Little Scholar

I've always heard that foreign language acquisition is so much easier at a young age. Combine that with WeiJ being an absolute sponge (sometimes for good, sometimes not so much) and you can imagine what he might be capable of.

Clearly, he's picking up English like nobody's business.

But he also speaks a little Mandarin. He says "good morning" - zao shang hao - complete with the sing-song tones....so what if it really sounds like wahwahWAH. It's still cute as can be! :) He also mimics some of the words on Ni Hao KaiLan, which is kind of fun to watch. It's just not so much fun when he laughs out loud at my attempts too.

He also apparently speaks a little Spanish. He was watching Dora the other day, and I heard them ask if the "cocodrilo" (crocodile) was "arriba or abajo" (up or down)....and without hesitation WeiJ said abajo! I was floored that he copied it so well, but then I looked and holy cow he was right, too! At this point I wouldn't be surprised if he's saying other things in Spanish all the time and I've just not watched enough Dora to have learned them yet.

So - English, check. Mandarin, check. Spanish, check. As of this weekend, he's added a 4th language. After umpteen viewings of Finding Nemo, he has picked up the ability to speak...WHALE! It was so hard not to crack up uncontrollably but it was so darn cute!

OK lest anyone think all he does is watch tv, I also bought him a new shapes/puzzle game. Basically there's a plastic mold with indentions for the shapes to be put together to form pictures, and cards for him to match up shapes with the pictures on the cards. Then the card also shows how the shapes can be rearranged to form other shapes. I know, he's only 2 - but I thought it would be right up his alley and I was right. He can sit completely engrossed in that activity for quite a while, and the first time he tried he almost got the whole puzzle finished with very little help. Brainiac!