Hooked on Phonics

A while back I was introduced to Bob Books by Thingamababy.  His daughter began reading Bob Books at an early age.  Read about it here.  Shortly after learning about the books, I bought the first set.  We didn’t have much luck.  Over time they were mostly forgotten as other books became Tristan’s favorites.  Tristan was still interested in reading and eventually writing.

Here a month shy of three is his writing (mostly tracing) a few letters (he could write some letters without tracing, but this was the only time I bothered to take a picture of his writing):

Yes, he’s a lefty.  I was corrected by my mother-in-law.  Apparently, her mother and her grandmother were both lefty’s.  Now I know where he got it from. An oddity since I don’t know of any lefty’s on either side of the family.  

 

I did some searching for programs and sites that are kid friendly as Tristan became more interested in the computer.  I found www.starfall.com.  It focuses on literacy through phonetics.  Some parts of it is kind of cheesy, but to a three year old, it was something new and something Mommy and Daddy would allow him to play around with while on the computer.  I would let him play around on his own and with our guidance.  Before I knew it, he was pronouncing all the letters phonetically with amazing accuracy.  We revisited the Bob books and I was amazed that around the age of 3 1/2 he could read them.  With some assistance, he was able to get through the first set. 

 

For the last couple of weeks, I’d catch him sounding out words.  He would break them down and sound them out phonetically.  This morning I wanted to test his ability to spell words.  We talked a little bit about fire.  He was sounding the word out when I asked him to tell me the letters.  At first, he would just say the letters phonetically.  “Ffff”  “ahh”  “rrr”.  So, I had him type the letters. 

 

Here is what he spelled (correct spelling in parentheses):

 

FORR (fire)

 

FOOG (frog)

 

CAML (camel)

 

ELFANT (elephant)

 

FLOMEGOO (flamingo)

 

DOG (dog)

 

SNAC (snake)

 

CAT (cat)

 

.FINK (fink – correctly spelled – name comes from One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss)

 

SSOC (shark)

 

Tristan had always been interested in reading and writing.  I’m excited about his interest in spelling, too.  I haven’t tried to force the issue on him, but I do try to encourage it.  Lately, we’ve been reading Green Eggs and Ham almost every night before bedtime.  He loves the rhythm, rhymes and repetition.

More teeth...

So, Melayna has another tooth...well, now it is actually two more.

Friday, I discovered one of her two front teeth (on the top) had finally poked through her gums. Naturally, I wanted to take some pictures. But I'll get to that in a second.

So, today, I decided to post about the new tooth. I got home, got dinner on the table and set up Melayna in her chair with some noodles. That's when I noticed another little bit of white sticking out from her gums. I checked it out and sure enough there were two of her teeth poking through. Now my little girl has four teeth.

Back up a few days to when I was trying to take some pictures.


All I kept getting were pictures of stuff in her mouth, her trying to grab the camera strap, and not correctly centered. It was hard trying to take a picture and manage to get a wriggling infant to open her mouth and lay still.
Then I had an idea. I called Tristan over and had him stand just above her head with her toy in hand. Melayna loves her big brother. She loves to look at him, smile at him, squeal at him, and play with what he's playing with.


It worked perfectly! If you look closely at the one below, you can see the second tooth close to poking through.

I think we're in trouble now....

Remember my post about Melayna....so close to crawling? That was just a few weeks ago. Since then she's taken off.

About a week after that post she was officially crawling. Not the scooting around, but the full-on hands and knees motion.

Well, today we got an unexpected surprise.

Scott went in to our room to get the girlie (who woke up from her nap in a good mood). He then called me to come over quick.

This is what I saw....
Yes, she figured out how to pull herself up to a standing position all by herself. She isn't even eight months yet. We at least had time to get ready for movement milestones with him. This little lady just isn't content just crawling or sitting still. Even with diaper changes she's much more wriggly than Tristan ever was.

We're in trouble now....pretty soon she'll be up and walking about. I can't believe how fast she's growing.

On the move

Melayna is so close to crawling. She's on the move....scooting, pushing, creeping, and rolling her way around our living room floor. She just doesn't have the coordination yet. Soon, though. Really soon. I can't believe how fast she's growing. Seven months have already gone by. She can sit upright on her own. She already has two teeth and I can feel her upper teeth just below the surface. She loves food...even pickles. She'll stick just about anything in her mouth...even a dandelion. She doesn't like to sit in the grass - especially barefooted - which leads me to believe she might be all girl. She doesn't like to be tossed near as much as Tristan did. She prefers watch and hear you talk than being left alone. And she's really starting to show affection. She's much better at sleeping, although she still needs at least one nighttime bottle. And she loves to "talk" to her brother.

Here are a few pics of my baby on the move.

She loves doing these "push-ups" It is so cute when she does them.

Six months already

So, my sweet, darling baby girl is six months today. Wow. I just can't believe time has gone by so quickly.

Since it is late and I have work tomorrow, I'll leave you with a few pictures I took of her. These are unedited.