Friday 14 April 2017

#atozchallenge Letters to my Embryos: L is for Language

Welcome to Day 12 of the A to Z Challenge, an April blogging challenge where you aim post every day during the month following the letters of the alphabet (with every Sunday bar the last one off).

In the past I've used the challenge to blog about my infertility and the IVF process. I'm following a similar theme this year as we wait to begin the process for a Frozen Embryo Transfer, having completed a Freeze All IVF cycle in February.

We currently have nine embryos sitting on ice, my little bubbles, and this April I am blogging to them about the process of how they came to be.



Dear Bubbles,

As I write these letters, I can't help but wonder what other languages you might be able to read, write and speak. Obviously English will be your main language, spoken at home, but I wonder what languages will be used in the schools you attend.

I'm writing this letter in Scotland, where English will be your main language at home, with Scots English being spoken amongst your friends. They're almost the same language, except for when they're not. Do you refer to those grey, mizzly days as 'dreich'? Do you say 'can I get' instead of 'can I have'? Do you pronounce 'head' as 'heid'?

Or have you grown up somewhere else?

On the way to one of the hospital appointments, less than a week before you were conceived, your father and I had a serious conversation about the sort of school you would attend (you know how much I like to plan ahead). We had been talking about our future plans to move to Wales and I wondered out loud whether we would send you to a Welsh-medium school, if that was an option.

And now I wonder, was your school uniform emblazoned with a fire-breathing 'draig'? If you're given money for a treat will you spend it on sugary 'losin' or (my personal favourite) 'siocled'? When you finish this letter, will you snuggle into to me for a 'cwtch'?

Because no matter what language, or languages, you speak, I'm always willing to give you a cuddle.

All my love,

Your Mum.

4 comments:

  1. Nice post. Language is so integral to how a family communicates that it's interesting to consider what language, accent and words will be used by one's child.

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  2. Aww, the end of this letter is sweet. Also, Scottish accents are my favorite. I kinda wish I had one. I just have a general American accent.

    Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  3. I bet they'll have a mixture wherever you live. With an English dad and a Scottish mum, my little girl has a real hybrid accent we call "Scenglish" - but her sisters are always trying to get the English out of it!

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  4. Ah, so many forms of English. And yet, we manage to understand each other. Most of the time.

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Let me know what you think. :-)