Teaching the kids

Teaching the kids Spanish as I am learning has been both harder and easier then I thought it would be.  My son is 4 so he is pretty much set in the way he speaks but is still somewhat open to new words.  I really thought it would be easier with him because he is still so young.  He does pick up the meaning to words pretty quickly.  I only need to translate twice to him but for full sentences, he still needs translation unless I say that particular bunch of words all the time like "wash your hands and face".  I guess I thought he would just "get it".  My daughter is 2 so she is still pointing at things and asking their names.  It is super easy to insert a Spanish word instead of English.  I am not worried about her not getting enough English, she hears it from her daddy and brother all day long.  We decided that only I would speak Spanish to the kids so that they would not get too confused and because my husband does not know Spanish and does not have the time or desire to learn.  I am amazed that my daughter got this so fast.  She never tries to speak Spanish to her daddy, or to other people, only to me. 

I started with just inserting Spanish in to my everyday speech with the kids.  I have read that this is not a good idea but my kids (and my limited vocab) needed to start slowly.  I began to see the words that I would need, to be able to speak to my kids in all Spanish and made flash cards on my phone to help me learn them.  I keep moving along with my Pimsular lessons to help fill in the "in between" words such as: us, them, the, he, she, because, etc and how to conjugate verbs and put together sentences.  I found a great website that had a list of common things you say to children in Spanish:
  http://www.biculturalmom.com/2011/04/13/infant-toddler-spanish-pt-1/#axzz1xWJwM8Ek
I printed it out and carried it around with me. 

Today I decided to just jump in and try to speak all Spanish to the kids, all day.  I am amazed at how well I did.  I have only been studying for almost 2 months and I was able to speak Spanish to the kids 80% of the day.  I did have to stop and consult my list sometimes but not as often as I thought I would.  This also tells you that I do not have "deep" conversations with my children although when my son did want a complex answer I switched back to English.  I am impressed that my kids did so well with it too.  My daughter used some Spanish words that she had not before and my son did not get annoyed with me.  All and all a success!  I think I will keep it up.  My goal is to speak 100% Spanish 100% of the time to my kids.