caca boudin prout

As suspected, school has given Suzanne a much wider vocabulary and stronger grammar in french.

Over the past couple weeks, we've noticed that she is beginning to make more complicated sentences using prepositions and even using some past participles, correctly some of the time; I'm still trying to take a back seat in regards to her French but it's hard not to notice when your child is speaking to you in a foreign lanuage and she's speaking better than you ever will even after living here for a dozen years.

But her English seems to be following the French increase which is both interesting and a relief. A couple days ago, she said to me, "where's the toy I was playing with this morning?" That makes mama proud ;)

But more than grammar, there is an increase in vocabulary. Particular vocabulary that usually has to do with body functions. A couple days ago, her "amoureuse" (he's actually a boy but she can't get around to using the masculin form) and she were having a conversation that went something like this, "Je peux faire un petit pipi sur toi? et un petit caca? Je peux faire un petit caca sur Max?" and then it continued along the lines of "caca boudin" (kiddy language which literally means poopy sausage but is a kid swear word). By the end of the evening, I caught them on the couch saying, "oh putain" (oh, fuck). Um, yeah. It had to start somewhere.

Although I love discussing excrement and all, my favorite part of her language skills right now are the made up things. Since her French is becoming so good, and her English exposure is limited, she is making up lots of words and trying to find ways around what she wants to say but can't. So she often says at the moment, "I can't remember" or "I don't know what it's called" or she just makes something up when she forgets a word. This morning on the way to school, she told me her "tummybelton" was cold. And the other day coming back from school when she couldn't figure out how to say that she's tired from thinking or learning at school, she said "school makes my head tired".

It makes my head tired too.