House Helper: Ai Yi Love

This is the wonderful, sweet face of the woman that watches our Bella girl while we are studying language.  Bella calls her Ai Yi which means aunt, but is a common name for children to call adults in that age bracket. Having never really left Bella much before, I really wasn't sure how this situation was going to work out at first. We study language at home with a tutor and we really needed Bella to play with Ai Yi without much interruption. Ai Yi speaks NO English. In fact, she speaks a thick local dialect which makes communication hard for even native Chinese speakers (but especially beginners like us). She has almost no experience with young children. Clearly, not the ideal situation. But despite all these things, it has been wonderful!!

Bella connected with Ai Yi right away! They get along so well and have fallen into a nice routine of play, snacks, naps, play, and a little sesame street peppered in. She is so cautious and careful with our Bella. Since she has never taken care of a little one, she tell us that "it is a big responsibility and she takes it very seriously." She always follows our instructions very carefully. And each day we see more and more improvement with the language barrier.  Although we are grateful that our language teacher is here everyday also to serve as a back up means for communication.  We are so excited that we able to say more and more to her without help.  Bella is not speaking any Chinese words yet, but Ai Yi tells us that she can tell Bella understands more Chinese the longer they spend together. Ironically, the Chinese Bella is able to naturally pick up while we work so hard at studying will be the local language that Ai Yi speaks and not the Chinese we are learning. However, the languages do have many similarities and Bella will be able to transition to standard Chinese easily. Ai Yi is also learning a little English from Bella. Sometimes we will hear  "Sesame Street is brought to you today by the letter H" on the TV and then we will hear Ai Yi say "H...Hippo." Ai Yi likes it when Bella wears her pants really high with her shirt tucked in. We always love to see our little Steve Erkle waddle in the room after our day studying.



Ai Yi was gone all last week for chinese new year. We all missed her very much! Of course, who wouldn't miss the woman who so wonderfully cares for your child and does laundry and dishes during nap time?!