English Chitchat, let's go!!

[swisscanmom]

Haven't been around much either. I am now juggling 4 different jobs, lol. Each one is very part time, but I'll probably soon drop the most inconsistent one at the after school care. I am employed in a KiTa two days a week, and have just passed the exam to start with a real estate company. Two very different fields, certainly makes life interesting.
Kids are integrating well, and slowly picking up German.

[Mrs. Bee]

Hello ladies
Are you enjoying Advent? Anyone celebrated Thanksgiving?

[kara71]

I'm still around, keeping busy with the kids. Little one is almost walking, but still not sleeping through the night. We've had one cold chasing the next for the last month or so. Baked some cookies with boy today. He liked it.

[Mrs. Bee]

Luckily, we are cold-free this week. But I hear you... annoying!!
Little man likes baking too. Well, he likes the decorating sugary stuff on top, does that count too?

We'll have Samichlaus for the first time on Sunday. I'm quite sure little man won't say his Värsli, even though he knows it so well. Oh well, it's the thought that counts

[swisscanmom]

Hope Samichlaus went well!
Life is busy over here. I am really enjoying my job at the Kita. Kids have been baking with Grandma, and hubby and I enjoyed a stroll through the Christmas market n Willisau.

[Mrs. Bee]

It went very well, little man even said his Värsli. Mummyisveryproud

Did I mentioned no cough? Oh well, short joy

[kara71]

Little one has worked out how to open drawers.... We might have ti moce the spices somewhere else.
We've got the usual pre-christmas tidying frenzy. Hubby's folks are coming, kids have to give up their rooms for the time of their stay. It's not going down very well with boy. Girl has got a very bad cold and sleeps even worse than usual at night (= not at all). Oh, what fun!

[MarinaSun]

Hey all, i'm new. I didn't really read through all the posts here, but am i suggesting right that some of you are native english speakers? Is there a thread were everyone states from where they are?

[Mrs. Bee]

Hi Marina
Ahm, I don't think we got any natives here.... most are married either to an English speaking bloke or lived in an English speaking country for a while.
Do you live in Switzerland?

[Dusi]

Hi everyone,

Sorry that I haven't been more active in the past couple of months. Baby (who doesn't sleep ) and full time job (never ending...) don't leave a lot of time for other things.

My older one is starting to talk more and more now, mostly in English (which is fine, given that his teachers need to understand him at preschool). Does anyone have experience with bilingualism? I still speak only in ch-German and while he understands everything perfectly, he mostly replies in English. Will this change? I'm very excited to come to Switzerland for can extended period this summer and we'll see if this has an impact on his ch-German skills

Other than that, we've had some issues with illnesses and such, just like you described. Christmas was mostly restful - we stayed home and given that we don't have family nearby, it was just the four of us. We followed the American tradition of Santa coming down the chimney and opening presents on Christmas morning, mainly because that's what they talked about in preschool. It also makes sense from a "toy perspective". I always hated getting all the new stuff Christmas Eve and then having to eat and going to bed. Opening presents in the morning definitely has its advantages...

Hope you guys are well. Xo

[swisscanmom]

Welcome MarinaSun, not native either but just returned to Switzerland after 17 Years in Canada and some years in England, so nearly native, lol.
Dusi, all I can say is don't give up speaking Swiss German if you can! Even if the kids never speak it, just understanding it is awesome. When my kids were small in Canada, I took in daycare kids and stopped speaking Swiss German to them, partly because English just flowed off my tongue as easily as Swiss German, and because I had to speak English with the daycare kids. My kids are now suffering for it. We moved to Switzerland (which was never planned, but life has a way of changing), and they are now having to learn German, with virtually no prior knowledge. They are doing great, but still, it could have been much easier.

For Christmas we have our own tradition of mixing traditions, lol. We open family presents on Christmas Eve, and then Santa comes overnight and fills the stockings. We never pretended the big gifts came from Santa, Santa only brought stocking stuffers and one slightly larger present. Glad we did it that way, as down the road, they knew not to ask Santa for expensive things we could not afford.

For myself life has been busy, working three part time jobs has its downfalls, like an ever-changing schedule. For the next two weeks I am covering for vacations at two of the jobs, so working 6 days a week, yikes. Hopefully things will calm down after that.

[katreseke]

Hi ladies
I haven't been around much lately. Life's too busy.
Welcome MarinaSun. I am not a native speaker either. I come from Belgium, lived in Ireland for 3 years and met a Swiss guy there. Hence the move to Switzerland some years ago.
As to languages: I ALWAYS speak my mother tongue with my children, regardless of who is around. Because of this, they speak their 2 mother tongues (Flemish and CH German) fluently. Since I still speak English with hubby, the little ones understand English very well, although they don't really speak it. Since the twins are in the first year of school and little one has some kids in Kindergarten who only speak German, the children speak German very well. So when they play, they sometimes speak Flemish to one another, sometimes CH German and sometimes "normal" German. A real mix of languages, but everybody understands everybody at home

[Mrs. Bee]

My older one is starting to talk more and more now, mostly in English (which is fine, given that his teachers need to understand him at preschool). Does anyone have experience with bilingualism? I still speak only in ch-German and while he understands everything perfectly, he mostly replies in English. Will this change? I'm very excited to come to Switzerland for can extended period this summer and we'll see if this has an impact on his ch-German skills

Hmm, I don't know. Our little man picked up both languages and is keen on speaking both. With me he speaks Swiss German (I mostly speak Swiss German with him, as do his Grandparents and Kita and his friends) and with Daddy he speaks only English. He's at the stage where he translates for me or for Daddy and switches between the two languages. I guess you simply cannot tell "as a rule" as each child is different. I should think that as long as he reacts to your German keep it up. You never know, all of a sudden he'll talk.
When we spend time in England the English picks up for sure

[katreseke]

Hi ladies
Just some quick words, so our thread does not get killed off because not a lot is written lately
I guess that everybody is busy busy busy ... Well, I am at least
Hubby is away from home a lot lately (working very late hours, getting called in by his boss in the weekend, short holiday trip with his oldest friend, tomorrow he goes with some relatives to Germany for a week, a trip which was planned long time ago, ...), so I have been very busy with the girls and running the household etc.
The girls now have a stereo in their bedroom and littlest one asked me recently what the songtext "kiss my ass" means. So I translated it in German and told her that under no circumstances should she say things like that or repeat the song. Of course she tried to repeat it to another Kindergarten-kid who speaks some English. But she got it wrong and said "kiss my legs" Apparently the kid only got confused and luckily, nothing was said anymore about it

[Mrs. Bee]

Hehe, very good!

[kara71]

Katreseke: very good
Our boy sings ironman by black sabbath, daddy's influence
We're keeping busy, the kids now argue and the little one fights back and has the occasional tantrum. It's funny, because she looks so small still.
Boyis on holiday and needs a lot of attention so he doesn't get bored.

[swisscanmom]

Kids had holidays this past week, Hubby had meniscus surgery this past week and is walking on crutches, so he has kept them busy with chores he can't do, lol. I am working full time, still 3 different jobs, so hardly ever home. Slowly getting adjusted to that, but missing my kids.

[kara71]

There I was in the kitchen, feeding the little one, whilst emptying the dishwasher and cooking porridge for hubby's breakfast, after I' taken boy to kindergarten to make sure he got there on time, when hubby came in and said: you haven't switched the coffe machine on,
Happy Valentine

[Mrs. Bee]

Charmer...
I got a card. And have to admit: I completely forgot... oops!

[kara71]

Everyone ok? We're fine, keeping busy, longing for proper spring.
Have a nice day.