Take Another Looky

Remember Lookybook? I've posted about it before because it's such a cool concept. Although it doesn't appear that they've added any new titles in awhile, it's still worth the occasional look.

During some down time at work last week, I showed the site to one of my young little customers who was hanging around the desk chatting with me. She pulled up a stool and spent a good 15 or 20 minutes clicking through the books, reading to me. It was a great experience. She got some reading practice; she was able to read a book, like the one below, that the library does not currently own; and, it revealed a new dimension in which she could explore books and authors!

Take a peek at I Get Around by Deborah Miner. Cute and active two-page spreads chronicle Rover's day doing his favorite things. It's an enjoyable read for toddlers and preschoolers and boosts early literacy skills such as Print Awareness and Phonological Awareness.

What we're reading

I am a Garbage Truck has been fascinating J for several weeks now. It's also expanded his vocabulary to now include "hopper" and "hycleen truck".

J's always thrilled by the chore of taking the trash or recycling out. He races to the window when he hears the trash truck and typically asks about the possibility of seeing the trash truck every morning when I get him up and change his diaper. I guess it's typical boy stuff, but it is interesting that he has just sort of gravitated to some of this kind of stuff, without C or I pushing him.

Oh, no! What happened to the letters? "Chicken Boom!"

Fifteen Animals by Sandra Boynton is another daily read. "Bob."

And this Little Scholastic book, Peek-a-Zoo, which has lots of fun manipulatives, shapes, colors, animals, and textures to identify and explore.

Toddlertalk

You know how toddlers pronounce certain words in their own way and sometimes it is just too adorable to correct and eventually you start using their terms as well? C and I do this all the time, and half the time we are only talking to each other.

Example. Last night C told me about their evening since I was out at a work Christmas party. They went to C's brother's house for pizza and "J had a bina when we got there and then ate some pizza." The word banana does not exist in our vocabulary any more! If we said "banana", J would know what we meant, but I guess we figure bina is shorter and also kind of cute!

A typical morning conversation between J and I goes something like this.

"Good morning! How did you leep? Did you stay warm under your pee-wee?"

"Up. Wanna play."

"Well, let's change your diaper and eat some breakfast."

"Breakfett. Me-meal. Blue-blues. Bina."

"Oh, baby, we don't have any blue-blues. But, you can have a bina in your oatmeal."

"Hucker."

"No, silly, you can't have a hucker! It's only 8 am! Now, let's get dressed and put on your gray hocks. Do you want to wear your Robeez or your Big Boy Shoes today?"

I was never really one for babytalk when J was an infant. I'd coo at him and such, but I mostly talked to him about what we were doing and seeing throughout the day. So, it's a little odd that I've adopted many of his words. The Ready to Read-trained librarian in me says I should probably speak correctly so that J gets a feel for the sounds and patterns in these words. But, having an eloquent and well-spoken toddler isn't any fun!

Trust me. Fun is climbing up on the hofa, sitting down with some books, like our favorite Goodnight Gorilla, and laughing at the you-peeper who doesn't realize the gorilla stole his keys!

Or, running through the house playing a game of gitchu.

Or, best of all, tucking the little guy into bed at night, covering him up with his pee-wee, saying, "La loo." And having him respond with a smile, "La loo too."

More Fun with Books

J, reading one of his favorites - More Fun with Maisy. Lucy Cousins' Maisy books are the first "series" books that J has gotten into. I think he can easily relate to Maisy and her friends: they take walks, go to the library, play at the park, etc. I'm happy to see him so attached and interested in a book and its characters. The Maisy books are excellent examples of quality books that promote pre-reading skills: the lift-the-flap format of some of them promote Print Motivation; they introduce new Vocabulary; and the sequence of many of the stories teach Narrative Skills. Hooray!

Easy as ABC

Let me first just say that I do not intend for this blog to be a place where I constantly brag about my child and chronicle every little accomplishment or activity in his daily life. This is not my online version of a Christmas card newsletter!

However, J has made some astonishing connections recently and as his mama and a Ready-to-Read-promoting librarian, I must stop and take note. Although I am not a fan of all of the Leap Frog toys and their attempts to digitize and animate every single reading- or literacy-based activity, I have purchased a few of their toys and J's been happy with them. One is the fridge alphabet. There is a magnet for each letter of the alphabet, and when you put a letter into the box, Leap Frog sings a song about that letter, explaining what letter it is and what sound(s) it makes. J has fun with this toy intermittently and I feel good just having the letters up on the fridge, assuming he is absorbing knowledge/recognition of them peripherally as he goes about eating his breakfast.

While coloring and doodling with J (a favorite pasttime of his), Daddy and I have gotten into the habit of drawing letters that stand for certain people's names. We draw a D for Daddy, an M for Mama, N for Nina, P for Papa, T for Tommy and L for Lucia. He is genuinely interested and so we continue to do it occasionally. I am not a hardcore drill sergeant-mama who wants her child to read at age 3 and go to college at age 14. But, I figure there is no harm in introducing J to print and words around us, as long as I am not placing any pressure on him to recall the information.

But, lo and behold, he has made the connections between these letters and the names we've told him they represent! We realize that now he is voluntarily on the lookout for alphabet letters, whether he is looking at a book, a toy, or the cereal box in the morning at breakfast. If he notices a letter we've talked about, he identifies it excitedly and repeatedly. "D! D, Daddy!", he'll exclaim.

I feel so proud of him. I share my enthusiasm with him, but remain committed to my desire that he will be our pacemaker, our line-leader, as we navigate through the experiences and "teachable moments" of his early childhood.

a new meaning for "dundee"

I'm not exactly sure when this started, but sometime in the last week, dundee has acquired a new meaning. It still often means "give me that", but it's now the word that J uses when he doesn't know what to call something. He also uses it as if it means "I don't know" when I ask him a question and he's unsure of how to respond.

I may just be an ever-doting mama, but this is really fascinating to me. Maybe every child has their own dundee. I don't know. It makes me wish I knew more about language development and linguistics. I took a couple of classes in college towards my Sociology minor that touched on these topics and I was intrigued then as well. (At least, until I learned that area of study also involved a LOT of statistics classes.)

In my career at the library, much attention has been paid to language development, vocabulary, and literacy in children as encouraging children's progress toward these milestones is one of the primary goals of storytime. I remember reading articles about how babies who are just weeks old will show preference to someone speaking in their native language as opposed to a foreign one. How astounding!

While on the subject of language and words, I want to take note of some of the impressive words and ideas J has mastered in the last week or two:

• In his ever-observant way, he astutely commented "big tree fall down" while we were walking by remnants of the wind storm. I think this may have been his first sentence!
• He completely shocked us by telling us that a cricket says "chirp chirp". (I've no clue how that seeped in--we've not even read The Very Quiet Cricket yet!)
• Phrases: he'll overhear us use one and immediately attempt it and tuck it away for later use; for example, "on the way", "all the time", "good girl Maggie", "oh my", "all better", "hold on tight".

In a nutshell, I suppose I should just say that J attempts to say whatever he hears. And I do mean WHATEVER he hears. Today while we picnicked outside of the library, he slyly said "stoo-pee bee" while Daddy swatted at the air muttering "stupid bee".