Vivian Unplugged

They say that children that grow up bilingual may be a little late/slow in starting to speak. We've decided that has no impact. It's the pacifier that slows down language use and development.

In Peru, Vivian used her pacifier A LOT. Which is totally ok. New country, new people, lots of trips, sleep schedule is off, food schedule is off ... who can blame her for wanting a bit of comfort and familiarity.

We lost her pacifier on the plane ride from Trujillo back to Lima. Right around take-off, when we were all strapped in our seats, unable to look for it. Oh, the despair! Vivian was inconsolable. Shrieking, crying, trying to climb over the back of the seat to retrieve her pacifier (we figured out later that she had dropped it there when getting a snack). The poor over-tired (no nap that day; her choice, not ours) girl finally fell asleep sobbing about half a (veeeeeery long) hour into the flight. Sam, the hero, found the pacifier after we had landed.

So we decided to limit its use to nap and bed times after returning home. A couple of days into it, it's not going too badly and I have a feeling there will soon come a time where we consider re-introducing it because Vivian CHATTERS. ALL THE TIME. NON-STOP. :)

There are new words we didn't know she knew (heart) and she is finally saying her name (before, she either said "Mommy" or changed the subject altogether). She copies a lot, for example, actually saying "Good night, Daddy" when prompted. It's fabulous.