Qu'est-ce que c'est?

Benjamin's new "word" right now is in fact a phrase: he started saying "ay say? ay say?" and Nathalie couldn't tell what it meant. My guess was that he was saying "Et c'est?" as in And this is called? And that over there is…?

Thursday the question evolved into "essay say? essay say?" And we suddenly realized he was asking Qu'est-ce que c'est? (What is it?)

We're about to enter a very exciting stage of his development.

New signs:

26. airplane
27. mosquito (pointing index finger to back of hand while saying moustique)

New words:

65. coin-coin (French for "quack quack," baby French for duck, pronounced "kwan-kwan" [sort of])
66. tchin-tchin (French for "cheers," said when toasting)
67. orteil (toe, especially the big toe, pronounced "or-tay" or sometimes just "tay")
68. balai (broom)
69. bottes (boots)
70. qu'est-ce que c'est? (French for "what is this?" pronounced "essay-say?")
71. bouton (button)
72. moustique (French for mosquito, pronounced "oo-teek" and said while signing)

Benjamin's vocabulary is mostly French. Some people have asked me if I feel like French and English are in competition in the household.

No, as I recently wrote his Mamie, I'm glad the emphasis is on French, partly because it helps me to learn more as he learns more, and also because I know that so much of his young life will be dominated by English — English with a Virginia accent, in fact. Our real challenge will be teaching him to read and write in both languages.

- Anglophone papa