This is a translation of my post in French below. The other day we had the dubious pleasure to share our B&B breakfast table with a group of four Bavarians, at least one of whom spoke acceptable French. Our landlady explained to them the various breads, cakes and jams on the table. I was already […]

L’autre jour nous avions le plaisir douteux de partager le petit déjeuner dans notre chambre d’hôte avec un groupe de quatre Bavarois, dont au moins un parlais acceptablement bien le français. Notre hôte leur expliquait les différents pains, gâteaux et confitures qui ornaient la table à manger. Je me creusais déjà le cerveau pour trouver […]

Today we were visiting with family. At one point we were at the table, and my little girl was sitting on the floor, playing. Her new red hat  was lying on the ground beside her, and she was turned away from me. “Please give mommy the hat.” When she picked up the hat, turned around […]

While waiting to catch her saying “mommy” again, here’s a recording I made of her babbling away in the bathtub – hence the slightly hollow sound. Towards the end, you’ll also hear her splashing around. Just click on the bathtub:

  She called me mommy last night! I apologise for the (possibly misleading) German title of this post, but the sentence resonates with me in my mother tongue more than it does in its English translation. Funny, that. But let’s get back to the event itself: After a couple of weeks during which I’ve heard […]

You know these little “prisons” whre you put your baby when it starts moving around? They are called “playpen” in English, which makes sense, since the baby will play there (if you put some toys in). In German they are called “Laufstall”, “walking stable”, which makes a lot less sense because that’s exactly what they […]

Following our participation in a research project yesterday (see my previous post), we have been asked if our baby babbles in German or in French. (See also this article on the BBC website with a soundbite comparing the crying of German and French infants.) Here are some recent soundbites from our little girl, judge for yourselves if […]

Today we took our now ten-months-old girl to the Laboratoire Psychologique de la Perception at Paris V – Descartes University. She got to listen to a two-syllable sound (“ka-ba”) that was pronounced with different stresses, and by German and French native speakers. A light would blink on her left or right, and when she looked […]

The other night, Baby attempted what Daddy had already qualified as “bêtise” the week before – pulling the plug from her bathtub, effectively inundating our bathroom. This time we had a pail underneath, but still Daddy told her in a stern voice “Non!” Since last week I’d broken down laughing, I hurried to add my […]

Over a week after I first heard the “m” sound, I finally managed to record it: mama You hear “mama” at the 27′ mark, “papa” (or “baba”) follows right after. 🙂 happy mommy