Ella is amazing me with what she knows and can do! When she "reads" books she has started (thanks to Dad's teaching) pointing to each word and making some kind of sound for each word. It amazed me because if there was just one word on a page she'd just say one word and move on-she actually gets that each word makes
a sound not a paragraph worth of words. It's really exciting to watch her little brain work. Chris read about how pointing to words as you read to your kids allows them to understand the concept of reading sooner and they then learn to read earlier. Go Ella!
Also, this morning I was counting animals
out loud on a page of her book and I got to six and she picked up pointing to each animal and said "eight, nine, ten" clear as day! She skipped seven but who needs seven anyway.
She's also much more confident in trying to say almost any word. She used to only say words she knew but now she'll repeat almost anything (usually the right number of syllables but depending on the letters involved, it may not sound anything like what you just said). She doesn't say many words with p, j, l, s and probably others. I've heard her say all these sounds but I think they're harder for her so she skips them. For instance, "sun" is "
hun." She has started saying "bye bye" instead of "dye" (thanks to Amy for getting her excited about saying "
babababa-bye" which she practices in her crib during naps). She still insists on "
dady" instead of "baby" but she'll get there.
Words/phrases she has added to her repertoire....
Monkey
bird
playground
chicken
Chris (her cousin, not daddy)
read a book
raleigh is outside
in your crate (a command she gives the dogs-wonder where she heard that?)
tv (not ideal, I know)
possessives-
ella's toy, mommy's car,
lexie's book
color (she loves coloring these days)
probably lots more that I can't think of right now....more later....
She's also obsessed with buckles. She has been for a few weeks now. Anywhere we go she goes around to high chairs, infant car seats, anything that has a buckle and faithfully buckles them all. I can shop in kids stores because she just goes down the row of car seats and does all the buckles!
Her cutest habit these days is sitting down somewhere and then pointing or patting the seat next to her and saying "mommy sit down?" or "daddy here?" It's really the cutest thing ever, especially because no one taught it to her (not on purpose anyway) so I don't mind stopping to sit next to her when she sits on the bottom step of every staircase we encounter or on the couch or really anywhere. I'm gonna enjoy every one of these days when sitting next to mom is still cool :-)
