This has been a busy week, though it feels like most of the activity has been today. I took David to get a haircut, and a haircut for myself. He looks like a little boy now, and much less baby-ish. I made sure to get it cut short, rather than the token haircut he got last time, but it's not buzzed by any stretch. At one point after the haircut, he looked at me and I saw his cousin Jared in him, and at another point I saw more strongly the resemblance to his sister as well.
Fridays are my day off, so he and I spent the day together. I'm taking a couple of classes at the local community college, and I have to read a lot of material, which I try to do while David's not around, because he always wants my attention. Today was no exception. He saw that I was reading a book, and then gets out several of his books to have me read them to him, which I did, of course. :-) There's one book that has a spider in it, and it talks about its 8 legs, so I asked David if he wanted me to count in French, and he said he'd do it instead: so my boy can count in French, and in English, to 10! Next up: Spanish. (He counted only 8 legs, but at the barbershop he was counting in French to 10 when I held him as he got his hair cut. It was a great way to distract him). Another thing about the barbershop: he says hello to just about everyone. And tells them about his shoes (super car! shoes. He loves those shoes), and today he was running around saying how fast he can go. People are always amazed by the way he talks to them. And he's getting more and more intelligible.
And speaking of being understood: I'm watching his language development again. I'm noticing lately his manners, being polite, the "extra words" we use to smooth things over are coming more naturally as part of his speech. Please, thanks! He says "Thanks!" very happily almost any time I hand him something. He's also my parrot, since he so often imitates what I'm saying. Other people think that it's funny when he does that. I think it's great. He's learning so much! I also like that he can say that he's fine when someone asks how he is, or he asks people "How are you?" And it surprises them...
Something funny about his going to "school" is that any time it's cloudy, or it rains, he says, "My friends at school can't go out to play!" It doesn't matter that it's Sunday, or morning, noon, or night. He's also synthesized something else: that's he's both big and small at the same time. He is able to come up with a complex thought all by himself, which I find to be amazing.
David went to the dentist this week. He has 20 teeth, and they are perfect. They have the right amount of spacing; they come together well when he closes his mouth; and they aren't stained. The boy is not shy, as the dentist noted. She thought he was great! He opened his mouth when asked, but wasn't a big fan of the spinny toothbrush. He brushes his teeth better at home.
We went to the zoo again, and we had a lot of fun. I absolutely love how he says Hi to people, and they don't know how to react. He talks to them like he knows them, and watching their reactions is wonderful. He really has an effect on people.
As it seems that I'm working backwards from Friday to earlier in the week, it's worth noting that David had his cousins stayed the night on Saturday night. Funny thing is that they got here so late that he had literally fallen asleep on the couch, watching TV, sitting upright. I put him to bed just as they got here. Later on in the evening, he woke up briefly and saw them, and said Hi, like it wasn't unusual for them to be there. At about 1 AM, he woke up from coughing...asthma attack. I tried to give him a nebulizer, but he fought me and struggled and hated it! I'm not sure what causes this reaction, as it only happens once in a while. Usually he just accepts it, and feels better after we're done, but not this night. It was a very rough night. The 20 minute treatment took over an hour, and he didn't get all the medicine, but he got enough to peacefully rest...The next day, when the three kids were awake at the same time, he had major problems with Jared, who was doing nothing more than talking my ear off, telling me all about the SpiderMan coloring book he was coloring, and just laying on the floor. David did not like this, as he was doing everything he could think of to disturb poor Jared. Coughing on him, rolling on the floor then on the coloring book, stepping on the book, throwing things at Jared...Jared did very well to merely protest, and complain; and naturally, David was in time out every 5 minutes or so until he figured out to leave Jared alone. Avery helped, too, by playing with David, to give him something to do.
Bath time has improved since his mommy thought to send a couple of the bath toys he played with up there down here. He doesn't scream and cry anymore! Yay!
And finally, David was able to articulate why he doesn't like me singing: it's because I'm not the original singer! He thinks that only the original person singing the song should sing it. How do I get around that? I'm sure I'll figure it out. He does like it when I sing songs without any music in the background, though. It comforts him when he's feeling scared, or unhappy.
I hope that you can resolve perplexing, odd little problems (like your son not liking it when you sing) with a simple explanation.
Rusty
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OK- here's something about his language development, and specifically about his reading:
Imagine that there are three levers in his head, the first labeled "C", the second "L", and the third "R". Those letters stand for cognitive, linguistic, and reading, respectively. When all three of those levers are pushed, David will be successfully reading.
Cognitive development includes knowledge and thinking. You can help him build his knowledge by exposing him to lots of things, places, situations, people, animals, etc. and by talking to him about them. To stimulate his thinking, help him engage in what's going on around him, encourage him to be inquisitive, challenge him to figure things out, and build relationships between things in his head. When you are doing these things, you are pushing the first lever.
Linguistics breaks down into vocabulary and syntax. To stimulate his linguistic ability, talk to him a lot. Read with him and to him a lot. Make sure your home is "print rich", meaning books, but also think about posters in his room, sidewalk chalk, magnetic letters, etc. Also write with him. Also write with him on the computer. The more exposure he has to language in use in all its forms, the further you will be pushing that second lever.
If both of those first two levers are pushed, pushing the third lever is easy. If a child hasn't had those cognitive and linguistic skills developed enough prior to trying to learn to read, it's likely that he won't be successful. If he experiences initial failure with reading, it may set up a pattern of struggle and failure with reading, and with schooling in general.
Your job right now is to push those first two levers as much as possible. If you do, he'll have a much easier time in school later and you'll be helping him to set up a positive relationship with learning. You're probably already doing all of these things, but it was on my mind because of some teaching that I observed recently and you made me think of it when you mentioned his language development. Anyway, I think you are a terrific father. :-)
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