Cara's language skills continue to improve at an unbelieveable rate. Every once in a while she will ask a question about something and we realize she doesn't understand quite as much as we think she does, i.e. wondering how we were going to take a shower at Olive Garden for a baby shower. But for the most part, she understands quite a bit of what is said. The meltdowns/tantrums over lack of words have greatly subsided. She still does it a little bit with B because he doesn't always take the time to explain things to her.
An excellent early literacy activity to do with toddlers/preschoolers is to sing nursery rhymes. It teaches kids about language and helps them to understand rhyming. At Cara's fall conference, her teacher mentioned that the only nursery rhyme she knew was "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." And I felt bad. My entire training as an educator has been on language development and literacy. I should know better! We had been teaching Cara what it's like to be part of a family; how to treat others and how to act in various social situations. To me, that took precedence over academics. And I still believe that stuff is more important than academics. But she's ready for the pre-literacy activities now. She loves them! We used to snuggle in bed and I would tell her stories. Now she wants to recite nursery rhymes. She should be all set for spring conferences! ;)
Se still has some pronunciation issues: "Eating their curves and whey," and "She stanked them all soundly." But I think she's doing pretty well considering she's only been speaking English for 15 months and came home at 3 yrs and 4 months.
great job Cara! Little Miss E still doesn't know itsy bitsy...and she has heard it 100 times!
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