Before Lucas was born, we made the decision that we would speak Spanish at home so that he would pick it up like we did. We've done just that. Sometimes we do get a little nervous that he might get confused or that it'll take him a bit longer to develop his vocabulary because he's got two languages to learn, but I think he's been doing really well. I even feel that he's beginning to distinguish between both languages. For example, when we get to school all the kids have to wash their hands upon arrival. One morning, Lucas was washing his hands and we were talking about how he was "lavando las manos." Then his teacher came in the classroom and he said "Look, wash hands!" That was my first clue that he was beginning to make a distinction between both languages. Since then, he has continued to show his bilingual skill in other ways like when we read a book in English he'll sometimes translate or explain what he sees in Spanish.
To me, it's all about habit. That's why we made the decision early to speak only Spanish with Lucas. Once you've established a pattern of speaking a certain language with someone, it's hard to break that pattern. We just have to keep it up!
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