Yo no hablo Espanol

My son is taking Spanish.

This matters to us for a three reasons I can think of right now:

1. My wife and I both think there is a richness that comes from appreciating other cultures, and language is a big part of that.  So yes, we'd like our kids to be able to travel internationally, and at least have two languages in which they can ask for simple directions only to get blank stares.
2. The missus is a Canuck, so multi-culturalism and multilingualism is in her blood. That said multi-culti blood is hoity-toity French rather than Spanish is beside the point.
3. And, in no small part, because one of my big regrets in life is that my ability to speak in a foreign tongue is limited to mangled French that prevents me form speaking in either the past or future tense - I can only discuss what I am doing.  Right. Now.*  And yes, before you say anything, I'm aware my interest in having the kids be polyglots is both vicarious and ironic.

* I can also tell someone to "stay here" in German.  Or ask "What is this?" Both of which are of extremely limited use.  I can also say "Word to your mother" in Greek, which is only useful if I was a rapper. In 1991. Who wanted to get his ass kicked.

He's quite good, or at least he is when measured by the yardstick of being a  four-year-old, non-native speaker.  Heck, this morning he was reading a book to his sister (Knuffle Bunny, if you must know), and started randomly replacing the English words in the story with their Spanish counterparts. Okay, granted, many of the words in question were ones like "Mommy" or "Daddy, but I'm still impressed because (a) it was unprompted, and (b) as mentioned, he's four.

Two-year-old Claire is not far behind in her interest in Spanish.  Her ability to be condescending about it, however, is FAR more advanced than her brother.

See, we have a few Spanish books. And, when it's storytime, Claire occasionally picks one up.  When she does, I get the rolling insult:

"This book is in Spanish.  Mommy reads Spanish.  Connor reads Spanish.  Juanita reads Spanish.  But Daddy doesn't read Spanish."

Yes, my daughter makes a point of listing everyone she knows who can habla Espanol better than her old man. Which, admittedly, is everyone who can habla Espanol.

I get that insult every time.

What a jerk. My only solace is that she doesn't know more people who speak Spanish.