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 ) !