Bilingual Baby

For those who don't know, English is not Jerry's first language. It's not even his second language... it is his third. Jerry grew up in Venezuela within a German  family and community making Spanish his first language and German a very close second. Jerry's family moved to the United States in the early 80's which led to the privilege and necessity of learning English quickly (but not the privilege of learning it in the public school system, which is the root of many quality discussions about our South Florida, ESL loving, modern public school system that allots two years). With determination and private tutoring, Jerry was fluent in English within six months without the slightest hint of an accent. (I'm so proud!)

We could attempt to raise William trilingual, but unfortunately, there are very few German-speaking people that reside in South Florida (however, I am surprised every time Jerry finds someone) which has lead to Jerry losing some of his fluency and familiarity with the language. On the other hand... there are PLENTY of Spanish speaking people that reside in South Florida, including Jerry's parents who babysit William every so often. This is exciting for me because even though I took Spanish all through high school and was even allowed to skip a year for my "superior knowledge" of the language, I am not very comfortable with my current fluency. This fits masterfully into my plan to raise a bilingual baby because Jerry's parents speak to William in Spanish which allows him to hear conversations and interactions in Spanish correctly and fluently. My work is done for me! If only that were true...

Currently, Jerry and I speak English to each other around William so he can pick up the grammar, vocabulary and language through our interactions and conversations. While I am at work, Jerry speaks to William in Spanish. We also try to say and do things in both languages, for example, when I leave the room I'll say "Bye, bye! Adios!". I do know some simple words  and phrases and I try to label as  much as I can in both languages. I'm sure we are confusing him immensely. 

I consider myself very lucky that my child has the opportunity to be raised bilingual. Being a teacher, I know the many benefits of knowing two languages, especially Spanish and English. Did you know that learning two languages greatly increases the gray matter in your brain? There are also some challenges that we will come across as far as Will's language development in the upcoming years, but I know we have made the right decision. 

Planes, Trams and Automobiles

On Christmas day, we took our first family flight. Awwww... off to the Grandparents for the holidays!

Did I mention it was at 6am? I'm really trying to force a smile for the obligatory pictures of William's first flight, but his face is definitely saying "Mom, I hate you for waking me up at 3:30am to catch this stupid plane."

All I can say in response is... "My dear William, how does it feel to be woken up at 3:30am? You don't like it do you? Aw, I have no sympathy for you. Smile."

Considering when the above photo was taken, it was 5:30 am... I don't think we did too bad. Shortly after this photo was taken the flight attendant took William, hat and all, and introduced him to the entire plane. He didn't even cry until he heard us talking and couldn't see us. A good sign since we were going to be introducing Will to a bunch of new people over the next week.

So, how is flying with a baby? Phew... to sum it up, flying with a baby is an experience. Before we left for our adventure I made a packing list to make sure I had everything necessary for William on the plane and enough warm weather clothes for the cold ready at the top of our luggage to wear as soon as we got off the plane. I even typed up the list so I could just print it out for our next trip without much thought. Jerry thought this was laughable, but we had everything we needed! Kind of...

Getting to the airport and through security was an adventure in itself. We each had two suitcases plus the car seat and stroller. You are allowed to bring on one carryon item plus one personal item per person. In total, we were carrying eight items to be stored on the plane and only paid for two. Not a bad deal, but we had to carry them and a baby. Somehow, we managed. In hindsight, my fancy list is being reduced by about half for next time and the stroller is being carefully debated.

Flying with Jerry is a very unique experience. He is very tall and feels like he has to ride in the 'special seats' or his legs will literally fall off of his body. I absolutely HATE that he makes this special request whenever we fly, but it does have its benefits. Our seats on our first flight were in the bulkhead section and we had a divider and a bathroom basically to ourselves. Unfortunately, we can't sit in the emergency row with a baby so he had to suffer on other flights.

After we got all of our stuff and bodies on the plane, we had very smooth sailing. To help with the air pressure, we fed William on take off and landing and he explored as much of our little section as he could. I think he actually liked it!

Now, when we landed in Philadelphia we had about an hour to catch our next plane. Sounds like a lot of time, but Philadelphia is a gigantic airport and we desperately needed a diaper change. I was not informed that we would need to leave terminals and venture out into the elements to get to our next plane, otherwise I would have physically brought William's winter jacket and hat in the carryon luggage. My fancy packing lists, oh how you fail me. We had to go from terminal A to terminal F. This would require the use of the Philadelphia Airport Terminal Shuttle.

Looking at the map, you would think this was walkable, but everyone we came across kept telling us that it would take us about 30 minutes to walk. They are lucky the waiting room was inside and heated or they would be receiving a very ugly nasty gram. The shuttle came every ten minutes and out into the 30 degree weather without jackets and hats we go. We must have looked like the worst parents ever. On top of it all, William kept kicking his socks off, so he was barefoot for part of the ride as well. I definitely lost my nomination for Mother of the Year.

The flight from Philadelphia to Albany wasn't as smooth. William was not hungry so he wouldn't eat on take off and he was tired and he really likes to nap in his bed. I'm satisfied with him being cranky for just 30 minutes during the whole trip, but I don't think the rest of the people on the plane appreciated the cranky baby for 30 minutes of the 45 minute flight. Perspective can be funny.

We landed in Albany and had to walk on the runway to get to the jetway out in the cold weather with my sockless, hatless, jacketless baby yet again. Lesson learned... bring the warm weather clothes in the carryon. I hated that Jerry got in a little 'told you so' about my fancy packing lists. But how was I supposed to know that even after spending close to $600 that US Airways would have us walking in the snow to our airplanes?

Grammy Lanthier was to the rescue with this super cool bundle-me sleeping bag like contraption for the Albany weather. This thing worked so well that he would sweat even without his winter jacket. I highly recommend this to cold weather mommies. William hated it though, but he hates being wrapped up. It's tough being a baby.

All in all, we had a very successful flight to Albany. We needed both of my parents cars to pick us up at the airport because we had so much stuff. I will be debating wether or not to bring the stroller next time because we never used it when we were home. It was good to have in the airport, but I think we could have made due without it. However, if the weather was nicer, I think we would have used it... hence, my debate...

Anyway... we had an even more successful flight back to Ft. Lauderdale. We could almost be considered professional traveling parents now. Next flight is currently set for June for Kim's wedding. I'm sure circumstances will change with a walking baby!