Tobey: "Cherries!"

Under rare inspiration to speak Chinese, I blurted out, "Eli zai chi dou fu!" ("Eli is eating tofu!") as I fed him some tofu cubes. And since I was speaking to Eli, I asked, "Tobey zai chi se me?" (What's Tobey eating?), "Tobey zai chi se me?". Next thing we know, Tobey says, "Cherries!" as he ate another cherry.

"That's right!", we said, non-chalantly, knowing that Tobey already knew of cherries.

But then we paused and realized, Tobey understood the Chinese! His first confirmed conversational Chinese comprehension! Well, besides "guai guai", my mom's nickname for him (or actually any of us).

It does go to show that we just gotta use it in order to support whatever he's gathering from grandparents and Chinese class (and soon, preschool). Doesn't make it any easier for me to speak at home though. I've already developed this awkwardness you get when you speak a different language to a close one that you already have an established language with. But I have to remember, Tobey probably doesn't sense that awkwardness. We just gotta do it.