language

Asa's English is not coming along the way I thought that it would.  I am not sure what "normal" is, but I thought we would have more English words by now.  He speaks 99% in  Russian.  He has even corrected my English, like he is trying to teach me the Russian word for whatever it is I am saying. 

Example: Peesit is the Russian word for "pee", as in, urinate.  I am trying to teach him "our" language and when he asks to go "peesit", I say back to him, "You need to potty?  You need to pee-pee?"  And his response, "Peesit."  And we will go back and forth, me saying, "Pee pee" and him correcting me, "Peesit!" 

The only words he will say in English without prompting: Puppy and yucky.  Yesterday Judah had an empty water bottle that he had put dirt into.  The inside was coated with mud/sand/grit.  Grossness.  Asa says to Judah, "Et ta yucky!"  It is yucky!  And we had a friend come over the other day and he told her, "Et ta puppy!" when she walked by our dog.  He gets those two words for sure!

He understands almost everything we say to him.  It is quite amazing what he does understand.  Today I called for Bethany to come to me.  She did not hear, or was ignoring me.  I hear Asa's little voice, in Russian, "Bethany go see Mama."  And he kept saying it until she got up and went to find me!  He hears what we say, translates it to Russian and then repeats it.  Perhaps he has a future as a translator!

I know it will just take time.  I know that him understanding us is huge and that means that eventually he will start speaking in English. I know that he is shy and reserved, so that might influence his willingness to try to speak English.  I think he is one of those kids who has to have it right in his mind before he will try it out loud.

We were very blessed tonight at nighttime prayers.  The last several nights Daddy has been prompting him, by having Asa repeat after him, "Jesus, thank you for the cross."  Tonight when it was his turn, Asa needed no prompting.  He prayed, "Jesus....." and said something in Russian, followed by his thickly accented, "Amen".  We are so thankful that even though we cannot understand a lot of what he says, Jesus hears him and knows him and someday we will understand too :)