together. While we were there we did an Easter egg hunt and celebrated Mateo's birthday early. We always make sure that the cousins are together for each kid's birthday.

Obviously, remembering Diego's birthday a couple of months ago, Mateo knew exactly what to do to blow out the candles. He proudly called his cake "años" for cumpleaños (birthday.)

The cake was a very yummy carrot cake with cream cheese frosting.

This was my favorite picture. Diego is hugging his brother as they look at his new Melissa and Doug dinosaur stamp set.

This is the cupcake kit that we bought at Walmart. Very easy to use and has many possible future cake possibilities.

Gardening

2010-03-25T19:05:00.000-07:00

Now that our weather is improving, we have started working on our garden. Last year Diego and I put in a small garden with carrots, zucchini, beans, and marigolds. We had a bit of success but it was mostly a learning and fun project for the two of us to do together. Mateo was not invited to help last year because he just wanted to eat the dirt.

This year since both boys are helping we have doubled the size of the garden. We have plans to go to the store this weekend to buy some more dirt and seeds. For now we are just playing in the dirt (mud) and looking for "gusanos." My boys can not get enough of looking for worms! Last year Diego refused to touch them but this year he filled he bucket up with the creepy-crawlies. Mateo, who is eager to do anything that his big brother is doing, started collecting them right away. Diego wanted to take them inside to be his new pets but I convinced him that they (and I) would be much happier if they were outside.

Mateo is showing me a "gusano."

Mateo is feeding his worm grass.

Spring is FINALLY here!

2010-03-25T18:57:00.000-07:00

After an unusually long winter (for us in Texas anyway), we are extremely happy to welcome Spring and get OUTSIDE to play! Next item on the list-- mow the grass! :)

Toys my children ACTUALLY play with- Retro toys

2010-03-23T11:16:00.001-07:00

I have not written a "Toys" post for quite some time because frankly I did not have much to say. The boys had been very busy playing with their favorites (mostly blocks and playdough) for the last few weeks. A couple of new toys have entered our playing rotation lately and I will start posting about a few of them in the coming weeks with a McLinkly. Please feel free to link up any new or old post that you have written. I like to record what my children are playing with because their interest change so fast.

We spent Spring Break visiting my parents. My boys are very lucky that grandma does not like to throw anything away. She still has a great stash of toys that were mine (and my sister's) when we were kids. They are still in great shape and Diego thinks it is hilarious to play with "Mami's" toys.

Diego has no idea what this phone was at first. He thought that it was an alarm clock. No surprise since the only phone that we have at home is a cell phone. What a different world our kids are growing up in!

These are actually dinosaurs that we brought and left at grandmas, less, heaven forbid, we have a dinosaur storage somewhere. He did have a lot of fun playing with the dinosaur on this car old garage.

Fun at the Grandparents' house

2010-03-17T20:50:00.000-07:00

We love going to visit my parents for many reasons. For one, the boys get immersed in English. We speak only Spanish to the boys and most of their day is spent surrounded by Spanish, through books, t.v., Spanish preschool, friends in the neighborhood, etc. I am always amazed by how much Diego's English improves within a few days. Since I very rarely hear him speaking in English, it surprises me to hear him use sophisticated vocabulary and complete sentences. No matter who he is talking to, Diego always turns to me and speaks in Spanish. He knows that I speak English also but our language together is Spanish.

Another reason that we love to go to the grandparents' house is their big backyard. The boys spend hours running around and collecting rocks, acorns, pinecones, and, of course, sticks. Is there anything more fun to play with than sticks?

I loved this picture of Diego. He is taking his teddy bear for a ride in his little wheelbarrow just like Papa gives him and Mateo rides in the big wheelbarrow.

Feliz Día de San Patricio

2010-03-17T20:33:00.000-07:00

We have been out of town visiting Grandma and Grandpa for Spring Break. We read a book about Saint Patrick's Day so Diego, knowing the importance of wearing green, brought along his dinosaur shirt. I think that he would make a very cute leprechaun! Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Spanglish Baby Giveaway #2

2010-03-14T19:22:00.000-07:00

Another great giveaway from Spanglish Baby. I have wanted to try Yoga with Diego but I have have never got around to it. I would love to win this Yoga DVD for kids in SPANISH! If you would like a chance to win, head over to SpanglishBaby.

Evidence of Learning

2010-03-10T11:51:00.000-08:00

It is so exciting and rewarding when your children show you what they have learned in their own way. On a (finally) warm day last week, we took our bucket of chalk outside to draw. Diego kept himself very busy while I worked on preparing the garden. After awhile, I came to see what he was up to. He had drawn the ENTIRE Solar System with the Sun, planets, and even some moons. He was able to tell me the names of all of the planets in the correct order until Urano. The largest one that he is touching is the Earth. Even though he knows that it is not the largest, he always draws it that way.

Here is the Earth close up. He explained to me that the blue parts are the oceans and the two white spots are the North Pole (or where Santa and Polar Bears live as he calls it) and Antartica (or where the penguins live.) This thrilled me because we read books and studied about Antartica a few weeks ago and he show minimal interest.

I want our activities to be first and foremost fun but it is pretty nice to know that he is learning something too! ;)

Spanglish Baby Giveaway #1

2010-03-10T11:39:00.000-08:00

Spanglish Baby is having a series of great giveways this week with products for parents of bilingual children. The first is a set of boardbooks from Bilingual Readers. Hurry up and go register since the giveways ends Sunday night at midnight.

Espacio- Planetas y Astronautas

2010-03-09T10:41:00.000-08:00

Between illnesses and just being busy, our space-themed activities ran about three weeks. I choose this topic because Diego has a genuine interest in space. While doing my research I found a TON of great activities to do about constellations, comets, rockets, etc. I finally decided to narrow it down to two topics that Diego loves planets and astronauts. We started by reading several books about the planets.

These first books are a set that we own that covers each planet individually. They are appropriate for older preschoolers and younger elementary. There is no fun story here, but a lot of good facts and pictures. Diego has been asking me to read these to him for months at bedtime so he already knew basically what planets are and their names.

We checked out several other books from the library in Spanish but most were too difficult and technical.

We completed a chart of information about each planet comparing size, color, and number of moons.

We put our Melissa and Doug Solar System puzzle together several times. The only complaint that I have with this puzzle is that the planets are shown as if you are standing on the moon. This, of course, makes the Earth look larger than all of the other planets. Diego already knew that Jupiter was the largest planet so this was confusing for him.

We made a toliet paper roll astronaut. This activity and several space-themed coloring sheets can be found here.

We decoded some more secret messages with the answers being the names of planets.

Finally, we completed a Solar System kit that my husband bought for Diego months ago. It is basically foam balls and wooden dowel rods. You could certainly put this together without a kit but he found it on a clearance rack so it was very cheap. First Diego had to paint the planets.

Next we had to cut the dowel rods so that the planets with different distances from the Sun.

The last step was to hang the Solar System in the boys' room.

This was a really fun unit and I am glad that we didn't rush it. We had plenty of time to pretend to be astronauts and explore the planets. We did this outside flying around on our spaceship (a.k.a. the swingset) and jumping on the couch cushions on the living room floor trying to avoid the lava of Venus. I am sure that we will revisit this topic several times and add a little to it each time.

Películas y Palomitas

2010-03-07T05:06:00.000-08:00

I am not a big fan of my kids watching t.v. I try to limit it as much as possible. Yes, I agree that there are some good children's programing but I have a couple of problems with television shows. First, the commercials. Children's shows are just full of enticing products that make me have to hear "I want that" or my favorite "I NEED that" for days after. I am just not ready for my four year old to be trying to keep up with the latest trends. Second, we prefer that when the boys to watch television, that it is in Spanish. They are hearing more and more English from outside of the house so we want to maintain the Spanish as the language inside of the house.

Although I still very much limit the screen time, my solution to this problem is DVR and DVD's. If you are looking for some preschool programs in Spanish, check out Univision on Saturday mornings. They have Pocoyo, Dora, and Go Diego Go ALL in Spanish. I record them to watch during the week and we can just fast forward through the commercials.

On Friday evenings we have implented Películas y Palomitas (Movies and Popcorn) int he playroom where Diego gets to pick a DVD and we all cuddle up to watch a movie with some popcorn. Diego will watch the entire movie but Mateo just watches for a few minutes and then goes and plays.

I snapped this picture of them watching a movie last Friday.