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For some time now, my son has been inventing words.  My, isnt he creative, we thought, as he'd throw in some strange words into his constant commentary.  At worst, we thought he was trying to use some really complex words and getting hung up.

Turns out, he's been speaking Spanish the whole time.   My father, who is fluent in Spanish, came to visit and after one of Jack's "inventive word sessions" turned to us and said "did he just say 'I will rescue you' in Spanish?"  We looked at him blankly.  Spanish?  Get out! All that jibberish is Spanish?!

Now that we are clued in, it's fascinating to watch how he switches between the languages naturally and spontaneously.  The other night, our nanny was heading down to her room and there was the following exchange:

Nanny: "Goodnight Jack"

Jack: "Have Sweet Dreams"

Nanny: "Thanks Jack"

Jack: "De Nada".

Or when we were heading out for errands, Jack asked my husband which car we were taking.  Brian said "Daddy's" and Jack said "Oh Daddy's! Good Thinking!  Muy Bien!".  Jack also later suggested I use the amarillo cutting board for chopping lettuce and said he liked the rojo flowers (Apparently amarillo is "yellow" and rojo "red", I had to call my Dad).

Which, therein lies the problem.  Neither Brian nor I speak Spanish.  So while we aren't total idiots and can pick out an "hola" or a "buenos noches", the vast majority of the time, we have no idea what he is talking about.   We'd have to watch more Dora or Diego apparently to join our son at his level of foreign language adeptness. 

So, while that is unlikely to happen, it is just fascinating to me the speed and ease at which children learn languages.  I suffered through years of Spanish classes in high school, and as is evident,  I recall virtually none of it.   It is too bad there isn't a more comprehensive and sophisticated educational structure in place in the United States to really take advantage of this incredible and natural capacity to learn, but in most cases the options are to send them to a school that teaches solely in a foreign language and that's not really my cup of tea either.