The Word Count

Our little Chinese wonder has been fully immersed in an English-speaking home for four weeks now.  I had a chat with him today about how important it is to feel free to speak with his Chinese tutor so that he doesn't forget his Mandarin.  He claimed he already forgot how to speak Mandarin.  Sorry, buddy.  I don't buy it.  But he will if we don't make a very concerted effort to avoid that. 

A few weeks ago, I was at our local drugstore picking up our one hour photo order.  I needed 8 photos to give our social worker later in the week.  The photo manager told me that my service fee was more than the cost of the photos because I had ordered less than 20 prints.  I explained that I knew that, but didn't want to take the time to select additional photos to fill out the order.  I just needed these quickly and was willing to pay for that convenience.  He began to ring me up, and I worked to dig out my wallet from the abyss that is my purse.  He paused and asked, "Can I ask you a personal question?"

"Sure."

"Are these photos for an adoption?"  (Aghast!  He must have looked at my photos while they printed!)

"Yes, they are," with a genuine smile on my face.

"These are on the house."

Stunned silence.

"I was adopted when I was five from an orphanage in El Salvador.  I think it's really important what you're doing for this boy, and I want to support you in it and thank you."

Choking back tears, "Thank you."

After gathering myself for a moment, I decided that this was a tremendous opportunity to talk to someone who has been on the other side of this situation.  I asked him what his biggest challenge was transitioning into his new family and growing up after being adopted at an older age.  His immediate response was that he had lost his first language.  He can't speak Spanish any better than anyone else who didn't grow up with it.  We chatted for a few more minutes, and I enjoyed every bit of his story.

This interaction cemented my commitment to do everything we can to try to keep at least a remnant of Mandarin in that beautiful little brain.  From everything I've read, I know that we are working against long odds, but we're doing Chinese school weekly, visiting a Chinese tutor for homework and playtime twice a week, and continuing to use some simple Chinese in the house.  Time will tell...

As we move through this great language-learning adventure, I wanted to document where we are at at four weeks home. So, if you don't want to read through all the spoken English aquired, please scroll down right on by.  He understands WAY more than this, but these are the words he speaks regularly and without prompting.

Hello.
Bye
Baseball
1-10
Please
Thank you
Excuse me
Sorry
I luff you
TV
Car
Dog (sounds like dog-uh)
Push me, please.
Blue, green, yellow
Eye, ear, hair, head, nose, toes, shoulder
Stinky
Pajama time!
Shower
Water
Bear
Blanket
Dear Jesus
Amen
Oh my gosh
Wow
Hungry
No
Backpack
Shoes
Socks
Ready, set, go!
All done.
One more
Tiger
Brush teeth
Bike
Swim
Kiwi
Paper
Stuck
Uh-oh
Oops
oh no!
Lia! (usually very loudly)
Mama! (even more loudly)


I'm sure there are more words, but I'll have to check with my now-sleeping children and add to the list later. 

I should add that we are currently language crazy.  My two oldest started Spanish class today. Sweet One and I are learning Mandarin.  Rudolpho is learning English.  Sticks is still working hard on his redneck drawl.  Come visit.  It's really interesting around here.