We've been back from furlough for about two weeks now, and are getting back into the swing of things, including Spanish. Our first week here Mike and I felt a little bumbly in the Spanish department...and so did Trinity. After spending two months in the U.S. and hearing almost exclusively English, she had lost much of her Spanish vocabulary. Some of her first outings in all-Spanish settings found her talking to everyone in English, which caused many puzzled expressions and a lot of explaining on my end.
After that cautious start, I'm happy to report that this week she has done remarkably well. At our church service on Ash Wednesday (an all-Spanish setting), she told me, "I want agua please." I knew we were getting somewhere.
This morning, she told me, "Quiero teta (I want a bottle)." She has also picked up on other important words, like adios and paleta (lollipop).
With Trinity being a third-culture kid, I sometimes worry about the stresses that we place on her with two languages, traveling between two countries and cultures, etc. Fortunately, she tends to go with the flow very easily. And in a couple of months I'll probably be wondering if she is getting enough English, rather than Spanish!
