Tomorrow Never Comes

21m-1d

So when did I say I was going to sit down and sort my messy notes out? Tomorrow? Well. At least the last two weeks' pile is a neat one, and I've started the next two weeks' one, but really am too tired to sort them out.

What do you expect from life with a toddler that chooses to wake up at b*** 4.30 am to demand "passa! naane! kisch! tuti!" (pasta, banana, juice, treat; G-G-N-S), and by the time she's been fed "binne! wooty!" (birne, fruity; G-E) decides it's time to get up and party (respectively, keep crawling over mum's head, face and generally upper body while mum is trying to ignore the 13 kilos on her face, that elbow in her throat and that slobbery snout slobbering onto her face from really close up). Her chattiest time of day? Stupidly early in the morning, i.e. the inconvenient end of night.
(See also here.)
"Mama Bett. Papa Bett. Kacha (Tara) Bett. Up/Ab! (R)unter!" (GG.GG.GG.E/G.G) just being the easily recognizable part of her speeches: We're all in bed (as we should be) but let's all get up now and go downstairs - at 4.30 I don't think so. Neither do I have pen and paper to catch any of this cold verbal shower. Talking of 'catch' - that's a new favourite, and Tara's perfect excuse to go about slapping people. "Catch booboo!" *slap! mum on chest* "Catch Mama!" *slap! mum in the face* "Aame catch!" *slap! Tara on arms*
"Catch" is English. Clearly nothing to do with the good manners I try to teach her, or else it would be German ;-). "Ey!" spricht Mama. "Hier wird nicht gehauen!"

Anyway, what with the lists a mess for now, I'll share yesterday's notes, shall I? (21m)

New words and phrases observed:
E - poorly, dam (jam), come on!, t-shirt, cuddles, I-see-ya, one-two-free (1-2-3), daddy
S - cama ('bed')
G - Fe'a (Feder, 'feather')

Clever things said ;-)
E - "Baby poorly - Baby sick-sick-sick" - "Papa dam (jam) all-gone. Finished!" - "peekaboo - I-see-ya!"
S - "guau-guau culo" ('doggy's bum') -
G - "Papa make siek" (Papa makes music, N-E-G) - "Lecker Papa alle-alle" (She says 'lecker' (tasty) for 'yoghurt, daddy's yoghurts are finished) - "Papa kuscheln" (cuddle daddy) - Mamis Jacke (mum's jacket) - Mamis Hand (mum's hand)
Mixed - "Kötzene tuck!" ('Klötzchen stuck', her bag of play blocks were stuck, G-E) - "Fünlück all-gone" ('Frühstück all-gone', breakfast is finised, G-E) - "guau-guau ball come-on" (doggy ball come on, S-E-E) - "Finished, Mama!" (Finished, Mummy, E-G)

Isn't she clever ;-)
I was most amused when she came out with a whining 'Eh! Eh! Come on!" when I was trying to get some rest on the sofa and the midget disagreed; Jose was least amused with being referred to as 'daddy'.

Talking about rest, time to go to bed. Armed with a pear, a treat and a banana, and all fingers crossed for a night that ends at nearer to 7 than 4.30!

Tara Translates

"There was one in the bed and the little one said: 'I'm cold! I miss you!'"

(20m-3wk)

Tara's vocabulary is growing rapidly, and while I've not yet managed to write up comprehensive, language specific lists (time! effort!), I'm keeping up with messy notes in a big messy pile, waiting to be sorted tomorrow (I swear!).

It's becoming apparent now that she's aware that she knows more than one word for some things. I still feel that one word, any language, will remain dominant for one thing, for a period of time, and that she will use that word in any context then. For example, a favourite snack, milk foam and biscuits has been 'Milch und Kekse' for as long as she's been enjoying them at home, even while she know that 'milk' or 'leche y galletas' was the same. This last week, however, she's started calling it consistently 'milk'. I suspect it's got something to do with nursery. Every time, in fact, when a German word goes out the window to be replaced with an English one, I suspect it has something to do with nursery.
Two weeks ago, I fought a proper battle to rescue her German rag doll's 'name', Püppi. She was beginning to call every doll Baby, I was not impressed and made sure I talked a lot about 'PÜPPI' for a week, making clear it was this one particular doll I meant. I'm proud to say that I did manage to rescue Püppi's name Püppi, and that Baby now remains 'Baby,' and Püppi 'Püppi'. But it was a job and a half.

But back to her translating words.
We read a book (above). A little one throws all his toys out of bed, and then feels cold and misses them. Tara goes to sleep with nearly all her friends too, so she can relate ;-). The book is a song, so I don't translate but sing it her in English. When it says: "I'm cold! I miss you!" Tara tends to throw a little "kalt!" in. For now, when she talks about something being cold, she does so in German.
Today I sang her: Mein Hut, der hat drei Ecken... She listened carefully and then commented 'at. Hat in its most British pronunciation, with a beautiful, barely audible glottal 'h'. Little English girl that she is, stylish hats are talked about in English (It's a word she's picked up at her old nursery ages ago, from another English song, "Miss Polly had a dolly").
There was another translation, but I can't find my little note in my messy pile, d*** f***.

Which reminds me, she is also very good at interpreting the things she hears, and repeating them after me in her own fashion. Mummy says S***, Tara says, Sit! Sit down! Mummy says S*** a lot these days. When mummy goes German and says SCH***** instead, Tara has no known word to relate it to, so likes to echo back a tentative imitation: Chei-che. Bad mothering, mummy! Now, I'll leave it all up to you to work out what I said to get Tara to repeat FIFI KAKE.

3-Wort-Sätze

Ta-daaaa, der erste Drei-Wort-Satz, den wir (die Eltern als offizielle Instanz) gehört haben, und er war in reinem Englisch:
"Poppy sit there" gefolgt von einem jämmerlichen "bye... gone!" - Tara hatte mit Poppy gespielt, die nun auf dem Boden saß und ihre Schuhe anzog, und dann (offensichtlich) ging. (2m-1wk-6d)

Tara's Lexikon

"NAPPY"

"BOX"

"BALL"

NENEtante

Tara sagt nicht 'Kinder'; das sagt sie auf Spanisch 'nene(s)'. Wir srechen über ihre Kindergartentante - Tara sagt 'Nene'tante. Ich bin nicht ganz sicher, ob sie weiß, was und wen ich meine, aber als erste 'Übersetzung" kann ich das doch gelten lassen, oder?
(20m-5d)