Language

I prepared for Elizabeth's homecoming by listening to a CD made specifically for families adopting from Latin America. I would play it in the car to and from work. I was also amazed at how much of my High School Spanish came back to me. I found it pretty easy to communicate with Elizabeth most of the time. Her understanding of English came pretty quickly and by Christmas we were speaking to her completely in English and she was responding mostly in English with occasional Spanish words thrown in.
There were some funny moments along the way though. Chuck did not practice any Spanish so would rely on me when he did not understand her, for example when she asked for huevos (eggs) for lunch. One day he came into the other room and was so proud of himself as he had understood what she had said. He told me that Elizabeth told him she wanted to go to "Montana". I was confused as at that point she did not even understand that she lived in Oklahoma much less knew there was a State called Montana! I thought for a while and asked him if she had said "manzana". He said, "That's it!" I told him to go give her an apple. He still has not lived that one down!
As much as we wanted Elizabeth to be bilingual, she wanted nothing more than to be like everyone else and refused to speak Spanish once she started speaking English. Eventually she lost all ability to do so. Now she would like to learn it again and we hope to be able to provide her with that opportunity. Her comprehension is still lagging, but it takes approximately 7 years for it to catch up with the ability to speak the language.
One of the things Elizabeth needed to learn for school was her full name - Elizabeth Marie Fatima Baxter. She would get very mad and upset whenever we got to Fatima. Finally one day I asked her why. In a mixture of English and Spanish she told me that she had never liked the name Fatima and that other kids had made fun of her name and she did not want it anymore. It was her choice so we dropped Fatima completely.