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help a Russian mommy, please)

Hi everybody!

I'm not a native English speaker but I'm speaking English to my baby daughter. It's really hard to find out how a native English speaking mom talks to her child. My request may seem weird but I'd be immensely grateful if you could just share some of your daily phrases with me- anything you say to your kid. Thanks in advance)))) 

Replies

  • I have a rolling, inquisitive 9 month old so the phrase I seem to say most often is "no, you can't eat that!" but other phrases are:

    Good morning little man, it's lovely to see your gorgeous little face so wide awake!(even when it's 5am and it is not lovely to see him so wide awake!!!)

    Uh oh - I smell a stinky bum and it's not mine!

    Shall we change your nappy now, smelly babba?! - then whilst changing his nappy i count as i undo the stickers 1.... 2....and then when i take the front part down say 3 in a silly voice! Then I comment either "no poo poo" or "urgh, yucky baby" accordingly! Then i talk him through what I'm doing  "let's lift those little legs up / wipe you down / dry you off / put new nappy on / hose you off in the bath!!!

    Is it time for your breakfast? I think it is!

    Is that yummy?  Then lots of encouraging mmmmm nom nom nom sounds! 

    What shall we play with first?

    Where should we go today?

    Ooh, mummy can't wait to see (whoever we're going to meet)

    Are you: banging your hands / rolling around  / eating mummy's keys (just narrating whatever he's doing!)

    And another one I say a lot... please go to sleep!!!

    Looking at it, i ask a baby who can't talk a lot of questions!!

    You may also find a library that does a story time session quite useful? They read stories and sing songs with actions that you can then do at home  (row your boat, incy wincy spider etc) which my lo loves!

    These are just the  ones i thought of straight away, i'll pay attention to what I say to him today and let you know if there's something else that crops up a lot)

  • Hi Darina. Hope you don't mind me asking but why don't you want to speak Russian to your baby? It's such a lovely thing to grow up speaking two languages.

    Your daughter will quickly learn English from others as she grows but speaking Russian is the gift only you can give her.

    My mum only spoke Welsh to me as I was growing up. And I've always loved being able to speak both languages with ease.

  • Thanks a million!!!! I'll learn your phrases by heart!!! As Russians say, may all the best come to you)))

  • Hi) we live in Russia, not abroad. My whole family speak Russian to Sasha. I'm the crazy one who speaks English)))) please don't be too critical, most people who learnt about that said things that discouraged me a lot((((

  • Aw, I think it's amazing that you're  trying to teach your lo another language. From reading your post your English is really good. Probably the easiest thing you could do is making a note of what you say to her in Russian then saying it in English the next time the situation crops up?

  • Thanks for your approval, Sammy)))

    yeah, I can translate most things a mummy says to a baby in Russian but I feel these words won't be ' real English'

    Like, I never knew what you call baby clothes - it's just not in dictionaries, I didn't know the word 'bum' and was never sure how to refer to this part of body) and so on. 

    Do you say ' change your diaper'? What do you call these baby meals in cardboard boxes which are actually different sorts of flours. You just add hot water and the meal is ready. It's it a cereal, porridge or perhaps gruel?! That's what puzzles me a lot))))

  • Americans call them  diapers, we call them nappies.

    Baby clothes - the very bottom layer is a vest ( can be long or short sleeved) then the all - in one with poppers down the front is a sleep suit or babygrow.

    The hot breakfast made with hot water or milk is called porridge, the powdered stuff are oats.

    Cereal is the stuff served cold with milk, like cornflakes, coco pops etc.

    Hope that helps! 

  • Thanks a lot!!! It's such a pleasure to meet friendly people on the internet)))

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