unedited for 100 days. Day 28

We are raising our baby girl to be bi-lingual. She just turned a year, and to this day, her dad speaks only spanish to her and I speak english. I'm always fascinated to watch her respond to both of us, in awe of her ability to take it all in. I am hopeful that she will absorb enough spanish from her dad that she will be confident in applying herself to learning it in her older years. Confidence is such a critical factor in learning. When we learn something new, we simultaneously accept the possibility of making mistakes. It is a vulnerable state, but always rewarding. Almost ten years ago, I moved to southern Chile for six months speaking and understand little to no spanish. The first day in my cabin on the island of Chiloe, I realized that I needed to build a fire to heat the place. I remember moving my hands around like a primal monkey to the landlord asking for wood to make fire- that's what little spanish I knew at the time. In fact, it took a solid three months to build enough confidence to start speaking and engaging verbally with the locals. Once I broke the seal and embraced the many grammatical errors I would make, my new chilean friends started to comment how much I had improved. I always wish that I had found that confidence in the beginning. I can only hope that my daughter learns this well before I ever did. That being vulnerable enough to learn is the strongest you will ever feel.