When in Chile, eat meat

I just started feeding my daughter solid foods last week.  Like any gringa mama, I cracked open "What to Expect In the First Year" and gave Elenita the foods recommended in the book one by one.  You're supposed to wait three days for each new food to make sure the kid is not allergic, which of course Chileans think is ridiculous, or "exagerada".  Anyway, I started with palta (avocado), then squash, apple, banana, and yogurt.

Today I went to my pediatrician and she halted the whole thing in its tracks.  First, she couldn't understand my feeding schedule, and she asked me if I was giving Elena "almuerzo".  "Almuerzo" is not simply lunch in English.  "Almuerzo" refers to a big cooked dish involving and centering around a hunk of meat.  So of course the answer was no.  Now Elena, at 6 months old, is on a Chilean diet- she is to eat stewed meat with vegetables for lunch everyday.  If I had a stronger opinion, I would go against the will of the pediatrician, but I figure when in Chile, do as the Chileans, and eat meat.

English plis

Now that I live in Chile, I only want to speak English.  When I lived in the U.S. I spoke Spanish at work, with my husband and with many of friends so this change is actually quite drastic.  Being constantly surrounded by a culture that threatens to wipe away my American identity makes me hold onto English with a tight grip.  English allows me to read or sing onomonopias to my daughter, like wibble wobble, splish splash, or hee haw.  English is the language of Raffi, Dr. Seuss, and Maisy books.  English is the language of caroling door to door, of sledding outside with my sister, of wiffle ball in the backyard.

English is endangered because Elena may not know it.  At this point, all my daughter does with her mouth is make buzzing sounds or shove random objects inside, but she really hasn't made any sounds yet.  Although she hears mostly English now, I will not be her only source of language for long.  Her first word will probably be in English, her first sentences will most definitely be in Spanish.  

Translanguaging

Cada semana me llega al inbox un resumen de lo más interesante que ha salido del blog SpanglishBaby. Este domingo encontré un post sobre Translanguaging, o sea el cruce de múltiples idiomas en una situación de contacto de lenguas cuando los hablantes son todos multilingues.

¡Nosotros somos translanguagers profesionales casi, en esta casa! Y sí, veo como aleja y incomoda hasta a nuestros más íntimos familiares y amigos cuando mezclamos idiomas y el español predomina. Hoy estuvieron de visita unos tíos de mi marido, hablan inglés y un poco de high school french, pero se animaron a comunicar con Owen en español. Como hemos estado en Argentina y Chile recién, y Owen justo en las últimas semanas empezó a hablar con palabras y frases coherentes, así que el nene sólo maneja el castellano. Pero estos tíos no se asustaron, se dieron cuenta (como muchos no pueden) que aunque hable español, todavía es un bebé, y no sabría si ellos no hablaban 'bien'. Estuvo muy muy lindo verlos imitarle al Owen, cuando pidió 'papas f'itas' ellos se animaron a preguntar '¿más papas f'itas, Owen?' y lo pasamos tranquilos todos con la confianza de entendernos tanto por las palabras mismas como por el cariño e intención que siempre traemos a los encuentros íntimos.