Time for Questions

So, this is a little bit of a crazy week for us. It's daddy's heavy week at work, I've got papers to write and final portfolios to grade, and Timothy's just along for the ride...

We might not get a chance to update as much as we want to, but we would like to set up a thread for you all to ask questions.

Come on - I know you've got some. You might have been wondering how we met. Or what type of ice cream we like. Or what Timothy's all-time favorite set of Bits have been.

Ask away, and then when life slows down we'll gladly answer!!

PlayDoh Party

We had a PlayDoh party!! Mommy bought some PlayDoh accessories that were on clearance, and we had a great time. We started with blue and yellow PlayDoh...but then we ended with green!!

We talked about longer/shorter and Timothy signed and said all the colors.

An easy, fun activity.

French...ha ha!

Last night in the car, daddy and I were havnig a conversation about Timothy's language abilities. We thought Timothy wasn't paying attention, but he must have been listening to us.

David said that he would like for Timothy to learn French, but I said I really didn't care if he learned French.

"He'd love learning French" David argued.

I still shook my head, arguing that English, Spanish, and Chinese are spoken all over the world but French is only spoken in 1-2 countries (plus, 3 languages is just ENOUGH right now)!!

Timothy must have remembered our conversation last night, because he dug in our movie cabinet and in the very, very back we had a Brainy Baby French video still in the wrapper. He brought it to us a few moments ago. "French?" he said.

I told him we weren't going to watch that and he started screaming FRENCH FRENCH FRENCH

So now we're watching Les mains and bleu and pommes

But I still have no intentions of doing French....


Edited to add - he just put the Brainy Baby French video back on (yes...he's still up) and he's actually sitting in front of the tv repeating most of the words (in French). We've NEVER seen him do this with anything in English or Chinese (he repeats in Spanish). So that's awesome...we're just in awe. It seems like his French pronunciation is better than his English!! I guess it doesn't hurt to let him watch this one.

Languages - English, Spanish...and Chinese!

We talked to Maria yesterday...and she's was fine with everything!! So, Timothy will continue to get his Spanish exposure and we'll continue to enjoy great childcare and she'll continue to enjoy our son.

She's coming this Monday from 9-2.

Tomorrow at 1, we have a meeting with the principal of the local high school to discuss our new foreign exchange student. We're really excited about this!

We went ahead and bought Muzzy Chinese for us to do whenever we're in the car. It is a little bit expensive, but it was on sale 25% off and even came with the doll. I got it new cheaper than they sell on eBay used. It's supposed to be delivered this week.

So, I'm thrilled. Timothy gets consistent exposure to Spanish (conversational, music, movies) and now he'll have consistent exposure to Chinese. Then, we'll even have a Chinese speaker living with us this August!

I have no doubt Timothy fluently *understands* English and Spanish. Chinese, obviously, is his weakest language...but we're going to try to remedy that!

Sensory-Motor

We've had a sensory motor day today!!

We opened up a bag of rice and put it in a tub. We gave Timothy a spoon and he had a GREAT time spooning it all out onto the carpet. Perhaps this is a better game to play outside??

Of course, then he was happy because we got to vacuum.

But it was good sensory/tactile activity and it kept him busy for about an hour. He did GREAT with the spoon, too!

Fun, fun, fun!

Can't find my camera, so I didn't take any pictures...I just sat and enjoyed it (we talked about how people used to throw rice at weddings, how some cultures eat large amounts of rice, how rice is grown in very wet areas...).

Timothy's First Movie

Ok...*technically* it isn't his first movie because when he was 3 weeks old we took him to the drive in (and he slept the whole time).

BUT this was the first movie that he's watched in the theatre. We saw Alvin and the Chipmunks.

I thought it was a cartoon, but it wasn't...even so, he did really well. We made it through the first hour before he waved and said "Bye bye Chipmunks" and was ready to GO.

Now I wonder how the movie ends...

State Park

Yesterday, we woke up and did all of our cards several times. We've reduced our cards per day to three sets of three, and we show them 5 or more times per day and just retire them after one day.

I think this is the right amount, because when we're done Timothy always says and signs "more"! We say "not right now...we'll do more later."

We spent the afternoon with grandma and pop at the state park...and Timothy just loved it. Being in nature, walking, exploring...there's nothing better than that in the world!!

Who Am I?

Dear Timothy,

One day, you're going to ask me what you were like when you were little. Well, I can tell you what you're like right now.

You're precious. When you smile, it brightens up my day. I've never seen you smile at anyone without getting a big smile in return.

You're very interested in music. You'll play any instrument you see. When we're driving in the car, you get very upset when a song ends on the radio...you don't like the music to stop! You make an instrument out of found object, such as by tapping a stick on a metal pot. You always smile so big when you create an instrument. The other day, we went to a soccer game and sat right behind the band drumline. You loved watching them play the drums! I don't think you looked at the soccer game one time...you just sat on my lap and watched them play their instrumetns.

You're very friendly. When we go to a restaurant, you play peek a boo with the people at the booth next to us. You wave to people in the grocery store. You smile at the waitress.

You're a little bit shy. While you really love adults, sometimes you don't know how to react to other children. You are fine playing in the same room with a child and you watch children closely, but you never go up and initiate play. If a little boy takes your toy, you never become upset or cry. You love to watch children play at the playground, but you don't necessarily play with them.

You're very polite!! Your favorite words right now are "thank you" and "bless you" and "excuse me." When we check out at the grocery store, you always say "thank you." So many times you make the cashier laugh because you're so little but also so polite! You'll say "bless you" to people if you hear them sneeze.

You love technology, especially vacuums (what else?). You treat the vacuums like a child might treat a dog...especially roomba. You care for roomba and are very concerned if it makes an error tone.

You're fabulous in math. You count along with us. When we say "One, two..." you'll scream out "Three." The other day, I turned on the bubble machine and, just joking, said "How many bubbles?" You said "nine." I said "There's more than nine." You said "nine-TY." Of course, who knows how many bubbles there actually were!!

You're very good at figuring things out. You don't come and ask us for help as often as most children do, but rather stay at one task until you figure it out (or get frustrated and run into the corner and cry). You can open a child-locked medicine bottle (and you're not even two). You can get through the child locks on the door. You don't play with toys that often...you prefer to work with things around the house. You love to push around a measuring wheel that we once used to measure the distance you crawled.

You help around the house. You like to do what we're doing. You help take the clothes out of the dryer (and put things in). You like to stand on a chair while we cook in the morning (and you say "hot"). You like to use mops and brooms. You get out the little vacuum for the smallest mess. Of course, you also make big messes just so roomba can have something to clean up...

You're determined but another word for that might be stubborn. You're not easily distracted. If you want something, I can't just pull out another toy and make you happy - you want what you want NOW.

You're inquisitive. You're always watching us...always. Even when we don't realize it. I think this might get us into trouble later on...

You're fabulous, Timothy, and we couldn't be any happier with you!!

A Childcare Conundrum

Our schedule has always worked well so far. The first year after Timothy was born, I taught online classes and stayed home with him. After that, I've taught 2 days a week. David's rotating schedule made it where we only needed childcare 1 day a week, and Maria was more than willing to come and watch Timothy (and he learned a second language and got GREAT care). It's been fabulous...he never spent a minute in daycare (besides our brief 3-week failed attempt at mothers-day-out).

Now, howevever, we found out that David is changing to night shift...and we only have one week to figure out childcare arrangments. A week isn't much time!!

David will need to sleep during the day, and obviously watching Timothy won't exactly facilitate sleep.

BUT we also don't think Maria will feel comfortable watching Timothy in our home while David sleeps in the bedroom.

Maria lives in a small apartment that isn't child-friendly.

We have few other choices!!

Put an ad in the paper looking for someone who would be comfortable watching Timothy while David sleeps? Rent out a motel so that David can sleep and Maria can watch Timothy at home?

I don't know!!! But we've got to figure it all out quickly!!

Children's Museum of Memphis

Here is mommy and Timothy at the Chidlren's Museum of Memphis!

We had a fun time...but it was extremely crowded!!

Swimming

I was just going through old photos and I realized I have a couple sets of pictures from our trip that I haven't uploaded yet.

I know they are a few weeks late, but better late than never!!

Here is Timothy swimming in the wading pool at the hotel...he was SO happy. He enjoys the water!!

I think this summer we will have to take swimming lessons again (or join the local health club that has an indoor pool) because he loves the water so much.

Our New Son

We have decided to open up our home to a foreign exchange student, and our new son will be arriving from China in August to spend a year with us!!

I know that it will be a great experience for us all, especially since Timothy is learning the Chinese language. I think we will enjoy the experience.

We're very excited about this new adventure in our lives...only 4 more months!!

Tactus

This morning, Timothy was playing around (we had a rough night last night, but he's up and playing today) and he climbed into his stroller all by himself.

He started fussing and whining, so I went and picked him up (thinking he was stuck). He became HYSTERICAL screaming "Tactus, tactus, tactus."

Silly mom that *I* am, I thought he was saying CACTUS!

Of course, I quickly realized that he was saying "practice" and he was wanting to PRACTICE clicking the seatbelt in the stroller.

Daddy always telling Timothy "Practice makes perfect - just keep trying!" when Timothy gets frustrated.

SICK

Sorry no recent updates...we've been SICK!!

Actually, Timothy and David have been sick...I took Airborne and Zicam and I have managed to not get sick (so far).

The only good thing about Timothy being sick is that he's been clingy and we've got to spend a lot of relaxation time together. He's been SOOOO verbal, too.

Timothy, what are these?
Dinosaurs.
How many are there?
Two.
How many now?
Six.

The bad thing about Timothy being sick is that we've watched a lot of television. I know, we should spent all day reading or something...but we didn't. We've been watching Plaza Sesamo.

Speaking of Spanish, Timothy seems to have normal language-switching issues (I've studied language acquisition and processing in grad school). He'll say "more agua" or he'll say "water agua" or "bye manana". It's not a great thing, but it does show that he's learning language normally (kids do this for awhile).

To me, normal is good - especially with language, since Timothy was once delayed in language. Quite especially with TWO languages.

And we're getting more two-word phrases often now. His favorite?

Thank You
Bless You
Ewww...yuck
More banana
Hasta Luego
Bye Bye
All Done

He's SO silly

We get a lot of negative comments.

I really don't know why, but most people who are against Doman seem to think that the child isn't allowed to be a child, that we strap him in a desk all day and make him solve math problems or something.

I think that maybe a lot of the negative feelings towards Doman come from people's negative experiences in traditional schooling. In school, teachers are always looking for what you DON'T know. When you get a question wrong, you get a big fat red X, but when you get a question right nobody cares. What we do is actually the opposite of that. We do high-fives if he's right and laugh it off if he's wrong. We're having fun learning...there's no pressure and no stress. And Timothy LIKES to learn.

Even though he's a little thinker, though, Timothy's still VERY silly. He's started to be a "ham" lately, to do anything he can to make us laugh. Above, please enjoy two moments of silliness from our trip: Timothy put all of mommy's panties on his head, and then he stuck popcorn up his nose!

International Festival

Daddy and Timothy had a great time at the International Festival. Timothy was one of the few children there, so he got a ton of attention.

They tried foods from lots of different countries. Timothy's favorite was from India, and daddy's favorite was food from Nepal.

Then, they spent some time at the Children's Museum (mommy was busy conferencing).

They played in the plane for a long time, and daddy was trying to get Timothy to pretend. "We're going to the Northernmost state in the continental United States, Timothy!! Let's fly to Maine!!"

Then daddy started asking Timothy "Where are the clouds? We're very high in the air, where are the clouds?"

Timothy ran out of the plane and across the museum to the window and pointed up at the clouds.

Silly daddy, clouds are outside....

Alphabet

We've also slowly been introducing the alphabet, here. We wanted to wait on the alphabet for as long as we could, but I started to feel that he was ready. He knows thousands of single words now, so I think he can handle learning the individual letters.

We did all the lower-case first. Today, we've been playing with cards that have both uppercase and lowercase on them, and he's been enjoying it. He can point to "T" on his alphabet poster and the letter that starts words like "ice" and "milk."

I really wish that he'd spontaneously read things more. He sometimes will read a word when we're in the store or something, and it always makes me feel great. "He's really getting it!!"

I'm absolutely convinced that he can read (words we've shown him), but I still wish my little not-month-20-month-old would "prove it" by reading aloud more. That would show all the nay-sayers who scoff at us!!

Oh, well...we take what we can get. And, really, Timothy's given us soooo much. :-)

International Festival

It's raining, it's pouring here.

Today, we're taking Timothy to a multicultural festival.

They're having a flag parade, dances from different cultures, foods from different countries, and lots to see and do. I hope that he enjoys it! 41 different countries will be represented.

Here's the info I have on it:

The Festival is co-sponsored by the International Student Services Office (ISSO) and the Association of International Student (AIS) to provide the opportunity for all students to represent and showcase their countries with their presence and their unique cultures. The activities in the Festival include the Flag Parade; exotic food tasting; arts, crafts, and culture display; and talent show on stage. Schedule 11:00 a.m.-11:30 a.m. Flag parade outside around campus (if weather permits) 11:30 a.m.-2:00 p.m. • Flag Procession • Ethnic Food Sampling • Cultural Display • Student Talent Show

Bits Swap

If you're a member of childbrain.org, you've probably noticed that the site is down. This comes at a very bad time, especially since I've been organizing a Bits swap that was supposed to start yesterday. I hope that the website will be up and running again very soon.

If you were going to participate in the swap and happen to be reading my blog, please email me (address in comments). I'm also sending all participants a letter via US mail (I have your mailing address, just not your email address).

Drats!!