This year:
Last year:
Two years ago:
Last year:
Two years ago:
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Sunday, December 5, 2010
If a picture is worth 1,000 words...: September - December 2010
I am so over-scheduled and under-rested, (especially with regards to trying to earn a little money here and there) that personal computer time has suffered. I hope to start writing about natural living and natural mothering again, if only to document for myself what I've learned along the way (should I ever find myself needing to learn it again). But for now, my goal is to keep an up-to-date monthly journal of my little one's transition from baby to boy.
In order to catch up with three months, here is a picture journal of some of my little boy's current antics. He loves:
A former linguistic major, I am most fascinated by the opportunity to watch a little one learn a language from scratch. It's like my own research subject up close and personal.
In order to catch up with three months, here is a picture journal of some of my little boy's current antics. He loves:
Dressing up, especially in high heels!
Putting the key in the ignition and turning the car on!
Commandeering every skateboard and bike he sees on the road or in the park!
Learning to count in Thai while jumping on fabric swatches!
Taking good care of his monkey!
Posing for cheese!
Putting the key in the ignition and turning the car on!
Commandeering every skateboard and bike he sees on the road or in the park!
Learning to count in Thai while jumping on fabric swatches!
Taking good care of his monkey!
Posing for cheese!
A former linguistic major, I am most fascinated by the opportunity to watch a little one learn a language from scratch. It's like my own research subject up close and personal.
- Regarding phonetics and phonology, the fricatives (sounds like f, v, th, s, z, sh, zh) were the hardest for him to get. All fricatives became /h/. One day, he started saying them at the end of words, and he usually does that just fine. But even now, he rarely can say them at the beginning of a word.
- Regarding syntax, he started out copying me like a parrot and so used "me" or "I" for "you", and "you" for "me" or "I". (Interestingly, he never confused his subjects and objects, as I've been told many other babies do.) I decided not to correct him, and sure enough he eventually figured it out on his own! One day last month, almost literally overnight, he switched the words to their proper usage, and now uses the words "I", "me", and "you" appropriately, and also began venturing into the world of "we" and "us".
- On another syntactic note, he typically misplaces negative words. I don't know if this is normal, or if he is confusing English word-placement with Spanish word-placement. But I am excited to watch his little brain figure it out!
...A video is worth 10,000: September - November 2010
More amazing feats!
Once my little boy got most of the car symbols memorized, he started showing an interest in letters. One day, I spent about 30 seconds pointing out some capital letters on a book cover. The next day, I picked a different book and did the same for about 60 seconds. The third day, he was reading them to me! He knows all the capital letters and about half the lower case letters, and can tell you the sounds associated with quite a few of them.
At 2 years and 4 months:
My little boy always wants to know which country everyone is from, and even talks about it in his sleep. Check it out!
Once my little boy got most of the car symbols memorized, he started showing an interest in letters. One day, I spent about 30 seconds pointing out some capital letters on a book cover. The next day, I picked a different book and did the same for about 60 seconds. The third day, he was reading them to me! He knows all the capital letters and about half the lower case letters, and can tell you the sounds associated with quite a few of them.
At 2 years and 4 months:
My little boy always wants to know which country everyone is from, and even talks about it in his sleep. Check it out!
Friday, September 10, 2010
My Baby's A Genius: August 2010 - Part 1
"He should be on the Jay Leno show!" someone told us in the zoo parking lot. A couple weeks later, a bike rider who almost hit a car because she was gawking in surprise at my baby. I know every mother thinks her child is a genius, and I'm no different. I'll explain at the bottom of the post why these two people were shocked, but for now let's recap our month...
In cute news, last month my baby gave business cards away to everyone as they walked out of the office. This month, everyone gets a hand shake, usually one with the left hand and another with the right.
Out of the blue at least a couple times a day, my baby says "Kountani Gambo from Baku, Ghana." Oddly, he has never met this fascinating person - she is the mother of one of our clients and he picked up her particulars from one of our conversations. He can also tell you from which different country many of our African clients are from. Funny he doesn't seem interested in the origin of any of our non-African clients.
A friend gave us her son's trike, and we must take it with us everywhere we go. It sleeps in our bedroom or the hallway at night, it goes with us to the park, and it rides in the backseat of the car each time we drive somewhere.
Another cute outfit he picked on his own:
Fun with Uncle Seth, who was visiting from Las Vegas!
Definitely progressing in true boy fashion, my baby is just short of obsessed with any motor-run contraption. Here, getting a ride on one of his favorite "toys" at the pawn shop:
Any time we see a motorcycle or moped, he identifies which it is and then proceeds to run through the list of things a driver must do before driving away:
In cute news, last month my baby gave business cards away to everyone as they walked out of the office. This month, everyone gets a hand shake, usually one with the left hand and another with the right.
Out of the blue at least a couple times a day, my baby says "Kountani Gambo from Baku, Ghana." Oddly, he has never met this fascinating person - she is the mother of one of our clients and he picked up her particulars from one of our conversations. He can also tell you from which different country many of our African clients are from. Funny he doesn't seem interested in the origin of any of our non-African clients.
A friend gave us her son's trike, and we must take it with us everywhere we go. It sleeps in our bedroom or the hallway at night, it goes with us to the park, and it rides in the backseat of the car each time we drive somewhere.
Another cute outfit he picked on his own:
Fun with Uncle Seth, who was visiting from Las Vegas!
Definitely progressing in true boy fashion, my baby is just short of obsessed with any motor-run contraption. Here, getting a ride on one of his favorite "toys" at the pawn shop:
Any time we see a motorcycle or moped, he identifies which it is and then proceeds to run through the list of things a driver must do before driving away:
My Baby's A Genius: August 2010 - Part 2
And on to this month's amazing skills (at 25-26 months old), which were each a surprise to me as they came...
Reading 0, 1, and 10.
In response to the question "What shape is this?" he can identify and say circle, square, trapezoid, pentagon, hexagon, octagon, oval, parallelogram, diamond, heart, and sometimes rectangle. He seems to have a little trouble with triangle.
Counting from 1 to 10 in Spanish (well, I got the camera turned on at 3), then from 1 to 10 in Mandarin Chinese:
Counting from 1 to 10 in French (I got the camera turned on by 2 this time):
Singing his ABCs (click to view at Photobucket):
And the skill that amazes people wherever we go:
Last weekend, we were walking down a street and he was excitedly calling out cars as they drove by at 35 miles an hour!
His current repertoire includes 15 cars. Do you know each of these?
Reading 0, 1, and 10.
In response to the question "What shape is this?" he can identify and say circle, square, trapezoid, pentagon, hexagon, octagon, oval, parallelogram, diamond, heart, and sometimes rectangle. He seems to have a little trouble with triangle.
Counting from 1 to 10 in Spanish (well, I got the camera turned on at 3), then from 1 to 10 in Mandarin Chinese:
Counting from 1 to 10 in French (I got the camera turned on by 2 this time):
Singing his ABCs (click to view at Photobucket):
And the skill that amazes people wherever we go:
Last weekend, we were walking down a street and he was excitedly calling out cars as they drove by at 35 miles an hour!
His current repertoire includes 15 cars. Do you know each of these?
Saturday, August 7, 2010
A Month in Our Life: July 2010
This month (at 24-25 months) my baby did some very surprising things!
- One day while watching two bicyclists whiz past, he said his first sentence: "Other one guy helmet on; other one guy no helmet."
- One day while playing in the office, he looked up at our client and counted 1-5 in Spanish.
- One day in the grocery store, I asked him to help me put pea pods in the produce bag, and as he dropped them in he counted them 1-10 (well, minus 9).
- Counting backwards from 5-0.
- "W X Y Z" (you've gotta start somewhere - might as well start at the end).
But even more exciting: We are moving into our own place the beginning of August!!! After 20 1/2 months of living with other people, we will finally be on our own again as a family. Thank you and good buy to Erika, Ticha, and Andy.
Wearing Erika's climbing gear:
Wearing Ticha's high heels and purse:
Wearing Andy's oxygen:
Saturday morning exploring some of Denver's grittier neighborhoods:
Saturday afternoon at the pop jet fountain:
Sunday afternoon at the park:
Climbing toys at the park:
Typical weekday morning fun with sidewalk chalk and a little car:
Wearing Ticha's high heels and purse:
Wearing Andy's oxygen:
And to finish, a sampling of some of our fun summer activities:
Saturday morning exploring some of Denver's grittier neighborhoods:
Saturday afternoon at the pop jet fountain:
Sunday afternoon at the park:
Makeshift playground anywhere we go:
Climbing toys at the park:
Climbing ladders at the office:
Climbing trees at home:
Typical weekday morning fun with sidewalk chalk and a little car:
Typical weekend fun with the neighbors' dogs:
And the highlight of every week: Tuesday mornings with the lawnmower guys, who landscape some few houses a block away. (Listen for "Turn on weed wacker.")
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Making Up For Lost Time: June 2010
June marked:
A visit from Grandma and a mini vacation to Glen Eyrie in Colorado Springs
My baby's 2nd haircut
My baby's 2nd birthday (celebrated early in Colorado Springs)
Halfway through June, I borrowed a camera from a friend, and a week later my mom gave me a new camera as an early birthday present. After 4 1/2 months of no pictures, I'm trying to make up for lost time...
June 14 - n*k*d time in the car seat
June 15 - afternoon visit to Kieth's daddy's barber shop
June 16 - showing off strong abs
June 17 - a favorite spot at Whole Foods
June 18 - an afternoon visit with Murphy at the pawn shop
June 19 - konked out in the car
June 20 - exploring tunnels at Glen Eyrie
June 21 - exploring Native American cliff dwellings
June 22 - exploring Old Colorado City
June 23 - baby and Grandma at the Glen Eyrie Castle
June 24 - wearing a potty hat
June 25 - watering flowers with Ticha
June 26 - morning-after-birthday breakfast
June 27 - fun with mud at the park
June 28 - racing our new vacuum cleaner to the office
June 29 - sound asleep
June 30 - hide and seek in the office safe
And a few Mamatoto pictures:
A visit from Grandma and a mini vacation to Glen Eyrie in Colorado Springs
My baby's 2nd haircut
My baby's 2nd birthday (celebrated early in Colorado Springs)
Halfway through June, I borrowed a camera from a friend, and a week later my mom gave me a new camera as an early birthday present. After 4 1/2 months of no pictures, I'm trying to make up for lost time...
June 14 - n*k*d time in the car seat
June 15 - afternoon visit to Kieth's daddy's barber shop
June 16 - showing off strong abs
June 17 - a favorite spot at Whole Foods
June 18 - an afternoon visit with Murphy at the pawn shop
June 19 - konked out in the car
June 20 - exploring tunnels at Glen Eyrie
June 21 - exploring Native American cliff dwellings
June 22 - exploring Old Colorado City
June 23 - baby and Grandma at the Glen Eyrie Castle
June 24 - wearing a potty hat
June 25 - watering flowers with Ticha
June 26 - morning-after-birthday breakfast
June 27 - fun with mud at the park
June 28 - racing our new vacuum cleaner to the office
June 29 - sound asleep
June 30 - hide and seek in the office safe
And a few Mamatoto pictures:
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