Words and some overdue Okinawa pics!

I thought I would do an update on Riku's speaking- I can definitely no longer count or list all the words he says. He is regularly putting together phrases of 3 or 4 words, which is a big step. Most of his phrases are vehicle-related. e.g. "big big yellow truck!" or "two black taxi!" (he hasn't figured out the plural 's' yet), but other topics include animals, food, what Papa is doing etc.  He is still slightly on the slow side with his talking, but nothing out of the ordinary for a boy from a bilingual household.

I would say that the ratio of Japanese to English is about 30:70, but he switches back and forwards at times- for quite a while ambulance was kyukyusha (actually chuchusha in his pronunciation!), but now he uses a word that is much closer to ambulance. He also switches between "here" and "kochi" and "there" and "acchi". Some fruits and vegetables he says in English (apple, peach, bean) while others are in Japanese (ninjin, piman, budou). I have heard that most kids will have figured out the difference between the languages at around 4 years and be using them separately without mixing them up, but I'm sure it can vary with the child.

A lot of the words he uses probably only I understand at this point, but his pronunciation is getting clearer all the time- "truck" has been "cuck" for the last month or so since he started using the word, but in the last few days I have started to hear him pronounce the 't' at the beginning properly.

And now for the photos from our trip to Okinawa with GG and Nana Barbara last month- not really related, but just so this post has some photos!

Fishies! After a false start (it was a lot further from the airport than I thought) we finally made it to Churami Aquarium

You can't tell from the expression here, but Riku loved the pools at the hotel so much he wouldn't get out!

Checking out the hotel's playroom after breakfast

Taking advantage of the shade from the lifeguard tower for some sandcastle making!

Figuring out how GG's binoculars work

Lucky enough to get his own seat- and a toy plane- on the flight home :)