About La Mother Tongue


La Mother Tongue is my medium to share the joys and challenges of being a new parent as well as to share how we make a conscious effort in our daily life to bring baby up bilingual.

Friday, July 12, 2013

¡Leaving Children in Alone in Cars is a big NO NO!


I’m ANGRY!
Here is my editorial about it!

I’m not sure what is more disturbing….the mother who left her child in the car knowing that it is wrong, or the blogger and author Skenazy who claims that it is OK to leave a child unattended.  Her quotes, “I feel as if we’ve criminalized something that we all know in our heart of hearts is generally safe.” and  “I also think that a parent is capable of deciding if it makes sense to leave her kids in the car for the duration of an errand” are ludicrous.  The STAGGERING number of child abuse cases reported (not to mention those that unfortunately not unreported)  indicates HANDS DOWN that not all parents are capable of making wise decisions when it comes to the well-being of their children.  Skenazy should be ashamed of herself for fostering anything but the well-being of children in our world.  The mother made a mistake, the child is ok (luckily) and hopefully the mother will never do such a thing again.  It is a VERY difficult and unfortunate lesson to have learned, but Skenazy’s attitude and comments are detrimental to the advancement of increasing child safety. 

I’ve been there before….I’ve wanted to leave the niños in the car a BILLION times because of …..name the scenario.  You are too tired to lug the children form the car;  I can see them from the window;  it is just easier to leave the child in the car; or LITTERALLY it will only take 3 seconds.  It doesn’t matter.  Our job is to protect our children and nurture them.  Is doing X errand so important that you are willing to compromise the well-being of your child?  If your answer is YES, I mean if you THINK about and it and decided that the answer is still yes—then you do deserve the hassle of having the authorities called on you. 

I have called 911 4 times and counting when I have found children in cars alone.  The most disgusting of them all was the woman who was shopping in DSW.  I saw her and she ended up behind me in line.  I didn’t know she was the owner of the sedan parked in the Fire Lane with hazards on.  When I peered into the car, her two daughters were there.  She was in the store for more than 20 minutes, taking her time, browsing at all the shoes.  Unfortunately she returned to her car before the police could even be dispatched.

I will continue to call 911. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.

Sunday, July 7, 2013

Thursday, July 4, 2013

¡Feliz Día de Independencia!


It was a very low-key celebración for us. 

There wasn’t anything traditional about the way we celebrated this year….no back yard BBQ, or swimming in the pool.  We didn’t even eat “American” cuisine!  But we did watch “Fireworks” and the senario was right out of my own childhood.  Someone brought some simple fireworks so that the niños could see some spark and colors before needing to turn in for the night.  We didn’t even start at dusk, but the shade from our trees provided a good backdrop for bright colors.  The most important thing? 

The niños loved the simple DIY show and we didn’t have to leave our backyard!

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Experimento de Flores for Julio 4!


We hadn’t planned on much for celebrating El Día de Independencia.  But we did try to do a few red, white and blue actividades to engage in the festive spirit.

The first is an experiemnto de flores for Julio 4.
The experiment, as I’m sure you know, is about how flowers will change color if the color or paint is added to their water.  It is how they “drink” water and live.

These are our supplies:  flowers (fresh flowers work the best, ours were on their way out the door), markers, water colors, vases, white paper and a timer.

We labeled our vases,
 

Added the color and

 started the timer.

 This was our result!  Next time...FRESH FLOWERS!  (They absorb the color much better!)
Sofía really enjoyed the experimento and really enjoyed telling all our holiday guests about the experiemento and what the projected results would be!


Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Recital de Ballet


 Sofía had her first Recital de Ballet.  She was very excited!
The emotions build-up in the car!

Sofía was the first person on stage!  We were in the front row (special cast and crutches parking!) so she saw us right away!

And she couldn’t stop smiling!

Her favorite profe Mariana went to the recital also and gave her flowers--from one ballerina to another!

Monday, July 1, 2013

Caña de Azucar


My esposo fondly speaks of his time spent with his abuelo on the finca.  (Mi esposo uses the word Chacra which originates from the Quechua language.)  On the finca, el abuelo grew lots of different things, especially citrus.  But I remember hearing that he also grew caña de azúcar.  So when I saw cañas in Wholefoods, I knew I had to buy one so that Sofía could see what one looked like.  If Sofía lived in Perú or Colombia, surly she would already have sipped some guarapo (juice from sugar cane) and witnessed the machine extracting the juice at one of the various roadside stands.

Luckily we have YouTube to help keep in touch with our heritage!