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5/25/06

Kids.

Bringing children to inland Andalucia. So many factors are involved, such as proximity to schools, adaption, language, culture?

Our little boy arrived with us outside a remote village in Andalucia 01/08/2004 He could not speak any word of the Spanish language at all and for that matter neither could I. What transpired was a linguistic bombardment of Andaluc phrases and sentances which our 2 year old (now 4) picked up with ease - he understands the lot and once registered in school the sky was limit!

We have heard so many times that children are like "sponges" and this is true, what is prehaps the best gift that you can give a child? - to grow up bi-lingual. To be fluent in two languages at a very young age is something I envy - prehaps little Rubio has a head start for the future? As for what we did.....5 months of building work, new life, everything different etc etc -sometimes and more than often we grumbled, highs and lows everyday but did the little man suffer? No he enjoyed his campo life from day one - totally, never grumbled and took it all in.

One day the policeman (who picks up and drops the kids off after school) said "you know that tree planting thing the kids had on today - you should have seen your boy, madre mia, looked like he was digging foundations!.. So prehaps Cr Junior can work hard too.

In short, 1 fantastic little boy with prehaps a slightly more unique up-bringing that certainly wont do him any harm. He can speak English, Spanish and can mix yeso....

Proud "Dad" moment...

12 comments:

Atila The Nun said...

Aw Cr you have good right to be proud of Rubio he is one stunning little lad.

I found your post quite touching and we are also very proud of him. You know we love him to death.

He will grow up multilingual and I think you might have to add French to that list with his little pal Oscar....lol

Yes agree 100% you have given him a rare oppotunity and one he will thank you both for sooner than you think.

Van XX

Scented Sweetpeas said...

aahhh that comment was so sweet and it a lovely to read a proud Dads comment. We have two little ones (now 4 & 5) who have been visiting Spain at least twice a year since they were babies. They have been learning Spanish along with us but know far more than we do!

The Andalucians especially do seem to have a real love for children and it makes visits there so relaxing and fun.

Thanks again for your smile making post.

Hasta luego
Zoe
www.costa-luz-holiday.com

Anonymous said...

I'm so sorry, but as you Know I need to write in Spanish. Mrs. CR. will translate for you:

Por supuesto que podéis sentiros más que orgullosos de vuestro pequeño rubio es un niño encantador e inteligente que llegará a ser muy popular entre sus amigos y entre todo aquel que tenga la fortuna de conocerlo.

Yo tuve la oportinidad de pasar todo un día con él y desde el primer momento me llamó la atención su espontaneidad, su simpatía, el dominio de mi lengua, su capacidad de orientación, su conocimiento de diferentes modelos de coches y, sobre todo, su maravillosa sonrisa.

Como sabéis me paso el día rodeada de niños de su misma edad, me encanta mi trabajo y con la experiencia que me abala, puedo aseguraros que el pequeño CR es una personilla muy especial. Esto se deberá, probablemente, a su carga genética (nos parecéis buenísimas personas); pero, también, a la educación que le estáis dando.

Estoy, además, de acuerdo con vosotros de que su bilingüismo es el mejor de los legados que podéis brindarle. Yo también me sentí muy satisfecha del inglés que aprendió mi hija durante el año que vivimos en los States, pero sin lugar a dudas, vosotros nos superáis.

Por todo ello: por vuestra decisión, por vuestra valentía y por vuestra capacidad de hacer realidad un sueño, no puedo menos que felicitaros: CONGRATULATIONS!

Passionate Dilettante said...

Yay Proud Dad! I haven't been on for a while. It's good to see you have a life as well as a 24/7 project!

I was quite surprised to see your hit counter register 1, then 4, then 5 visitors from the UAE - Who are all these people?! - til I realised that the counter scores every page visit. Damn, I thought we'd got a bunch of Spain groupies all interested in caves!

P.S. Cards and cognac night - nice!

Unknown said...

Spainblog: glad you like the post, living in Fuente Nueva he will, no doubt pick up a bit of french too! looking forward to Sunday...:)

Zoe: you're welcome, Andalucia is a great place for kids as you will know, its amazing how quick the kids pick up the lingo, thanks for visiting the blog

Mamaduck: welcome back, your comments are always appreciated! cards and cognac nights are always good....next morning however..

Antonia: gracias por tu mensaje, voy a escribir en ingles y Emilio puede traduccir para ti!
As with all parents, we want to do the best for our child and we have no doubts that CR junior has the best life we can possibly give him just because we are here. You are right, he is a very special little boy and we are lucky. I know CR junior had a great time with you in Granada, he enjoyed your company just as much as you enjoyed his. In fact we all enjoyed our visit and can't wait to come again.
gracias otra vez por tu mensaje tan amable. CR

Cuevalady said...

Love it - he sounds wonderful!

Sue
AKA Imagemaker

Cuevalady said...

Love it - he sounds wonderful!

Sue
AKA Imagemaker

Cuevalady said...

My grandaughter is 3 1/2 years old and lives with my daughter, son in law and 2 grandsons in Costa Blanca. They have been there only 8 months and this week it was my birthday. She rang me up and sang 'Happy Birthday To You' in Spanish - and I cried!

Sue

Unknown said...

Imagemaker: Happy Birthday!! bet that made your day, wait until they all see your new found venture when its finished, thanks for the comment and keep up that blog!

CR

Cream said...

Definitely sponges!
Kids who are given the opportunity to learn another language from an early age have another open door on the world.
Great!

Atila The Nun said...

Could not agree more cream. This little man is a star, he sometimes confuses the hell out of us all with his combined languages as he often mixes them all together. Now if anyone could formulate the best esperanto then it would be Rubio. He has that inherent knowledge because no one yet has shown him the borders of his ability to speak languages, I reckon to him this is normal to be able to speak several languages with ease.

I wanna be rubio I just find this soooooo hard. :-)

Unknown said...

Cream: Yup, agreed I wish I had taken the opportunity at school to learn a language many many moons ago....

Spainblog: It does get frustrating when he starts rolling off the lingo and I have no idea what he is talking about...however to keep up with my son you will find A4 paper dotted around the cave with his phrases written on - it does help a little