Building new memories (and ski school story) :: in Briancon ::

Happy Sunday everyone! I hope you all had a great weekend - and Mothers Day if you are in the UK! I love going through my holiday pictures. I have great plans for them - as always, and hope to find the time to make it happen. However I have not taken my camera out as much as I had hoped, it is sometimes so easy to rely on my phone. My plans do not require big size pictures so I should be able to get away as far as quality is concerned, but it is not great for posting on my blog. 

So instead of getting a lot of pictures of Baby MiH skiing, here are some pictures of Briancon, the main town near our resort. We went there the worst day of the week - mainly because Mr MiH had a bad fall and there was no point in risking another fall due to poor visibility. And as Baby MiH was having a ski school crisis, retail therapy was very much needed that afternoon. Unfortunately the one yarn/craft shop was not yet opened for business (didn't they know I was in town) - it is selling mainly cross-stitching and I could have done with a new cross-stitching project. I have not followed a grid for a long time. 

Being on holiday was great fun of course. But we are really happy to be back, near Leo of course. Baby MiH is happiest at home, he cannot wait to go back to nursery. He was not really happy at ski school (he chose the ESF one) - nothing to do with the skiing, and everything to do with the social aspect of it. He is missing his friends, and did not manage to make friends in his group. Last year, it was a much smaller group (4 of them) and he loved going there. It is a shame. We took him out one day, we left him the following day - and went undercover to check out on him every half hour. I know - don't judge, I cannot handle tears. In fact I was not allowed to drop him off, Mr MiH did it. 

As you can imagine I went through French ski school, and I can ski well. However I would say that French ski school is a bit harsh sometimes. We only left Baby MiH for 2 hours and a half and then my parents were looking after him, or we would ski with him a bit. I am a bit annoyed that he still cannot slow down or stop - it is his second year of ski school, and this is a pretty key skill to acquire. I will be working on it over this year at our nearest snow dome. 

I like the idea of him mixing with other French kids, and learn skiing in French. I cannot teach him in English. But I don't want him to resent being with other French kids. It is a fine line to strike with bilingual kids - he is French and yet he is not at the same time (ie he is not in a French system). We will carry on going to Serre-Chevalier, mainly because our babysitters in chief (aka my parents) go there, but I might try to look for ski schools with smaller groups - where I think Baby MiH will thrive better. 

Have you got any tips for me for taking bilingual children on holiday?

There will be other pictures of skiing as I wore my Fidra every day out there, and managed to get Mr MiH to stop and take some pics. 

Bilingual :: Family ::

Raising bilingual kids is quite an important part of our life - and yet I hardly talk about it here. I am not sure it is the place for it, but I thought I would share some pictures of our Easter Sunday and raising bilingual kids is the reason why we ended up at Hatfield House. I found that there was a French market - a French market for Baby MiH is an opportunity to speak... French. 

And he did. He bought cheese, bread and saucisson (don't judge the French-ness of our shopping) and paid for it as well. It was exciting for him to practice with new people, and some of the market stall holders totally played the game. 

Just to clarify we speak only speak French to him (we had French TV installed as well), and with his grand-parents. He speaks English at nursery and with his friends. I know some of you are also raising bilingual children, how have you decided to do it?

Of course, you will have seen that Baby MiH has acquired Bough. He probably wears it better than I do - although it is weird to think that a 2 year old can wear beanie hats knitted for me. At least my hand knitted beanies get worn more? 

I hope you had a great Easter weekend!