En el carro (In the car)

I spend a lot of time trying to get my son into his car seat.  Here are some phrases I will start practicing.

Get into the car: entra al carro; metete
Get into your car seat: sientate en tu siento (or I just pat the car seat and say, "Sientate")
Scoot back in the car seat: sientate bien; hazte para atrás
Put your arms through the straps: mete los brazos
Buckle your seat belt: amarrate; abrochate el cinturón
Get out of your car seat: salte (get out); bajate de tu asiento (come down from your seat)
Get out of the car: sal del carro (get out of the car); ya puedes bajarte (you can get down now)
Hurry up/do it quickly: apurate; hazlo rápido

Los cuartos de una casa (Rooms in a House)

la sala: living room
la cocina: kitchen
el comedor: dining room
el dormitorio: bedroom
el armario: closet
el baño: bathroom
el lavadero: laundry room
la oficina: office
el cuarto de juegos: play room
el garaje: garage
el sótano: basement
el ático: attic

Juguemos en Español (Let's Play in Spanish)

I brought my son to Juguemos en Español from the time he was 10 months old until he was 2 years old. All the songs are in Spanish, and the kids learn quite a lot of vocabulary. The kids play instruments, dance, and sing.

I have to say that after 2 years old, the class seemed to get too academic for my taste. They spent more time drilling vocabulary than singing or playing music.

We had Miss Ana for the Baby and Toddler classes, and she was great. The substitute teachers we had were not as good.

You can try a class for free before signing up.

There are classes in Mountain View, Campbell, and Santa Cruz.

http://www.letsplayinspanish.com/

(Disclaimer: I am not in any way associated with Juguemos en Español, and I haven't brought my son there for a little over a year.)

Con un bébé

Here are some phrases I am going to start using with my 6 month old baby.

These are to tell when I'm going to:
change her diaper: Te voy a cambiar el pañal
get her dressed: Te voy a vestir
give her a bath: Te voy a bañar
feed her milk (feed her a bottle; nurse her): Te voy a dar leche; Te voy a amamantar

Then when I'm finished, I'm going to say:
¡Ya terminamos!

En el baño

My 3 year old is pretty good about going to the bathroom now, but he still sometimes needs the tasks itemized. Here are some useful phrases when taking a child to use the bathroom.

¿Vamos al baño? (Shall we go potty?) or ¿Quieres ir al baño? (Do you need to go potty?)

Pull down your pants and underwear: Bájate los pantalones, Bájate los calzones
Flush the toilet: Jála
Wash your hands: Lávate las manos
Use soap: Usa el jabón
Rub your hands together: Frota las manos
Dry your hands: Sécate las manos

Canciones Infantiles (Baby songs)

Here's a few videos of baby songs in Spanish. Please put in the comments if you know of any others.

La araña pequeñita (The Itsy Bitsy Spider)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03lS9ZKzoRc

La arana pequeñita
Subió, subió, subió.
Vino la lluvia
Y se la llevo.
Salio el sol
Y todo lo seco,
Y la arana pequeñita
Subió, subió, subió.

El Alfabeto (the ABC song)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CK8HBnUcbuQ

Free Community Day: El Día de Los Muertos @ the San Jose Museum of Art

The San Jose Museum of Art will be open for free from 11 am until 5 pm on Saturday, October 30 to celebrate El Día de Los Muertos. Make traditional crafts like papel picado (cut paper) and calaveras de azúcar (sugar skulls). Create your own Lucha Libre thumb-wrestler. Enjoy live music from Mariachi San José.

San Jose Museum of Art
110 South Market Street
San Jose, CA 95113
408.271.6840

"I love you"

The two most common ways to say, "I love you" in Spanish are "Te quiero" and "Te amo". "Te quiero" expresses affection and seems more appropriate between parents and children. "Te amo" is a stronger term and used more among adults.

I am going to start saying, "Te quiero mucho" to my son.

Disclaimer

One thing I'd like to clarify is that I am not interested in speaking Spanish "correctly". What I want most for my kids is to be able to understand and be understood, even if what they're saying isn't the textbook way to say something. Most fluent speakers of a language don't speak grammatically correct anyway. In English we almost never say, "I'm going to go to the movies." We tend to say, "I'm gonna go to the movies."

So the focus of this blog is to practice what fluent Spanish speakers actually say when speaking to their children. Much of what I post will be from asking my friends what they say, and some of it will be from what I find online in lessons and forums.

I will try to get fluent Spanish speakers to check my posts for accuracy, but they're all busy parents so corrections may come in a bit later than the initial posts. I appreciate your patience.

Terms of Endearment (Palabras cariñosas)

Many parents say "m'ijo" (my son) or "m'ija" (my daughter).

You can call your daughter "mami" or "mamita" and your son "papi" or "papito".

You can also say "mi amorcito" or "mi amorcita". Other terms include "mi corazón" or "mi cariño".

There seem to be many, many variations depending on the country.

Saludos (greetings)

Hola: Hello
Goodbye: Adiós
Good morning: Buenos días
Good afternoon: Buenas tardes
Good night: Buenas noches

Go to SpanishTown.ca to see more greetings and to hear the correct pronunciations.

Welcome!

Welcome to Spanish for Mommies (and Daddies, grandparents, nannies, and any one else who's interested in learning to speak Spanish with children).

I have two small children, and I would love for them to be bilingual.  I believe that learning any second language early on will help kids develop that part of their brains so that they will be able to learn other languages more easily, even much later in life.

This blog is to provide specific examples of Spanish that can be used with young children.  Most posts will be organized by context (e.g., greetings, dining table conversations, asking a child do something, etc.)  In addition, I also plan to blog about things I learn about various Spanish cultures and traditions.

I welcome suggestions of topics, resources I should check out, and especially corrections on anything I post that is inaccurate or could be stated better.  I'm really excited about this journey and sharing it with my children, my friends, and family.

¡Vámonos! (Let's go!)