My Baby and Her Many Languages

by Julie
(Still in Germany :))

Our Baby in Paris-this is where she was spoken to in French

We were living in Germany when my second daughter was born. My husband is in the Army and she is our "little souvenir" from our Germany assignment.

When she was two months old (and just starting to smile at us), a friend of my husband’s from his deployment to Afghanistan was in town for only one night with his family.

We were having a rough day when the family arrived because our baby had just received her first round of immunizations. It had been a tearful afternoon for her and an emotionally draining one for me. I wasn’t very excited about going out to dinner, but since this man had been my husband’s “family” for over a year, I felt I had little choice.

In spite of my lack of desire to be social, the family was delightful. During dinner, the wife carried our fussy daughter around for a while so I could eat my dinner.

She walked past a table with a lovely middle-aged German couple. The woman at the table spoke to my daughter lovingly in German. My daughter’s eyes lit up and she let out one of those amazing baby belly laughs. It was the first time we had ever heard her laugh and it was magical.

The lovely German woman was delighted and turned to me and said “She speaks German!”

Since that day, anytime someone speaks to her in another language, she responds in a similar manner. She has been spoken to in German, Spanish, French, and Chinese. Each time her eyes light up and she smiles and giggles.

I don’t know what it is about other languages that she finds so delightful, but her reaction is unforgettable and a wonderful memory of our time in Germany.

 

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