This morning, after breakfast, my (4-year-old) daughter Bonnie shocked me when she said, “Mama, time to brush our teeth.”

I think I probably looked like a cartoon character with my jaw hanging open. When did she learn to say “time to brush our teeth”? I guess she picked it up from one of us, during her month here in the U.S. She has been shocking me almost daily, with a new word or phrase.

Kids are amazing. Bonnie has a Russian preschool teacher who informed us that, although she doesn’t speak fluent English, she understands the majority of everything that is said to her. In fact, the teacher said that Bonnie understands more English than Russian. As far as speaking right now, however, she feels that Bonnie doesn’t really speak either language.

What?

I have to disagree since I am the one who listens to all of the Russian chattering and singing she does around the house. But, according to her teacher, it’s more baby talk and less Russian language.

When I think about it, I guess that makes sense. In the orphanage, she wouldn’t have heard any conversation between adults. There was only one caretaker in the room, so she would have heard any commands said to her, but not much of anything else. According to her medical records, she was behind in her Russian language skills. (However, I didn’t really BELIEVE that.) Now that she’s home with us, she hears us converse daily, constantly, and she is soaking it in quickly.

The other probability is that she is losing her language, even though she’s only been home for a month. According to Dr. Glennen , a speech language pathologist and adoptive mother to two Russian children, it is typical for a young child to lose expressive communication of their birth language within three months. She states that an internationally adopted child typically loses the first language before they are fluent in the second language. That’s probably why Bonnie seems to be unable to communicate fluently in either language.

We want Bonnie to keep her birth language, so we are surprised at how fast she seems to be losing it. Now that she has started a bilingual preschool, I wonder if she will regain some of her Russian.

However, one thing is certain. At the rate she’s learning English, I had better watch what I say.