In Id-a-wee

V and I were just visiting friends in Italy. Or, as she says it, "Id-a-wee." This was one of the first times she has been in a situation where she hears an unknown language all around her. She has had similar experiences in France and Germany, but that's been some time ago, now, and I doubt she remembers.

It was loads of fun to be there for lots of reasons, mostly because we were visiting our wonderful friends, but also because it was warm (!) and because the people there talk and talk and talk. Everywhere we went, total strangers were exclaiming over V's blonde hair and telling her "Que bella! Bellissima!" It's a totally different communication style from what we experience in Finland, and V did really well and went with the flow. It was only a couple of times that she turned to me and said, "What is that lady saying to me?" She was, for the most part, very open to their communication.

Over the course of a few days, she picked up a few words in Italian. Kids this age are just amazing.

But what interested me more than anything was her language choice with the people we were visiting. With our friend Valentina it was no problem -- V spoke English with her. With Marco, however, V kept speaking Swedish. Over and over again, she spoke Swedish, even though we kept telling her, "Marco doesn't understand Swedish. He speaks English."

I am really puzzled by this. V speaks Swedish with her dad, so I am wondering if there is something genderized about her language choice. In other words, man = speak Swedish. Somehow I am not very satisfied with that answer, however, because V knows at least a few men with whom she speaks English. I am wondering if it was because Marco played with her in a really wonderful physical and child-like manner.The reason for speaking Swedish to someone who engages in this type of intereaction is simple: V plays each day with her friends, speaking Swedish. So I am thinking it was more the activity than the person that prompted her use of Swedish. And I suppose it's kind of a compliment to Marco: Swedish = "you are my friend."