Taka and I went to the USA from May 25th until July 21st of 2010. We first stayed with my sister Dawn in StevensPoint, WI, with her husband Ted and their two boys Henry (6) and Richard (4) until about the end of June. For 1 week Taka`s character changed, he did not know how to communicate with his cousins and other playmeates so he took to just watching and clingy to me for support. In about a week he learned the basics (manners, conversation starters, as well as ways to initiate play) of playing with English speaking children in Wisconsin. He develped a jealousy based relationship with his 4 year old cousin, as Taka wanted to be independent and Richard wanted to play the older brother role for once! Taka cried a lot in frustration when he could not communicate his desires and needs. He mostly needed to play with Richards electrical excavator, and usually bit, hit or kicked Richard instead of trying to use words (which were not yet in his developmental nor speaking vocabulary) like "let me play" or " can I play with it?" (Now at 2.7 years he can do that, well most of the time if he is well fed and well rested....tired and hungry is another story!) (Also, now Taka always is asking me what he can say in Japanese in certain situations, and listens (and repeats) my words like they are from God.)
Taka woke up now, so more reflection on his language development while in the states later....
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