Parents Surprised When Their Daughter Started Speaking Spanish. Then They Realized Where She Learned It (Exclusive)

From the moment Ebony’s daughter could babble, her words carried the rhythms of more than one language. At just 9 months old, she reached for water not with “water,” but with “agua.”

“I started noticing, around 9 months, she was saying ‘agua’ instead of water,” Ebony tells PEOPLE, recalling the moment that surprised her. “And to this day she still calls water ‘agua.’ ”

The discovery came at daycare, where one teacher spoke mostly Portuguese and another almost entirely Spanish. “Then she moved to a different classroom, and the teacher only speaks Spanish, like very little English,” Ebony explains.

Soon, new words filled the little girl’s vocabulary, and her family delighted in hearing them. “Now she says ‘manos’ for hands, she calls her shoes ‘patos,’ and she’ll say ‘uno, dos, cinco,’ ” Ebony says, laughing.

What began as a curiosity quickly became a gift, shaping her daughter’s world one word at a time. “She’s acknowledging what her teacher is saying and doing what she’s telling her to do in Spanish, which we thought was awesome,” Ebony shares.

At home, her family speaks English, but the Spanish words stuck and grew. “Obviously, she’s getting English at home, so it’s not a concern that she’s not gonna speak English,” Ebony says. “I just really appreciate that she can understand what someone’s saying in Spanish and follow the instructions.”

The experience has changed the whole family’s daily life. “Sometimes she’ll say a sentence to us and we have no clue what she’s saying, and we’re like, she’s probably speaking Spanish and we just don’t know,” Ebony admits.

Her husband decided to join in, downloading Duolingo to keep up. “It’s kind of just because we’re like, she’s fully understanding Spanish, like we need to learn,” Ebony says.

That curiosity is exactly what Ebony sees blossoming in her daughter. “I definitely feel like she’s more intelligent, definitely more curious,” she says. “The things that she picks up on at her age are so uncommon, and it’s probably due to the fact that she can understand so much more.”

Doctors expected her daughter to speak only a few words at an early checkup. “At that time she was saying like 30 words, and some of them were in Spanish,” Ebony recalls proudly.

The TikTok that caught the internet’s attention was just one small slice of their everyday. “It was just kind of one of those sweet moments that I caught,” Ebony explains. “I like to do day-in-the-lifes of dropping her off or picking her up, and that moment happens so frequently.”

The video showed exactly what she sees so often: her daughter responding effortlessly to her teacher’s Spanish instructions. “I just happened to catch that moment on video, and the response was amazing,” Ebony says.

The reaction from viewers left her touched. “Everybody was so impressed,” Ebony shares. “They were so happy that she’s learning Spanish and were asking me if it was intentional, and it wasn’t intentional.”

What moved her most was the recognition of the teachers behind it all. “Her teachers take such great care of her; they love her, and I love that they don’t exclude her,” Ebony says. “Because they’re including her, she’s picking up on what they’re saying too, and she’s learning.”

The encouragement from TikTok followers has kept the family motivated. “It’s been just positivity, like new followers are like, ‘She’s gonna be really smart and she’s gonna learn so many words,’ ” Ebony recalls.

That support has changed how Ebony approaches language at home. “I’ll practice, I’ll say something in English and then say it in Spanish, or I’ll count in English and then say, okay, let’s count in Spanish,” she shares.

For her, the heart of the story goes beyond words. “I think the world we live in now is so diverse,” Ebony explains. “No matter where you live, you’re gonna encounter somebody most likely that speaks a different language or is from another country.”

She treasures what her daughter is learning simply by being surrounded by peers. “I love that her class is super diverse,” Ebony says.

Exposure to that mix, Ebony believes, gives her daughter an advantage that no classroom lesson could replace. “She’s able to just learn something that she would not get if she was home with me,” she admits. “So I really value that.”

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She also knows how rare it is that the response online has been only kind. “Luckily everyone’s been really sweet and supportive, and they’re excited for how much she can learn,” Ebony says.

That kindness matters deeply to her as a mother, sharing only glimpses of her child’s life. “I try to be private to some degree, but I do hope that parents can see that even at such a young age, kids can be receptive to other languages,” Ebony explains.

She hopes her video challenges other families to think differently about children’s potential. “They really do understand so much more than we give them credit for,” Ebony says. “I hope she continues to be curious and wanna learn as she gets older.”