I can’t believe how long I have been putting off writing again…It’s been over a year!
A lot has happened since we moved from Pemberton to Whistler! We moved to Cheakamus Crossing, a.k.a. Athlete’s Village in the Fall of 2010. We are still fighting against the asphalt plant, the muni issued a cease and desist order which the plant ignored, but at least we have something brewing in court now…
I have started working towards my Early Childhood Education Diploma through the College of the Rockies online education. It is a lot of work, but EVERYTHING is online, so I don’t have to go ANYWHERE! This is one of the reasons why I didn’t write: My time was fully booked between my daughter, family, work and my courses. We were very lucky to have had grandparents come live with us for a couple of month each, so our winter would be covered. This way our daughter was immersed in French for a month, then in Hungarian for 5 months (my Mom came for 2.5 months and my Dad for 2!). Without them, there is no way I would have been able to juggle family, work and school. I completed 8 courses this year and I have a few more to go. I am doing it part time (they allow you 5 years to complete it), hopefully in 2-3 years. I have learned lots, a lot of which I was confirming what I already know through 2 decades of experience working with children.
I have also had the opportunity to work a little bit with the Whistler Waldorf school, which was my best ever experience with the preschool age-group in an indoor setting – EVER! I love the school, I love how supportive everyone is towards each other (staff, parents, and children). The energy that lives there is so positive, caring and warm, that it makes you want to go to school over again, because you feel like you have been short changed…
Our daughter, I., who just turned 3 at the end of May will be starting 2 days of the Waldorf Preschool in September and then we will add 2 days of Valley Kids (ski school) over the winter months. Hopefully it won’t be too much for her, but seems like my boyfriend, D., may have one or two of her out of home days off, so he may pick her up at lunch or keep her home those days – either go skiing with her, or just hang out if she is tired.
I.’s languages have taken huge strides in the past year. After the Winter spent with my parents her Hungarian shot to first place, her vocabulary is colourful and varied, she is fluent, funny and witty. Since I haven’t been immersed in Hungarian for that long for 12 years now, she was using words (synonyms) that I understand but don’t use that much because I tend to simplify, since I haven’t been living in Hungary for a long time now. I love the colourfulness of her vocabulary!
Her French was in a strong second place after the Winter, but since I did a lot of school work and D. spent more time with I. after the ski school season, her French is also very strong now. It helps that we also have a lot of French speaking friends that we see often.
What really blew me away this year, actually just in the past few months, how her English sky rocketed, despite the fact that we (her parents) never address her in English. We do speak it to each other in front of her, but as soon as we turn to her I speak Hungarian and D. speaks French.
She started Gymnastics classes in March on her own (before we only did the Parent-Tot drop-in). She was selected to enter in the 3 and up program early. I hate pushing kids and at first I wasn’t sure if I really wanted her to do that. Then I realized what a great opportunity it would be for her to have to deal with others in English, so finally I said yes, on the condition that if it didn’t work out and she had trouble understanding/listening we can go back to the parent and tot. Well, my concerns were unfounded. She did have to work on her listening skills, but NOT because she didn’t understand! Both her coaches confirmed that she knows exactly what they are asking of her, she just wants to do something else.
I know my daughter has a very strong personality but I thought she would keep that at home when she went to an unfamiliar environment. I was wrong. She is just as stubborn as she is at home.
I love the way the coaches approached the issue: As long as she doesn’t disrupt the class, they would keep her. She spent many circle times watching sternly, without participating, then as soon as it was time for all the apparatus, she would do everything that was asked of her. Sometimes she would even sneak away during circle time to jump on the mini trampoline. She does everything they do at circle time at home, and even improvises dance moves to music, but she would just want to observe at circle time…the last 4-5 sessions she seemed to have gotten the hang of it and “gave in to peer pressure” and actually decided to cooperate. Thanks to the patience of her coaches, who didn’t push her to the extent where she would have not wanted to go, the last two sessions (which also included a show for the parents), there were only one or two instances where she decided to do her own thing. She loves gymnastics, and would go every day if she could. She is excited every time and never looks back when the coaches let the kids onto the floor.
Apart from doing something she loves, she had acquired English language skills, which stuck to her like Velcro. Every session she would come home with a new phrase or a rhyme. Then for the 6 weeks that I helped out for the Waldorf school 4 days a week, we had an English speaking friend take care of her 1-2 days per week. By the second week she was constructing full sentences, such as “I will show you my bedroom”, and even if she was missing words, she would somehow mime it or use sounds to get the meaning across. On the language front she has no inhibitions whatsoever! I have to laugh out loud at her sometimes.
In the evenings now, we put her down at 7, which is her bedtime, and sometimes we hear her babbling, singing, talking to herself and whoever else in English for an hour after we said our good-nights. Sometimes I stand beside her door for 10 minutes, giggling to myself, as I eavesdrop in on her monologues:)
My boyfriend is actually starting to get worried (after only a month or so) that she won’t be using French or Hungarian as much eventually. So far we have no problems with this issue. However, it makes me think, how there are parents here whose children will refuse to speak the home language…and it makes me wonder why. So far the theory that I came up with is that kids here (and in Canada in general) go to daycare very early. Growing up in Hungary, my Mom was home till I was 4 and my brother 1, then we had an elderly Nanny for a few days a week, but we still spent most of our time with our parents. I did go to Kindergarten but was mostly sick that year, since I had never gone to daycare prior to that. So I really only started to be immersed in Hungarian for full days at age 6. I wonder if that could be the key to develop an emotional bond to the language and thus stick with it through our lives…
I am 100% sure that once I. starts preschool in the Fall and then ski school in the Winter, her English will be as strong as her other two languages. She is also a communicator, which makes it easier for her to be motivated to learn. She is DRIVEN to talk to other children, to get her message across. She is a true messenger of ideas, a true Gemini. There is no way one could stop her from physically being active, or from generating new and creative ideas…
She is one stubborn cookie, with a lot of character! Thank goodness both D. and I have a lot of experience working with children and we are also stubborn enough to be consistent and put our foot down. Slowly but surely she is learning that she is not always the centre of attention and that she needs to be patient (a trait that we – her parents – are still learning as well), and that she can’t expect us to act on every single whim of hers. She is learning a lot every day, she is becoming more compassionate, and more patient. She is a clown and a social being. The minute she is outdoors and with other children, there is never any whining, she seems to relax and turn into a cooperative little being – with the occasional sharing issues here and there to be sorted out.
We entered her in the July 1st Whistler Pedal Parade with some of our friends. The kids had a ton of fun, we made a morning of decorating the kids’ bikes at our friends’ place, then drove to the start of the parade and ran alongside them once we got going…The best part was the two families driving to the parade in the same suburban and listening to Teenage Wasteland by The Who! Everyone, including the kids (4.5, 3 and 2.5) dancing in our seats! We also realized that there was one empty spot: perfect for a babysitter if we wanted to go somewhere together, spend the day with the kids and go out at night – just for 3-4 days maybe…food for thought:)
