a list, plus a favor to request

It's tough to be a toddler.

It's also tough to write fluently or with much detail when you're sitting next to a crib from which that toddler is protesting with great decibel power that she wants out of her crib, but won't let you pick her up.

(If she were actually expressing herself with more than "noooooo" and "mamamamama" and guttural screams and increasingly higher shrieks, you'd be thrilled; but she really doesn't talk much yet.)

(It's not that you're worried that she's not verbal enough for her age--not really--but you're such a language geek that you really wish she was producing more comprehensible stuff in either language!)

(Although your husband points out that she made her first six-word phrase last night--quite a jump from her customary two-word utterances--"my hat and my dada hat"--because she is clearly a little girl who cares about fashion.)

Anyway, because she's screaming her head off and I'm trapped in the rocking chair, this blog post will be a simple list of what I've been meaning to write about lately.

1.  The May edition of the Raising Multilingual Children blog carnival came out about a week ago; Annabelle of The Piri-Piri Lexicon, founder and host, offers annotated links to lots of cool posts on the topic.

2.  My blog had a birthday!  Seven years since my first post. (If "Bringing up Baby Bilingual" were a person, then it would be in second grade now.)

3.  The annual "Top 100 Language Lovers" competition is currently in progress.  Sponsored by Lexiophiles and the bab.la language portal, this popular event identifies blogs, Twitterers, and Facebook pages that promote the joy of languages.  "Bringing up Baby Bilingual" is a finalist in the "Language Learning Blogs"and I would deeply appreciate your vote.  (25 of the 100 nominees will ultimately be chosen, in part based on the number of votes they receive.)

Why vote for me when all the other nominees have remarkable blogs?  How about because...

My kids dressed up as Hansel and Gretel for the preschool's Fairy Tale Tea.  Finally, a reason for him to wear the lederhosen that his grandmother found at a garage sale!

a.  I speak for those of us who choose to use our non-native language with our children.

b.  I have also branched out into Pinterest and am using its virtual bulletin boards to organize zillions of resources about language learning, early literacy, YouTube playlists of songs in French, reading games, and more.

Pinterest is addictive--but I'm using its forces for good!

c.  True, I have been blogging with less frequency, but continue to expand my "French Teaching at Home" page with annotated links to recommended materials.

c.  If my blog is chosen one of the top 25 Language Learning Blogs, I will feel validated and rejuvenated and thus start posting more often again!

But I'll still make time to take Griffin out on his two-wheeler, I promise.

Please show your support for non-native speakers raising their kids bilingually and for parents and teachers who share their resources by voting for my blog, "Bringing up Baby Bilingual," by June 9, 2013.

Thank you--and thank you to the teachers and my Francophone friends who have helped me get to the point where I can use my non-native French with my kids well enough that I am able to blog about it!