What resources exist to quickly acquire the "everyday" English vocabulary needed to communicate with my preschooler child?
I am an immigrant IT professional who speaks fluent English, but who learned his English as an adult. My child was born in America. I can easily communicate on work-related topics. But when my child asks me "What is this?" or "What are you doing?", I often find myself at a loss. Instead of a single word, all I can offer is a lengthy explanation that relies on nerdy terms or ill-suited synonyms.
For example, I am playing a tune by drumming with my feet, the child asks "What are you doing?" -- and I say "Err.. I am making music by..." [Hitting? No; Knocking? No; Stepping? With? Ugh...] Asked about a milk carton, I say "a special container to hold milk" etc. This worked with other adults, but not with a preschooler.
A related problem is figuring out pronunciation while reading children's books aloud. I've never heard these words spoken, and can't look them up with a child on my lap. Is there some online resource, or a textbook, or a collection of text snippets that I can memorize? Something more efficient than writing out phrases by hand from hundreds of children's books? Thanks!
PS. (1) I do speak in the native tongue too, but unwilling to curtail the rest of my child's development for the sake of bilingualism. (2) I know the basics of studying English, but I wonder if there is a resource for my specific need: everyday/children's English for adult ESL nerds.