reading and talking

Winston occassionlly puts 3 words together now .. such as "Didi Amma Mamma"

He is making up his own words that are quite logical.. such as Amma Mamma (is sweish for breastfeed mummy) ... so he says Addy Daddy or Apf Mapf (mapf is his swedish word for Daddy).

I typed out Zog (a book by Julia Donaldson) , so it had one big sentance per page. He likes this and tends to shout out the last word on the page. He also points to some words on each page and some dots.

We are on holiday in a cottage in  Orsa this week.

Some new words

Winston is coming out with new words too quick to note them all.

But today, he said "thank you" very nicely

He also said "monkey"  and (unfortunately) "bugger"   .... when we got to the entrance of the Aquraium and discovered it was closed.


and today 20th December

Naughty (usually without pronouncing the T) which is cute,  and  OFFICE, which he said very nicely.

Update, Winston at 19months 2 weeks.

READING
Winston picked up most of the animals for this from a Melissa and Doug fishing puzzle game.
He soon learnt all the words, and enjoyed putting them on the right pictures.
We now have sets of kitchen implements,  birds, and musical instruments.

I have removed all the words in the kitchen... they were getting a bit old.. so have started with fresh new words... writing them as they come up and sticking them on the cupboards.

We have words all the way up the stairs, which are nicely at eye-level when Winston is climbing the stairs .. he likes to call them out. They need changing for fresh ones now though. I thought it might be good to make a story that makes sense when climbing the stairs.

When i am reading Winston some of the home made books, at the end of the page, He will often stop and point at a few of the words to get me to repeat them. Some books that i am quite sure he knows well, i just slowly turn the pages, trusting that he knows or can read the words. We still like "Enough Inigo Enough"

WRITING
All the words we have around the house, have been written  in front of Winston. Whenever we are drawing and I say "what shall we draw", he usually says "A" , and likes it when i draw an "A".  He likes to try to draw O , sometime I and E ... strange how its mainly the vowels. Sometimes he draws more complicated squiggles and says it is a person or something else, but usually he seems to be trying to draw letters. He holds the pen very nicely. I usually draw something other than letters, but he just mainly like trying the letters.

SPEAKING

He is regularly using two words together now.

He likes saying things like "green pen" ...  anything with a colour and a nouon .. especially BLUE

Also he loves having two of anything, so he can say "TWO FORKS" for example .. he smiles when given three of something and has started counting objects .. 6 and 9 are favorites to say - usually not at the right times.

Also "Winstons Chair" or "Daddys spoon"

MUSIC

We are encouraging Winston to play his little piano. Each time he plays , we give him a big cheer. He seems to be experimenting with it in a more purposeful way now. He lilkes to play with his bottom or his knees! I just bought a 1/2 size guitar. To start with  I will teach myself a bit (i know nothing), and let Winston have a go when he wants.


We have another boy on the way ... Winston seems to think he should be called AJA BAJA BURR (its not something arabic ... it means naughty naughty in Swedish) ... a 4D scan...

COUNTING

Winston likes to say "one, two, three, four, nine, six". He loves having or seeing 2 of anything, and he likes counting up and down the stairs.

baby reading - M__PIE

At breakfast this morning, the magpies were looking through the compost ... so said to Winston .. this is a magpie. I told him I would write it down for him. I did this although he wasnt really paying attention. When I showed it to him  he said "M...Pie"  .. i.e. he knows the word Pie and he knows the letter M, so he was having a good effort at reading a word he didn't know.

Other new stuff.  Winston can climb on his own triptrap chair.  He pulled his trousers down the other day before being taken to the toilet. (its hard to walk with your trousers round your ankles).

Winston is combine two words now... usually Daddy's spoon,  Winston's (didis) fork etc.   Who it belongs to and what it is.

When i tell him not to do something and say a nice clear NO ... he ofter wanders off to where the word no is written on the wall and points at it.

In the car driving around he says letters that he sees.

He still prefers the home made books to the bought ones and can easily identify them by there (text only) covers.

Numbers .. 1 to 4 is fine.. above that is guesswork . Like some remote tribes .

Winston is 18months and 2 weeks old.

on holiday in turkey

cough, coffee and path

I showed  Winston the word cough ... and he does a little cough each time.

I have also been showing him coffee.  Since he could read the word cough, when i showed him coffee, he also did a little cough. So i guess he doesnt understand the word coffee.. but when he reads it he knows that part of the word is the same sound as cough.

I am trying to introduce 5-10 words a day at the moment... he picks them up so fast.  Today he learnt the word  PATH very quickly and he can pronounce it quite well as well.

I put him to sleep by laying next to him today. It took a while and there were some small grumbles ... i think mainly because he had just had quite a big drink and wanted a wee... but after about  30minutes he wenyt to sleep (without Mamma or boob).

putting on his shoes / sandals

Winston put his sandals on today, completely by himself.

potty - self wee

Just now, winston walked into the kitchen ,  sat on his potty and did a wee.

The he got up and took the inner bit out and gave it to his mummy .

potty again

Winston went and sat on the potty himself again today .. and did a poo.

We gave him lots of praise and he looked very pleased with himself.

He has started saying "nah" and shaking his head when asked a question.

When he sees a picture of himself he says "didi"

more potty

Caroline and I were in the kitchen.... i walked in to the lounge to find Winston sitting on the potty .. he had both legs to one side of the bit that sticks up at the front.    I straightened him up and he did a poo.  that's the first time he has got on the potty himself to do a poo ..

potty

This morning .. Winston walked over to the potty , sat down and dig a wee in the potty.  We only noticed once he had finished. He is 1 year 5 months and 1 day.

Numbers mubis

When Winston wants to play numbers... He says mubis.

He is very confident of numbers one to five.. Sometimes gets 6.

I like to show him 2 numbers. One of them 1 to 5.... The other a bigger one . He always gets it right whichever one I ask him to point at.

Best of all... He enjoys it....

Keys - O Eys

Winston was holding keys in the car the other day.

For about 10 minutes he kept repeating O Eees.

O is the same as a K, but without the flick of the tongue .. which takes some time to get the hang of i would guess.  

interesting that he broke the word down in to the two sounds though.

Accelleration

Winston seems to be picking things up even quicker now.  If a new word is relevant and interesting to him ... for  example he was enjoying fresh blueberries that we were picking from the forest (blåbär).... when i wronte this on a card and showed it to him .. then showed him it again a few hours later, he immediately pointed to teh tub of blueberries.

I was just re-watching some videos we made in the last few days, and he is trying to say a lot of the words ... but he is nowhere near being able to pronounce a lot of the letters / phonics.

According to "how babies talk" (an excellent book) ,  this is when babies are able to properly make sounds...
p,m,h,n,w,b - in the first 2 years
r and l - between 3 and 6 years
k,g,d and t - between 2 and 4
ch, sh, z, j - between 3.5 and 8 years

so a word like "toothbrush" is not going to be easy for a 15month old.  But , Winston has a go... i didnt notice until i watched this a few times.

He also really likes the word "tiptoes"

and this video shows most of the letters that he knows .. I am quite sure he nkows more, but he cant pronounce them at all ... and his favorite ones (the ones he keeps getting and announcing what they are), are the ones he can say for obvious reasons.

I made a new book about someone who came to visit. Winston likes it a lot.  He picks out his Mamma on any pages where she appears, and picks out  tiny bits on sweetcorn on a picture of  us having a picnic.

Bajs .. Ish .. Water and words

We've had a hot few days , so have been to the seaside and the local lake a few times.  Winston loves going in the water, he laughs when he goes in cold water on the parts that we hate the water to reach!

He has become very reliable at shouting out BAJS! when he has a poo coming.  Sometimes he is saying it for about 20 minutes before he is truly ready to go .. and in that time , we might put him on his potty / toilet  quite a few times.. but eventually he will go.

I've been reading our home mad books to Winston more and more.. and using the flash words less.  Our kitchen is getting full of words  now .. as whenever something comes up, I write it an bluetack it.

I think he has forgotten the word BUS, but has got more comfortable with others. Here's a film. He said TREE for the first time, quite nicely.

Also, I have been starting to teach him about 16 action words.  When you leave a room and say bye to someone, Winston will often wave about 5 seconds later.  It is good to bear this in mind when teaching him new stuff ... he has to have time to work it out.  Here's a film of Winston learning some action words with his mental dad.

Bajs! Tiptoes, books, letters and creativity.

Winston has learnt the word "BAJS!" (swedish for shit)  .. He has really enjoyed shouting it around for the last few days ... very much encouraged by his mum.  Also when he wees on the floor or anywhere he says "ISH" and points at the puddle ... i guess ISH is a version of the Swedish word "KISS" which means wee.

He stood on his tiptoes today... his own idea ... i guess he has done this before when reaching for chalk or stuff.. but today he did it for fun with a big smile... so we congratulated him a lot.

He is really loving his books ... he just brings them to me , one after another to read to him.  And when he is not bringing books to me, he is bringing magnetic letters to me , mainly his favorite ones  E, C, A, W, O, N.

trying to continue the idea of showing him relavant words, rather than just fairly random words, I have taken  a phrase from a book "a squash and a squeeze", and written it on the half A4 word cards.. so every time we get to that sentance in the book (about 8 times ), i show him that sentance on the big cards and lay them out on the floor.

I've gone off SPOT and other left the flap books.. all he wants to do is lift the flap.. no interest in the words on the page.

In terms of books for early readers, there really isnt much out there, so homemade versions of his favourite books is the way to go. Even the simple ones seem to run to 100 pages ,  once you break it down to maximum one sentance per page.

This http://www.newsweek.com/2010/07/10/the-creativity-crisis.html  and www.nagc.org/php_june09web/Interview_files/Interview.pdf  are interesting about nurturing creativity .

magnetic letters and equations

I bought a couple of Melissa&Doug magnetic wooden letters from Amazon.

I have also bought a metal shelf and screwed it to the wall ... here's a picture

magnetic wooden letters on a shelf stuck to the wall

As soon as they arrived Winston was interested in them.  I knew he knew the letter E from "nose is not toes",  but it turns out he also knows "B" ... not really surprising as it is the first letter of many words that he likes .. banana, ball, bus etc.   I think he also knows G, but cant say it at all.  He sort of twists up his little lips and puts some pressure behind them... back of the mouth sounds like G are not possible, but he kept taking the letter off the board and having a go.

He was very interested in his bellybutton today .... its not really a subject that has come up before ... so when it did I wrote a big bellybutton sign and told him what it said .. a few minutes later i showed him the sign and he went for his bellybutton ... which gives me the impression that if there is a word he is keen to know, he will pick it up almost instantly .. so while giving him a steady stream of words,  I try to spot new words which might be important/exciting to him and write those down quickly while they are still relevant.

I have started showing him some simple sums  - mainly when we are in the car (if i am not driving!).  He knows i am getting one ready, so starts to smile ... his smile growns as i show the cards (dot, plus, dots, equals, dots( ... he normally chuckles when  i show him the answer.

numbers - doman method.

I have been showing Winston the Doman dot cards from 1-20 for some time.  Not all the time.

Often i will say to him "where's 2?"  and hold up the 2 card and another card.

He quite likes it according to how excited i sound... i am getting the impression that I have to sound really excited.

Anyway,  today I showed him some simple equations.  i.e.  2 + 5 = 7  ,  and as i show him the cards I say the number or symbol and place them on the ground in front of him.

Each time i have done this he has pointed to each card and made the noise he makes when he wants me to tell him what something is.  i.e. He is interested.  It was almost as if he was realising something new. He especially likes the equals sign.

So now I will continue introducing new numbers, but also have an equation (+ only for now) each time i show him some numbers.

It got me thinking that maybe its time i should introduce some sentences to him .. with the big words. So that it comes together a bit for him.  The speed he picked up the word digger was quite amazing / not just on the card i made, but even if i write it on a magnadoodle, and it was because this is something he is interested in at the moment. He is also interesting in things that  need a sentence .. like 'putting things in the bin" ... so i am sure a large sentance saying "put it in the bin" would be really interesting for him

Winston was constantly bring me books to read to him today .. .all those in the picture.. and some of the those twice or more (Elmer and the lost teddy, mimbo jimbo and pino).

Me and Caroline were both a bit ill today ... i slept next to Winston for both his naps (i don't think i have ever slept twice in one day before, so something must have been wrong!)

some more words Winston can read

I cant be sure that once he shows that he knows a word, he remembers it, or if he forgets it quite quickly.


Anyway, today it was clear that he can read PIANO , BIN and  DIGGER (which he tries to say),

A video of Winston reading some words

I made this book for Winston some time ago. He likes it, and gets excited when I show it to him... normally he does the hammer motion when he sees this book  or similar ones i have made since.

This film shows some words Winston can read now - just short of 14 months.

He cant speak... but the noises he makes are his versions of the words for those items, so i can be sure he is reading and understanding the words.

sweetcorn is a bit long and difficult, and pen just doesnt get said that much (or not enthusiastically enough ) ! 

Winston can read his own name

He gave me "Elmer and the stranger" to read.

I opened it (see the picture of the first page).  He pointed at his name  and  said something that was clearly meant to be "Winston" ...  anyway 2 syllables and a sort of ST sound in the middle.

We looked around a couple of houses today in the Åsa region, looking to buy something that will fit our growing family and our business.

Winston seems to have picked up the word chair ... he says something like "air" and points, or goes up and pats chairs.

We also went to the see today. To a rocky place (nature area just north of Åsa)  where he didnt mind the waves coming over his feet .. he even had a big smile on the bigger waves.. then later to a sandy beach, where he was quite happy to walk on the sand  - a week ago in Poland he was quite hesistant.

playdoh

I just made some playdoh!

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Make-Playdough-Play-doh/

It took about 10 minutes

I could only find red coluoring and some tumeric for the yellow - so have kept half of it white for next time i go to the shops and can buy some funky colours.

when Winston wakes up, we can play with it ... i have might have a go first though!

Well me and linka had some fun with it... Winston was more interested in throwing it on the floor carrying it to the bin  -  he likes bins .

back on the words again

After a break of about a week, i have started Winston on the words again.

I have now got a quicker technique of showing the words, and so far he has really enjoyed it.

He is a busy boy, so it works best either when he is in the car in his car seat, or  in his high chair before and after dinner... basically when he is captive.

90% of the time he is pointing at stuff ... often he uses both hands to point at 2 different things at the same time.

Today when i showed him his Hammer book ... we went through it.. i left a small pause before saying the words to give him a chance if he wanted to do anything.  and on the pages CAT, CAR and BUS ... he said   AT ... ARRR and B   ... which is his spoken versions of these words.

B seems to fit quite a few things ... like  bin, bus, banana ....  and if a bus and a banana are not in eyesight and a bin is.. why not use B for the word bin .... it saves time :)

As he seems to like it faster, i will introduce 2 new words in each category tomorrow.

I was reading NOSE IS NOT TOES to Winston last night .. and he was pointing at the words ..which he hasnt done with any other books so far.... i think it shows that he appreciates they are siginificant.

numbers

I am showing winston numbers today. He is 1year 1month 1week old.

I do a combination of simply holding up the dot card and saying the number... And holding up 2 dot cards and saing "where's 2?" for example. I always make it super obvious which one is correct and give a big cheer when he grabs it. This seems to keep him keen.... Maybe it is worth doing something similar with the words.

He clearly knows the quantity 1 and i think 2... Not 3 yet. He has a big smile when he point confidently at 1 :)

reading

Winston can read the words tree and car (and knows what they are). He says ARRR for car and EEEE for tree.

We think hes a bit bored of words now.... So we will do the numbers for a few days until he seems keen on the words again.

Some teeth coming through meant him and jus didmt get too much sleep last night.

4 days in a row

4 days in a row doing all 5 sets of 5 words 3 times each.

Winston seems to like it more when it is consistent.

He also seems to like it more when mummy does it rather than Daddy. ... perhaps she is more joyful :)

My aim is once this becomes a no hassle habit, to introduce the maths again.


For speaking Winston says an approximation of GUNGA (Swing in English).  He loves going on the swings.

He can point to his ears and  once his nose .. so maybe he knows what they are.   I have to try to keep in mind that the only English he gets is from me, and he spends more time in Swedish than English.

fell in the water

Doman method and piano

We spent nearly the whole day at home today, so it was easy to complete the 5 sets of words 3 times each ... With the help of a countdown app.

Unrelated to doman methods...Winston was deliberately pressing individual notes on his Melissa and Doug 2 octave mini piano. Up until now he has just bashed it at random.

He understands SIT DOWN. I think he can read it too.... But am not sure.

We've been around the house putting labels on many item..in 3cm high text in Swedish and English. It looks like a house for the chronically forgetful now!

Winstons low point of the day was when he pissed by his piano, then tried to climb on to it and slipped backwards in his puddle of piss..

News of the day.....Baby no.2 is due in December

car and fingers

C or K is obviously a hard sound to make.

My parents gave Winston a big basket of diecast cars to flick through.  He examined each one and chucked it aside.  On many of them i would tell him CAR or TRUCK or CEMENT MIXER.  Now combined with his new pointing skill... any cars that he sees  , he points at and shouts ARR ... sounds  like a pirate.    I dont think he would get bored of standing next to the motorway announcing all the cars that went past!

When he sees the word FINGERS Winston wiggles his fingers.

I've also noticed that when he sees the book with the word HAMMER on the front , he does the hammer action, regardless of what page its on .. so clearly relates the word to the whole book rather than the page with the word HAMMER printed on it.

He is still pointing to books and calling them UMAs  (a distortion of ELMER , as in Elmer the elephant) ..

In the last few days Winston has been picking up books and chucking them at me because he wants me to read them to him.

Hardly done any words for the last week, due to travelling and visiting .. looking forward to see how keen Winston is when they get back from Stockholm.

Sicily...

pointing

Winston has started to point with his index finger. He is enjoying testing his new ability.

Winston can read the word CAT

He says ... sort of AT ... when he sees it

a book that i made for Winston

He likes this and when he sees the word "hammer" he starts hammering with an imaginery hammer .

He seems to enjoy the format more than with the cards just showing words, so i will be making more 'books' ..

http://www.mypashmina.co.uk/winston/book1.pdf
40 pages - pdf - 1.81mb

Life with a Kindergartner (Gentle Revolution Homeschooling): The Math Mystery

Life with a Kindergartner (Gentle Revolution Homeschooling): The Math Mystery

New word cards

We decided that the giant red word cars are too big and inconvenient. This is really causing the lessons to be sporadic.... And really making all the errors doman advises against.

I am happy that Winston will have no trouble with 200pt comic sans on hAlf a4 sheets... Since yesterday he wAs spotting babies coming from a good 200m away.

I have more card on order (400 sheets)

Winston is enjoying choosing 1 of2 number cards.

Toilet news

back on track today...

1 miss only .. and all the rest outside the pants

1st ever shoes

2nd hand Kavat sandals. 225kr.

toilet

The last few days it has become tricky to get Winston to use potty.

However he has used the mini toilet seat on the real toilet twice so far today and once yesterday. Perhaps hes just had enough of the potty and wants to be more like mummy and daddy now.

Swimming

This week we have swimming (re-swims) everyday as we have missedd all the previous wednesdays through illness.  The cold arises on Wednesdays.

WInston is so relaxed in the water. no proiblems going underwater or hanging on to my back.

He doesnt kick!  We need to train him to kick - by only moving him forwards when he kicks or moving his legs at the same time as moving him forwards.

8th tooth

Wintons 8th tooth is coming

1st post

Winston is eleven and a half months old.

He can say:
 Mama ..and variations .. mamamamaamama muu ma me .. he does a good growly voice  mama which is quite well pronounced
Dada .. and variations .. dadadadadeedapadpdaa
Ba .... for banana
Ömer .... for Elmer (as in the elephant books) .. but he uses it generally to mean books.. and more excitedly when he sees an Elmer book or the word Elmer
mmmmm .. for each mouthful of food - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVM5q4oMQXM

He can read .. or has previously been able to read (Doman says that one shouldnt go back to old words and test him)
mamma - I know because he looked at the word and said it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5qE9F42Hbc
squeeze - i know because he smiles when he sees the word because he knows a big squeeze is coming
skratta - laugh in swedish .. he laughs when he sees it
laugh - he laughs when he sees it
I am also teaching Winston  numbers using the Doman method ... no idea if he understands any numbers yet but he seems quite interested in them.

He can understand ..
Today he understood "give mummy the sock" (said by daddy) . I would say that is the most complex sentence he has clearly understood .


Toilet (Elimination communication - elimination as in eliminating the waste from the body... strange phrase)
He usually tells us when he wants a wee .. often he will crawl up to me grab my trousers and say "ah ah ah" or something. Today was a bad day and most wees were in his training pants, however usually its only 1 or 2 wees in the training pants each day, and poos are outside the toilet/potty/sink (yuk) only once every two weeks. http://www.diaperfreebaby.org/

Eating
I reckon about 85% of his calories still comes from breast milk. At (non-boob) mealtimes about 90% of the food goes on the floor. He loves sweetcorn. Quite likes curry. He enjoys sucking a lemon. He mainly seems to suck on stuff then spit  it out. I suppose because he has no back teeth yet, so chewing doesnt work. However enough food seesm to find its way in to his poo.. so he must be swallowing quite a bit. http://www.babyledweaning.com/

Transport
We are selling our pram.. as we use slings..its so much more convenient... he gets to see more.. he can sleep better.. its good for the relationship... and carrying 10kg of Winston on the back is quite healthy too.