Cup-drinkers, barking and bouncy eaters

I've been a bit slow off the mark in keeping up here! Here's a wee snapshot of our last week or so. In the last couple of weeks the girls have been really learning a lot of new things. Elise is eating super well these days - as much as Amélie, which is great! I just have to laugh during some mealtimes, when enthusiastically bouncy little girls result in food going all over the place! They're also loving learning to drink from cups so water is in abundance! But they are getting pretty good now. Elise has become quite the chatterbox recently, which is wonderful because those little vocal chords are obviously starting to work. Her animated 'da-da-da's make my day! Amélie is our copycat, and Elise is not far behind...both breaking into impromptu hand-clappings several times a day. Amélie can bark at the neighbour's dog...her first word!? It's a really fun stage of life...and we are continually thankful for our girls who keep us busy in the best of ways!

Mummy says 'dog'. . . Papa dit 'chien'

 One thing I still struggle to get my head around is the fact that our girls are not 100% pure little kiwis! (the same way that I can't quite realise that Eti grew up speaking French!)...and that really they're more 'European' than kiwis right now, in that they were born here and are surrounded by French speakers. But this bilingualism is a big part of our daily life, and it's fun to think that they will grow up speaking and understanding both languages, right from the beginning....lucky! I'm so excited that they can learn this way!

If I could redo some of my highschool years, having the gift of hindsight, I would have ditched Physics and gone for French. My few words of Japanese haven't really proven themselves too useful! But, then again, often when we choose a language at school we don't know that we might possibly live in a country that uses that language. And I would never have guessed that one day I would be living here and learning French! I haven't taken formal classes, so much of what I have learnt so far has come from listening to people around me speak, and from reading a little. Learning this way can be a little embarrassing when it is a language that has different forms that are used to show respect to strangers or those older than yourself! The informal 'tu' is much more familiar to me, having picked up French with my husband, his family and friends. But thankfully people are very forgiving!

We heard that, when bringing up children biligually, it works best if each parent speaks their own language with their children. So I speak English with the girls and Eti speaks in French. I often wonder whether it confuses them to hear two words for everything, but apparently children are incredibly quick at picking up languages at a young age and they are able to differentiate the languages if they can associate them with each parent. At the moment I notice that they are getting into the 'copy' phase, and they watch us quite carefully to pick up new things that we teach them. They are both clapping their hands and on their way to understanding that 'tapes dans tes mains' means the same!

Until recently, having a book-loving mummy, we had an abundance of books in English. Since their birthday we've been able to balance up a little more evenly with French books, which is fun! And, ironically, the only copy of the book, in the pictures above, that we own is in Italian! (why not throw in a third language!?)


It is a fun adventure learning together, and in two languages at the same time. Maybe when the day arrives that they start speaking in French, I might finally realise that my little girls are not only kiwi but also half Swiss/French! What a rich way to experience life :) 

Wordless Wednesday

We're One!!

We had so much fun yesterday celebrating the girls' first birthday! I suspect they sensed the excitement, too, because the night before it took 3 hours for them to go to sleep...which has never happened! And thankfully they were feeling much better on the day...so they were in fine form for having a party!

We had family and friends over in the afternoon between 2 & 5. It was a beautiful sunny day and we had a house full at times. Amélie is becoming quite the social entertainer and loved chatting away to anyone and everyone! Elise was very happy to sit on peoples' knees and watch the action. They were very spoilt and enjoyed their new things...almost as much as chewing on the gift paper!

I was just a little busy to take many photos, but I captured a few before everyone arrived, so here's a wee peek at our party day...

and some of the party food...

We can hardly believe we're a mummy and daddy of one-year-olds...but sooo thankful! 

Here we go!

I've been humming and ha-ing about whether or not to join the blog world. Just recently I discovered the world of blogging mums, which has seemingly endless depths of creativity, colours, crafts, children, thoughts on life, among other things...and a fun sense of community. It's been a fun discovery to make for a living-far-away-from-home mummy!

My main reason for getting into this is that, now that the girls are coming up to their first year, I won't keep writing monthly email updates to our faithful family, friends and followers who have kept in touch so keenly over the last adventurous year. Now you can come here and see what we get up to :) 

The girls are indeed almost one, which is hard to believe! A year ago this weekend they gave us quite a shock and arrived waaay too early. Now they have multiplied their 710g and 700g birth weights by 10 and are happy, healthy, joyful little girls who brighten our lives!

I made this video last week as a reminder of our past year - a picture of what we've experienced and all we can be thankful for...

Happy 1st Birthday A & E! from Maya Lacombe on Vimeo.