My sister showed me this excellent site:
What better way to introduce your new toddler to her new family and home than a board book! At Pint Size Productions you can choose your images and create your own board books. And use Google translate so her caretakers can read it to her.
Our book goes something like this (I'm using her middle name to protect her privacy):
Christine's Book - Christine könyve
This is my home - Ez az én otthonom (or for better translations, use only one word: home - lakóhely or otthon)
bedroom - hálószoba
playroom - játszószoba
playground - játszótér
You may also include grandparents, school, church and other important places.
She's actually getting two- my sister had made one "My Family" and we made "Christine's Story."
This is something any kid would treasure- biological or adopted- a real book all about them and their family.
For Bulgarian adoptions, you have two visits, you could bring this along and leave it with her on the first trip. For Hungary, there is just one long trip, so we are sending it on ahead of us. I hope she gets it by Christmas ;-)
Very cool.
ReplyDeleteWhen will you be leaving to get her?
I can't remember if you said how old your daughter is, but the language barrier may not be as big of a deal as you're afraid of. Our little guy was not talking yet when we picked him up at the age of 22 months. We were told he imitated words, and we learned a few Bulgarian phrases that his orphanage workers said he knew, but he never responded to them or tried to imitate them with us. Meanwhile, he began to understand English very quickly, and now uses over 30 words. What helped us the most in the earliest days was teaching him some infant sign language. This was limited and modified for us since he doesn't have hands, but could be very useful for you. I would recommend looking for a book or DVD that teaches you how to teach her some signs to bridge the communication gap. I think it would be much easier than trying to learn Hungarian. Toddlers are really only concerned about their basic needs, so the signs for "eat " "more " "all done" "open " etc. may be all you need until she learns English, which will probably be very quick if she's under 3. Just my 2 cents. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteI was trying to find some good resources for baby signs, can you recommend a book or app? We already know: mommy, daddy, cat, dog, milk, water, eat, hungry, please, cold, thank you/your welcome, no/ don't, stop. I'd like to know some more- help, thirsty, potty, tired, let's go, wait, sit, etc.
DeleteI'll recommend Signing Time again. They have flashcards, DVDs, etc. Some of it is also on youtube if you want to check it out first.
ReplyDeleteWhen I just need to look up a quick sign, I simply google ASL plus the word I want (like "ASL wait") and then I click on the lifeprint link. They will either show you a short video of how to sign the word or give you a series of photos and a written description to teach it.
I'm afraid I'm not actually familiar with particular resources, so you might go with Viviane's suggestion. I used to use just a little signing in my job as a an Early Intervention Specialist, but I just learned a handful of signs meant to stimulate speech development. You know more signs than I do! I would make sure to add "more" to your list. It's one of the easiest to teach to get started. :-)
ReplyDelete