Jumping Back In with a New Baby

Contributing article from Stephanie Mueller – 4 Box Fluency Family

I heard him mumble something.

In my typical, half-paying-attention reply I said, “What did you say, bud?” as I continued my conversation with my teen (who also tends to mumble and was in the other room). My three-year-old patiently repeated himself.

I still didn’t quite pick up what he was saying, so he did what he often does: he started to act it out for me. He picked up his cup and took a sip. Then he patiently said it one more time, “Hast du durst?”

And I finally woke up to the magic happening right there at the table. My little guy was asking me in German if I was thirsty!!!

Moments earlier, I had casually mentioned that I needed to refill my milk, and he had responded by asking me if I was thirsty! I almost missed it!

The wildest part is that it had been at least a week since we’d practiced that phrase together.   

Now, to be fair – my teens are doing very well with their German.

BUT.

The progress of the toddlers is UNMISTAKABLE. Mainly because my expectations for them are low, and they tend to flash their German vocabulary retention when I’m least expecting it. They are, after all, still learning how to properly put together phrases in their native English!

Little ones add such a rich dimension to our learning because practice time is apt to get silly. Suddenly, it doesn’t feel ‘weird’ to act things out when we reframe practice as ‘playing’ with toddlers.

The teens and I become fueled by the giggles of our toddler crew of encouragers. This creates synergy and makes practice sessions more potent!

Teens plus toddlers with TalkBox.Mom is dynamite.

Our winter was extra special this year because we welcomed a new baby, a sweet little boy. We took a longer-than-planned break from our studies as I healed from an unexpected C-section that gave me a parting gift of a two-week-long migraine.

But it’s been comforting to see that we have not regressed with our German, and when we hit a review day I am impressed by how many phrases we remember.

We picked up after a break in Box 4, The Drinks & Dining Box, and we are beginning to make cognitive links between these phrases and former boxes. For example, we recognized “möchtest du” as a familiar phrase pattern from Box 1, and we’ve picked up on the fact that “etwas” means “some.”

We also are noticing the differences in phrase structure between German and English because our vocabulary has grown since our Box 1 days.

While the toddlers bring an element of playfulness to our German lessons, there are some things that the teens and I do solo that help take our learning to a deeper level.

We read books about the history of Germany, including the history of Germans in our home state of Wisconsin. We also take time each lesson to physically write out our phrases in notebooks. We write the German phrase in one color and the English translation in another.

I am personally working on, “Would you like to nurse?” because nursing is practically my full-time gig lately. (I guess that means the newborn is already learning German!)