Me aber not!

Tonight as we were attempting to gather the everyone to family prayers, Ian was making noise with a necklace by banging it against something plastic. Tamara took the necklace away and said something to the effect of "Ian that noise is really making mommy's head hurt! We have to stop now for prayers." Ian responded with "Me aber not!" Which naturally means - "It isn't bothering me though." The German word aber means although or but and is apparently easier for Ian to say.

We all laughed for at least 10 seconds and family prayers went much smoother thereafter.

Watching the children grow up with the two languages is certainly entertaining.

Oh Schade, Ah Schucks

"Oh Schade" is one of Ian's favorite phrases. Although the Sch sound is usually left off we all know what he trying to say. He switches between this phrase and "Man, eh", which also in essence means too bad. It makes life entertaining.

Ian says this when he doesn't get his way. Or, when he feels like saying something. It is a nice reaction to not getting his way. It usually goes something like this:
Mom: It's time for dinner
Ian: But I'm still playing
Mom: I know Ian, but we need to get up to the table! We can play again after dinner.
Ian: Oh Schade!

He kind of sings the phrase and runs up to the table. It is very cute.

Ian experiementing with languages

Well Ian is at it again. He is speaking again. Adding a few words to his vocabulary and trying them out. He is much later in speaking than our other children, which seems to come partially from the dual language upbringing - German in pre-school and English at home.

In order to understand his latest language leap you have to understand both languages, but I'll explain both. Here is the phrase Ian commonly says.
If a family member says something they don't like, such as, "I don't like hot dogs", Ian responds with this statement: "Me aber". Which translated directly into English is "me but", and directly into German is "mir aber" oder "mich aber". The phrase is incorrect in either language and the phrase ends up being a very intricate mixture of the two languages.

The German phrase should be "ich aber". The English phrase should be "but I do". And, Ian ends up somewhere in the middle of the two phrases.

Part of the challenge for Ian, I believe, is that German speakers generally correctly use the word I (ich) when the individual speaking is the subject of the sentence. But in the German phrase he incorrectly uses the possessive "me" because Americans, including our family, often use the word me when I should be used. Think of the exclamation of approval "me too". This is commonly used instead the full phrase "I also enjoy/prefer/ _____". Another typical example is "me and my friend went to the store" instead of "my friend and I went to the store".

What it comes down to is - we have two pieces of good news. Ian is speaking, and it's very entertaining.

Ian's speaking Dutch!

While Tamara was away I discovered why we can't understand Ian. He's speaking Dutch. Which actually makes sense. Ian hears English at home, German all around him and has mixed the two into his own language, which just happens to be Dutch. I made this conclusion when Ian recently said the Awpplebaum. This is a half English (apple tree) and half German (apfelbaum) word, which sounds very similar to the Dutch word for apple tree: appel boom.

Actually Ian is putting more and more words together and the fact that he put these two words together in a sort of Dutch way sounds like a move in the right direction. It will be interesting to watch him grow through this stage.

Now the disclaimer since I don't want an entire country mad at me. Yes the Dutch language has many commonalities with English and German and if you know both English and German you can understand some very simple Dutch conversations and read some Dutch signs on the highway. But of course Ian couldn't make up a language as complex as Dutch on his own! :-)

Ian Misses Mom

Tamara was gone last night and so I put Ian to bed. He was not too happy about the whole affair and cried for a bit. I double checked on him and offered him some new books. He declined, and left again, thinking he would console himself.

After realizing that he would not console himself, I went back up. I recall our conversation going like this.
Me: Ian, would you like me to read you a book?
Ian: No.
Me: Ian, did you want me to leave you a book to read?
Ian: No.
Me (flabbergasted): Ian, what do you want bud?
Ian (still in tears): Mom!
Me: Mom will be back in a few days bud! Shall we go downstairs and read a book?
Ian: yea.

After a few books and playing with Hannah (his 8 year old sister) for a couple of minutes he was ready for bed.

Ian's Works a Miracle

We're not sure what Ian's asks for in his prayers. We're just beginning to understand the Amen at the end. The rhythm changes slightly at the end of his prayers and then we know that the Amen will follow. Sometimes the prayers are short. Sometimes they are a bit longer. I guess it depends on what Ian has to say. I'm not sure if his prayers are answered, since I don't know the content of his prayers.

What I do know is that one of our prayers has been answered through Ian. The other children enjoy praying again. The routine of family prayers in our home has been changed entirely since Ian started to pray. The other children volunteer to pray after Ian is done with his prayer. We usually say a 2nd prayer to make sure some essentials are covered. Ian doesn't mind, and it is amazing to the see the children so happy to pray. They also pray with a bit more feeling behind their words, and a bit less routine.

Funny Tidbits

Tonight we found out that the Under-21 European Championships were being played. Somehow we had missed it earlier. Then we didn't know what channel it was on. Instead of turning on the TV an flipping through the stations Spencer ran outside, climbed up on the swing set and looked into our neighbor's patio where they have a TV. He walked into the house and said ZDF (one of the channels here in Germany). We flipped on the game and got to see the last goal. Germany won 4-0.

Another funny thing that I wanted to mention happened today in Kindergarten. I went with Ian. He was able to do a practice day in Kindergarten. While we were sitting in the opening time in a circle one of the boys (probably 3.5 years old) said to the boy next to him. "Your arms can fall off. And your nose . . . if you are digging around in it." That was hilarious.

Ian had a great day in Kindergarten (pre-school). I was there the whole time, but he did several things on his own. He drew a picture, sat in the circle with the other kids, ate breakfast and cleaned up his place. The kids put their plates and cups away, wipe the table, and get a new plates if necessary. Ian ate so slow he didn't there were no more kids coming after him, so he didn't need to get a new plate.

At breakfast I introduced Ian to a couple of people. When one of the boys looked a bit cockeyed at me. I explained the background of Ian's name - Scottish for John (in German Jan). One of the boys said - hey my name is Irish - Lennon. My dad is from Ireland. He thought we were from Scotland, we we are not. This worked out nicely because me and Lennon - we spoke some English to each other. And, Lennon looked after Ian in the sand box, showed him where the tools are, helped him dig in the sand, etc. It turned out to be a very nice day.

Nein

What language will Ian speak first? Well Denglish, of course. Actually, most of his words thus far have been English words. Although he has no problem understanding instructions in German - from our children, our friends, or the childrens German friends. Nonetheless, English words dominate his limited vocabulary at this time.

But when it came time for one of the most important words in any childs vocabulary - the word "No", Ian opted for the German version - "Nein". He emphatically says "nein" to most everything, just like any other child - just that his no is in German.

He has one other word that could go either way. Ian's "more" sounds an awful lot like the German "mehr" - at least most of the time. "More" is also a critical word in a child's vocabulary, so I'm not sure if the fact that two key words were in German is a sign of things to come, or just a coincidence, but it's enjoyable to watch.

H all the way

Ian is at the stage of life where he is learning to talk. Yes, he's almost three, and yes most children can speak much earlier in life, but for Ian, the moment is now and it is enjoyable to watch.

Ian is now at the stage where he has one dominant sound. At least two of our other children did this as well. Shantal and Hannah both loved the sound "B". Ian loves the sound "H". Once you know this, it makes understanding the poor boy much easier.

Here are some examples:
"H"ian "H"out! He said this as I was taking him inside to change his diaper this evening and he wanted to stay outside.

"H"in house! Ian says this when we are nearing the front door of our house.

"H"auto! Ian says this whenever he sees a car. Auto is the German word for car and an acceptable English word.

Ian also loves words that begin with the letter "H". For example: Hannah, house, hat, hop, etc.

I've always enjoyed this phase when our children reach it. And it's just as fun with Ian right now.

Ian's Big Day

OK, maybe it was dad's big day with Ian, but here goes.

I needed to run an errand today and decided driving would be too stressful, and decided to take the train. I then thought that would be fun for me and Ian together. And, I was right it was fun. We rode the train to the main station in Düsseldorf (Hbf) and then walked about 1500 meters to the computer store.

Ian was excited at two particular times: 1) When our trains tracks made the turn towards Düsseldorf and we were suddenly running parallel with several tracks, and 2) when we were walking in the big city. Both were related to the amount of public transportation we saw. Trains in the first instance and buses and street cars in the second instance. He doesn't say much, but pointed and grunted a lot.

When we got home he brought me some trains from our wonderful wooden train set that Spencer got as a gift from Grandma Wheeler and we played trains together. That was fun. We crashed the trains, let them ride down the little hills. It was a good time.

Ian's growing up

Despite not speaking, Ian is starting to be more and more of a little boy. Last night at our friends house we ate dinner with them. I sat next to Ian. When I sat down he was excited that he had a fork, a knife, and a spoon at his place.

I started eating and looked over at Ian. He was eating with a fork and a knife, with the knife in the right hand, and the fork in the left, as is typical here in Europe. I wondered - where did he learn that. That is the way I eat, at least when I am out to lunch at work. I wasn't sure if I eat like that while I am at home.

When I looked over at him again a few minutes later I noticed that despite using two utensils to eat, most of Ian's food was landing on the table and not in his mouth. This worried me a bit, but Ian was still totally happy and totally excited about his eating experience.

Cool Ian

On the way from a friends house tonight all the kids were riled up and had had a good time and wanted some time to express themselves, and tell their stories. This results in a rather loud situation with all parties vying for floor time, where they speak and others listen. At one point Emma, our 3 year old, cried out - someone listen to me, I want to say something.

The whole time I was wondering - what is Ian thinking about? And I said to myself, tonight I'm glad he doesn't say much. He has a handful of words, including Emma, Mama, Hello, House, Papa, and Sponge Bob. But, as usual, he was calm, cool, collected, and quiet tonight and remained so during the entire ride home.

Tonight as I told my dad the story I also wondered if that is why Ian doesn't talk yet? Maybe he thinks, why? There is no chance to get a word in edgewise with this crowd anyway!

The Beauty of Speech

Well Ian has started speaking a bit more. He has moved on from Mama, Papa, Emma, Hallo, Home, and Hi (not necessarily in that order - I believe Papa came last) to a brave new realm of speech.

Ian can now say Sponge Bob and Bubu, a dog in a children's book we read to him (in English the dog's name is Kipper). Those are words that truly bring tears to a father's eye. Well, maybe not. I'm just glad that he said Papa before Sponge Bob.

Hannah was also late in speaking like this, but then improved in leaps and bounds once she started. We'll see if that happens with Ian as well.

So Persuasive

For a little guy, Ian is very persuasive. He is able to get what he wants, express himself, get excited, etc. The amazing part is that he does this all with no words.

He has said words (mama, emma for instance) a few times, but mostly he just sticks to his favorite word - uhuh! He then uses intonation and pointing to help everyone else understand what he wants. But it is quite amazing how far he gets with just that one word expressed in different tones, with emphasis on different syllables, etc.

We are wondering when he'll start expressing himself with words. Maybe when he goes to Kindergarten (pre-school in english). Tamara got some good news recently. Ian will go to Kindergarten for a trial visit or visits (I can't remember if it's only one) in January. If the visit works out well, then Ian can go once or twice a week. Next fall he'll be able to go full time.

Ian said Bus . . .

I was so hoping to tell Tamara this upon her arrival from the U.S. - that Ian had said bus. But alas Ian is still not ready to talk.

Although, one can not fully say that. Ian is talking up a storm in baby sign language, which counts according to the baby sign language promoters. His common or favorite signs are keys, car, shoes, more, eat, drink, baby, dog, bird. I sign with him a lot and he signs back, like I said, all the time. But no talking with the words from his mouth.

His one word is a grunt. Uh, Uh, Uh. He changes the intonation and level of sound to mean various things. For bus it is a short, emphatic grunt with a lot of excitement in his voice. We see a lot of buses here in Germany. So I have started responding with the following - Wie heißt es? Was ist das denn? (what is that called? what is that?) The other three kids answer - almost always in unison - Bus! Ian grunts further.

So much for high hopes?!?

Ian is Happy

Here is a quick Ian update. Ian is still happy. Ever since Emma started Kindergarten (pre-school) he has been a changed man. Not that he doesn't love Emma. His second word was Emma (after momma of course), but he is happy to have some time with mom each day without his big sister looking after him.

One very cute thing that Ian does is his sign language. He doesn't say many words with his mouth (only two words so far, and each one only once). But, he does do quite a lot of sign language. His favorite one is bird. He loves finding the birds outside in the backyard, or flying around the house. And he consistently used the sign for bird. It brings joy to my heart to see him so excited and talking.

Ian is Born

We are proud to announce the birth of our fifth child.

Ian Robert Wheeler was born on August 31st at 1:04 p.m.
Ian weighed 7 lbs 8 oz (3402 grams)
Ian was 21 1/2 inches long (54.61 centimeters)

Ian looks very much like his brothers and sisters. It was a joy to receive him into our family. Here is a picture of mom and baby which we have thanks to his Aunt Colleen. Both look great don't you think!!! : -)

Mom & Ian