So, we're sitting at the dinner table tonight chatting about our days and to give kudos for something Ella did well today Chris offered her a fist bump and she started to move towards him with her fist balled but then stared at his fist, paused, pulled back, hesitated then said "Hey! Ms.Tiffany (her preschool teacher) says that's another way to say the letter A!!" It took Chris and I a second to realize she was talking about the sign language alphabet and she was completely right!
This began one of the most adorable, amusing dinners I've had in a long time. Chris proceeded to ask Ella if she wanted to learn the next letter and she was thrilled to learn B, then C, then D. I also was so impressed that Chris knows the entire sign language alphabet that I was on he edge of my seat to be reminded of each one. We also started occasionally requiring Ella to eat a piece of chicken or a green bean or a bite of her "burrito" (really a potsticker but she insisted it was a Chinese burrito) to get the next letter. 20 minutes later Ella ate ALL of her dinner (virtually unheard of here) and we all learned to sign all the letters! At some point in the middle I was saying something to Chris and Ella interrupts us to say "Dad! Dad! You are FABULOUS at the alphabet!" My heart really melted to see all of us so excited to learn together and just be together and enjoy each other. At least for now, I REALLY love my little 3 person family. We're a perfect fit for each other.
Showing posts with label alphabet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label alphabet. Show all posts
Friday, September 25, 2009
Monday, March 9, 2009
ABCs!!
Ella has been honing her pronunciation of each letter and recognizing each one accurately-she's doing great! Enjoy!
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Three Cheers for the Letter Factory
I posted a few weeks ago about how Ella had just borrowed the Leap Frog Letter Factory video from Aunt Amy and how she LOVED it. I am here to proclaim the wonders of this video. It's been six weeks and she's probably seen the video 25 times and SHE KNOWS ALL OF HER LETTERS. AND the sounds they make. Pre-video, she could reliably identify "o" and "e" (her letter, as she so affectionately calls it). And, she had NO interest in learning letters. We had talking magnet letters, foam bath toy letters, letter flashcards and she never cared about them at all. We never pushed them on her because she's two so it doesn't really matter if she knows letters. However, it was always in the back of my mind that her friend Lexi has known all the letters for a year! I knew Ella was capable, I just wondered when she'd show enough interest to learn. Well, in stepped Tad, Lilly, and Leap (frogs in the video) and voila...interest galore. Now it hasn't been the video alone that taught her the letters (though I'd give it about 70% of the credit) but it got her interested so that now, she'll sit with me and "read" letters forever.
One of the cutest things about her new found skill is the residue from the video. For instance, she had trouble saying "t" without calling it "tapping t" (it tap dances in the video). And if you ask her what sound "O" makes she'll make a two-pitch "O" sound that sounds like a tarzan yell because that's what O does in the video. She shivers when ever she makes a "C-c-c" sound and says "wuh-wuh-wuh" while bobbing her head like a the Dj/rapper "W" in the video. She's also taken to saying "Okie dokie artichokie" like the frog in the video. It's all just so cute!
To encourage her new learning, we got out our old laptop too and deemed it "Ella's" and she's been requesting words she wants to type, we tell her the letters, she finds them on the keyboard, types them and then gets so excited!! She's typed all of our names and for some reason, always wants to type "tummy" and gets very upset that there's no "E" in it (because it's her letter and I agree, it sounds like it should have one).
So, all this to say, this is my first real experience with an educational video actually educating my child and even better, opening the door for me to teach her. I'm thrilled.
One of the cutest things about her new found skill is the residue from the video. For instance, she had trouble saying "t" without calling it "tapping t" (it tap dances in the video). And if you ask her what sound "O" makes she'll make a two-pitch "O" sound that sounds like a tarzan yell because that's what O does in the video. She shivers when ever she makes a "C-c-c" sound and says "wuh-wuh-wuh" while bobbing her head like a the Dj/rapper "W" in the video. She's also taken to saying "Okie dokie artichokie" like the frog in the video. It's all just so cute!
To encourage her new learning, we got out our old laptop too and deemed it "Ella's" and she's been requesting words she wants to type, we tell her the letters, she finds them on the keyboard, types them and then gets so excited!! She's typed all of our names and for some reason, always wants to type "tummy" and gets very upset that there's no "E" in it (because it's her letter and I agree, it sounds like it should have one).
So, all this to say, this is my first real experience with an educational video actually educating my child and even better, opening the door for me to teach her. I'm thrilled.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Ella's Words
So this blog is sometimes for other people to be amused by cute things Ella does but I really started it as a record for myself so I'd remember what she did at different times. So, I apologize if it's not amusing today (or other times) but that's a lot of pressure and I really just want to write everything I think of because I'm sure I won't remember it by next week. So, here's what she's been up to...
Ella has an in home evaluation every other month by a teacher for the deaf and hard of hearing in our county. This time her audiologist came also and both were very impressed by her! Developmentally she's doing all of the things a 24 month old should be doing and a bunch of the 30month things too! (She's 22 months old now). Her speech and comprehension are ahead for her age too. The summer has been full of activities that are not good for hearing aid wearing but I'm hoping to be better about having them on her as much as possible.
Chris and I have also been pretty awed lately by Ella's speech and comprehension. She is saying the entire alphabet (LMNOP gets a little slurred) and counts to 10 (somehow almost all the numbers sound like they start with "H" but that's ok). All of it is recognizable by her tone but all with a "toddler" accent which means it's a little garbled and there's some letter switching but apparently that's normal. The audiologist said that kids don't develop all of the sounds in the English language until age 8! She said pretty much every 3 year old (with normal hearing) will say they are "free" years old. Anyway, Ella is picking up new words literally every day.
She's also learning new concepts that go with words-for instance, I got some books for her at the library and asked if she wanted to read her "new" books. The next day I showed her some clothes I got at the store and she said "oooo, new clothes." She's surprised me and proven since then that she gets what "new" means, not just a word to go in front of books. It's exciting to see how much she can understand now and remember. She's been telling everyone all week that Brooklyn is at Nana's house (one of our dogs went to go live with Chris' parents-a great deal for everyone involved). It kinda sounds like "Broo-lin ziz a Nana how" but it totally counts in my book. She told the audiologist that and she furiously scribbled notes about how Ella said a 5 word sentence (apparently 4 words together by the time they're 3 is the goal).
She's also catching on to being polite. She's starting to say "please" and "thank you" and "sorry" without being prompted. When she doesn't want to hold something in her car seat anymore (cup, book etc.) she's been saying "NO NO" louder and louder until I take it from her (I'm trying to decide if that's better than just throwing it on the floor). It's pretty frustrating though because I can't always reach back and take whatever it is right away so I've been asking her to nicely tell me that she's "all done" and hold it or wait for me to take it. Well yesterday she started saying something over and over and I couldn't turn around and started telling her to stop yelling at mommy until I realized she was saying "No thank you, NO thank you" and holding her cup out for me to take. I felt sheepish for getting upset when she was using her "nice words" so I took the cup and praised her for saying it nicely. She's just so cute sometimes!
She also has been saying "excuse me" a lot (to the dog, to chairs, anything in her way) and then "thank you" when the dog or person moves (the inanimate objects just get shoved away). She also says "hold it?" when she sees something she wants to touch or when she's done she'll say "Mommy hold it?"
TOYS:ALERT-Ella doesn't like her toys. For the most part she won't play with anything for more than a few minutes. It's very frustrating. I'm going to get some new open storage bins and shelves so things are more accessible and easy to see and hopefully that will help. She loves toys at other people's houses but here, nope.
Oh, but she is fabulous at puzzles all of a sudden. A few weeks ago she didn't understand how to turn the pieces to make them fit so she just got frustrated and didn't want to play with them. Now she easily identifies the matching space for each piece and turns them until they fit. Amazing. She surprises me with little things like that she knows what it means if I say "turn it" and if I say "try turning the other way." I know they're small things but it makes my little heart happy to see her turn something the other way and realize my tiny child knows what "turn" and "other way" mean. Wow. She's amazing.
Ella has an in home evaluation every other month by a teacher for the deaf and hard of hearing in our county. This time her audiologist came also and both were very impressed by her! Developmentally she's doing all of the things a 24 month old should be doing and a bunch of the 30month things too! (She's 22 months old now). Her speech and comprehension are ahead for her age too. The summer has been full of activities that are not good for hearing aid wearing but I'm hoping to be better about having them on her as much as possible.
Chris and I have also been pretty awed lately by Ella's speech and comprehension. She is saying the entire alphabet (LMNOP gets a little slurred) and counts to 10 (somehow almost all the numbers sound like they start with "H" but that's ok). All of it is recognizable by her tone but all with a "toddler" accent which means it's a little garbled and there's some letter switching but apparently that's normal. The audiologist said that kids don't develop all of the sounds in the English language until age 8! She said pretty much every 3 year old (with normal hearing) will say they are "free" years old. Anyway, Ella is picking up new words literally every day.
She's also learning new concepts that go with words-for instance, I got some books for her at the library and asked if she wanted to read her "new" books. The next day I showed her some clothes I got at the store and she said "oooo, new clothes." She's surprised me and proven since then that she gets what "new" means, not just a word to go in front of books. It's exciting to see how much she can understand now and remember. She's been telling everyone all week that Brooklyn is at Nana's house (one of our dogs went to go live with Chris' parents-a great deal for everyone involved). It kinda sounds like "Broo-lin ziz a Nana how" but it totally counts in my book. She told the audiologist that and she furiously scribbled notes about how Ella said a 5 word sentence (apparently 4 words together by the time they're 3 is the goal).
She's also catching on to being polite. She's starting to say "please" and "thank you" and "sorry" without being prompted. When she doesn't want to hold something in her car seat anymore (cup, book etc.) she's been saying "NO NO" louder and louder until I take it from her (I'm trying to decide if that's better than just throwing it on the floor). It's pretty frustrating though because I can't always reach back and take whatever it is right away so I've been asking her to nicely tell me that she's "all done" and hold it or wait for me to take it. Well yesterday she started saying something over and over and I couldn't turn around and started telling her to stop yelling at mommy until I realized she was saying "No thank you, NO thank you" and holding her cup out for me to take. I felt sheepish for getting upset when she was using her "nice words" so I took the cup and praised her for saying it nicely. She's just so cute sometimes!
She also has been saying "excuse me" a lot (to the dog, to chairs, anything in her way) and then "thank you" when the dog or person moves (the inanimate objects just get shoved away). She also says "hold it?" when she sees something she wants to touch or when she's done she'll say "Mommy hold it?"
TOYS:ALERT-Ella doesn't like her toys. For the most part she won't play with anything for more than a few minutes. It's very frustrating. I'm going to get some new open storage bins and shelves so things are more accessible and easy to see and hopefully that will help. She loves toys at other people's houses but here, nope.
Oh, but she is fabulous at puzzles all of a sudden. A few weeks ago she didn't understand how to turn the pieces to make them fit so she just got frustrated and didn't want to play with them. Now she easily identifies the matching space for each piece and turns them until they fit. Amazing. She surprises me with little things like that she knows what it means if I say "turn it" and if I say "try turning the other way." I know they're small things but it makes my little heart happy to see her turn something the other way and realize my tiny child knows what "turn" and "other way" mean. Wow. She's amazing.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)