Courtney Glantz (September 16, 2011) - This past month has been a blur for Logan and our family. Between travels, school starting, and the first flu bug of the season any amount of 'normal' has been removed from our day to day ongoings and a more unknown approach to us of waking up and thinking 'Hmm. What is today going to bring?' has become the new normal.

One of the highlights of the past month had to be Big Sky, MT. Our family spent over a week enjoying the fresh mountain air and we were blessed to have our dear (fluent in Spanish) speaking friends join us. I was excited about this for a variety of reasons but a fun and educational one was of course the fact that Logan got to spend time listening to children his age speaking Spanish. It's always just a bit cooler when your peer whips out a second language as opposed to an adult.

A phrase that became normal to hear throughout the trip was 'como se dice....?' The words that ended the phrase ranged from mountain to moose to hot tub to don't take my crayon. Logan was often the one initiating the sentence which thrilled me. He sees his peers speaking the language - and he wants to be apart of it. Our friends husband made a point to teach Logan specific body parts. They went over them again and again and they stuck.

As we were driving to Language Stars for the first time after our trip and the break between the summer and fall sessions Logan piped up from the back of the car 'mom! I have to tell my Spanish teacher what I learned in Montana!' I was so happy that 1. he remembered and 2. that in the mere few lessons he has had the teacher had all ready formed a bond that Logan would think to want to share his learnings with her. Well done. The concept of a 'teacher' can sometimes be intimidating to a child at this age, but there are no signs of that at Language Stars. The warmness is felt immediately throughout - by adults and children.

Here's to learning more new words and hopefully settling back into a normal routine!

Adios, Courtney