Oh, and Ana's brilliant.
Apr. 21st, 2006 11:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
conuly
We've been working big-time on the letters - identifying letters we see when out and about, pointing to letters when reading (Can you find the P? No... no... YES! That's the puh-puh-puh-P! P for pie! Here, do the nifty handshape!), asking Ana to help me point (I hold her hand and run it along the words as I read). And, of course, spelling out words we don't want her to understand. Why do we want to teach her her letters, again?
It's all low-key, of course. If she doesn't want to do any of these things, she doesn't have to. It's supposed to be fun.
When I was little, my mom taught me the ASL alphabet. Most of it - I'm really shaky on P, though I've finally got Q figured out. I was so proud I could spell my name in sign.
So, when showing letters to Ana, I show her the handshape, and ask her to make it with me. I prompt her with the handshape and "It's buh buh buh... bee" and such.
And I didn't think any of this was bearing fruit. It was just a way to pass the time.
Today, Ana and I made a pretzel in the shape of the letter A. She must've remembered, because when we played with playdough later, she wanted me to shape my lump into a letter, the letter C. So I did, and sang the "Cookie starts with C" song a bit, and told her that Connie starts with C! She got very enthused... "AND ANA!"
Me: No, sweetie, Ana starts with (A handshape)... (just as I am about to say "A")
Ana: Oh, it's an A!
Me: *blinkblinkblink* (I was literally struck dumb)
Hand: *B-shape!*
Me: Ana? What letter is this?
Ana: That's a B, Connie.
Me: Uh... okay....
Apparently, she's learned some of her letters in sign instead of in print. (She later identified X and O on a tic-tac-toe board. X? Of all things, X? That's one we're not looking for a lot.... And she recognized it first, too. She only got "O" when I prompted her with the fingerspelling)
But this was all topped when I asked Jenn if she'd go to the p-l-a-y later, and Ana piped up "Oh! Mommy, you wanna go to playground?"
(Probably, she either just guessed from context, or has memorized that specific set of letters without knowing what it means... but it was still really cool)
Oh, and her toilet training continues apace...
Me: Ana? Do you need to sit on the toilet?
Ana: No.
Me: Are you suuuuuure?
Ana: Course I'm sure.
Me: *checks clock* Well... okay. But remember, if you go pee-pee in the panties, we have to take them off. We don't want them to get wet. If you need to go pee-pee, try to go on the toilet, okay?
Ana: Okay.
Clock: *blinks*
Time: *flies*
Ana: *jumps around a lot* (suddenly...) muttermuttermutterNobody's gonna take my panties offmuttermutter *stompstompstomp*
Me: Uh, Ana...? Where are you going?
Ana: To the bathroom. You stay with Eva. *sits on toilet and pees*
Toilet: *flushes*
Hands: *one washes the other*
And here I thought she still wasn't there... I was wrong.
It's all low-key, of course. If she doesn't want to do any of these things, she doesn't have to. It's supposed to be fun.
When I was little, my mom taught me the ASL alphabet. Most of it - I'm really shaky on P, though I've finally got Q figured out. I was so proud I could spell my name in sign.
So, when showing letters to Ana, I show her the handshape, and ask her to make it with me. I prompt her with the handshape and "It's buh buh buh... bee" and such.
And I didn't think any of this was bearing fruit. It was just a way to pass the time.
Today, Ana and I made a pretzel in the shape of the letter A. She must've remembered, because when we played with playdough later, she wanted me to shape my lump into a letter, the letter C. So I did, and sang the "Cookie starts with C" song a bit, and told her that Connie starts with C! She got very enthused... "AND ANA!"
Me: No, sweetie, Ana starts with (A handshape)... (just as I am about to say "A")
Ana: Oh, it's an A!
Me: *blinkblinkblink* (I was literally struck dumb)
Hand: *B-shape!*
Me: Ana? What letter is this?
Ana: That's a B, Connie.
Me: Uh... okay....
Apparently, she's learned some of her letters in sign instead of in print. (She later identified X and O on a tic-tac-toe board. X? Of all things, X? That's one we're not looking for a lot.... And she recognized it first, too. She only got "O" when I prompted her with the fingerspelling)
But this was all topped when I asked Jenn if she'd go to the p-l-a-y later, and Ana piped up "Oh! Mommy, you wanna go to playground?"
(Probably, she either just guessed from context, or has memorized that specific set of letters without knowing what it means... but it was still really cool)
Oh, and her toilet training continues apace...
Me: Ana? Do you need to sit on the toilet?
Ana: No.
Me: Are you suuuuuure?
Ana: Course I'm sure.
Me: *checks clock* Well... okay. But remember, if you go pee-pee in the panties, we have to take them off. We don't want them to get wet. If you need to go pee-pee, try to go on the toilet, okay?
Ana: Okay.
Clock: *blinks*
Time: *flies*
Ana: *jumps around a lot* (suddenly...) muttermuttermutterNobody's gonna take my panties offmuttermutter *stompstompstomp*
Me: Uh, Ana...? Where are you going?
Ana: To the bathroom. You stay with Eva. *sits on toilet and pees*
Toilet: *flushes*
Hands: *one washes the other*
And here I thought she still wasn't there... I was wrong.
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no subject
Date: 2006-04-22 02:34 pm (UTC)My children catch on to it fairly quickly, so it's working ;)
no subject
Date: 2006-04-22 11:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-22 02:34 pm (UTC)My children catch on to it fairly quickly, so it's working ;)
no subject
Date: 2006-04-22 11:31 pm (UTC)