Vocabulary (month 20)

Thanks to Daddy being home and our visits to friends and family, Jamie's vocab seems to be increasing by the day!

www.Gurgle.com confirm that this month your toddler’s vocabulary comes on in leaps and bounds. He can now say many words and will start to pair words up, ‘milk’ will become ‘want milk’ or ‘me hungry’. Keep up that running commentary you’ve been doing since your toddler was a tiny baby. If a friend comes round and you are chatting make sure your toddler is in the room with you, as toddlers learn as much from hearing people speak as they do people speaking to them.

Most children need no help with talking and go quickly from babbling their first words to spilling out as many words as they can in a breath. Your toddler’s comprehension almost doubles by the time they get to a year-and-a-half and the number of words he knows will expand daily. You can help your toddler to talk by starting early and giving them lots of your time and encouragement. Jamie certainly babbles and every so often a word pops out that we recognise. We play the pointing game regularly; "Show me the ....." and Jamie has started to repeat words. He adds a new word every few days. Last week it was Santa!!

Give everything a name
Name everything in your toddler's world verbally; so if you are bathing him name the duck, taps, water, bubbles, wet toes, wet fingers, wet nose… and so on. When you are in the park name the trees, swings, birds, flowers, other people around you, so that everything in your toddler's world has a name. Use your baby’s name as much as you can so he is aware of his own identity i.e Is it Jamie’s bathtime now? Already doing check!!

Read to your child
Reading to your baby at a young age helps them to hear and understand the inclinations and emotions of speech. You can point to a picture and say the word, ‘fire engine’ to help them recognise the names for things. If you are telling a story use different voices for each character and even different accents if you can manage. Already doing check!!

Listen to what your baby is saying
When you ask your baby a question, wait to see what his response is; it might be a smile, a look towards a toy, or even a babble but it is a response. Try to answer the babbles as if you were having a proper conversation, so say, ‘Really, how interesting, what a lovely day you’ve had’. If your baby is trying to tell you something, help them by pointing to what it might be, for instance, do you want milk? Your book? Your shoes? And wait for them to respond to what you are pointing at. Already doing check!!

Numbers and colours
Use numbers and colours as much as you can for things, for example, ‘Look, I can see two red buses’ or ‘Look at those three yellow flowers, can you see them?’ Sing songs which help to teach your toddler numbers like ‘Ten green bottles’ or ‘One, two, buckle my shoe’. Try to count things out as much as possible, so when you give your toddler some food say, ‘Two slices of carrot for you’.

Baby language
Try not to use too much baby language as you talk as babies learn to speak faster if you talk to them normally. That does not mean you have to insist on him calling you 'mum', you can still use words like dolly, daddy and mummy while they are small.

Give your toddler choices
Choices enable your toddler to respond and talk back, so if you have a bowl of fruit say, 'Which piece of fruit would you like; the banana, apple or pear?' Give your toddler a chance to reply, even by pointing. Hide things and see if your toddler can find them, so say, ‘Where is your ball? Is it under the slide, or in the sandpit?' Then wait till your toddler responds, or runs over to find the ball.

Corrections
Try not to correct your toddler too much when he mis-pronounces words or uses the wrong word for an object, or he may give up trying. Repeat back the sentence using the right word, for instance, if he says, ‘Wan milw..’ you can say, ‘You want the milk, ok, I’ll get it’. As cute as it is when toddlers mis-pronounce words, try not to repeat them back as your toddler will use them more if she sees it makes you laugh.

Frustration
Unfortunately as your toddler starts to be able to communicate with you, he will also become frustrated at not being able to get his point across. He simply cannot find the right words, but wants you to know something. This usually results in a tantrum, or a very red-faced frustrated toddler. Try to listen to your child when he is trying to tell you something and always give him choices; 'do you want to wear your welly boots or your blue shoes? Is better than saying 'what do you want to wear? for example.

Compare and Contrast

Referring to my last post (Note to Self) the weekend before Christmas I visited both Brewsters www.brewersfayre.co.uk/ and Wacky Warehouse www.wackywarehouse.co.uk/ with Jamie for a couple of Christmas get-togethers. Food was not that exciting at either but the fun for the children and limited risk of injury in the soft play areas was worth it!! Hoping to take Jamie and Noah for Nanna's birthday in the New Year and to meet up with other play mates very soon! I have not weighed myself yet - I am saving that until New Years Day....

Christmas this year has been more exciting than last year. Jamie has gained a little more understanding. He knows what Santa looks like but has had no concept of what Santa actually means for children. Next year is when it will really get interesting....

Christmas has given us a great opportunity over the past few weeks to visit and meet up with a lot of family and friends. This has meant a leap in his vocab and social skills! I can't say Jamie was spoilt this Christmas, but he has certainly got a lot of new toys and books to play with. And he is so happy that daddy is here to spend a lot of time with him.

Note to Self....

Last year I gained over 5lbs in 3weeks over Christmas by drinking and eating too much!!

It's already started.....

Blog Baby 20

Congratulations to cousin Jon and his wife Kharnly on the birth of their daughter Charlie. Weighing in at 6lbs 15oz. One week early. Born 8.28pm on the 16th December in Sydney, Australia. Luckily Nanna and Grandad are there at the moment. All our best to you all!!

Sorry Santa....

....but Jamie found you a little scary at the playgroup Christmas Party.

Baby Signing Christmas Party

Still have ice and snow all around and now the Christmas parties have started. Monday was the Baby Signing Christmas party and, as last year and every week, Jamie loved it!! See: www.babysigning.org.uk/ Noah made it along too and there were lots of babies / children that Jamie knew. I am really pleased as he is getting a little bit more sociable every day and although he usually starts a group sitting on mummy's lap, by the end of a group he is usually somewhere in the middle finding out what is going on...

We went to Storytime at the library on Tuesday but Jamie didn't get the chance to be sociable as we were the only ones that turned up. But this did mean we got to take home the best books and got extra chocolates. Jamie loves the edition of The Gruffalo that we have borrowed where he can press the buttons to make the sounds as we tell the story.

Last Friday at playgroup however, I was especially happy as just before we left he was playing peek-a-boo with a little girl and running around giggling. He really seemed to be enjoying himself! Previously I had been worried he did not like it. Friday is the play group Christmas party so I am hoping the snow does not return as promised.....

Santa Run 2010 Completed...

...but it was B***** Freezing!

The organisers did a fantastic job making sure it went ahead but we were glad when it was over......

Snow, Snow and more Snow....

We have been caught in the middle of what can almost be described as an Arctic winter for over a week now. It was minus 12 on Monday when mummy ventured out to attend an interview (not sure about how it went or whether I actually want the job due to strange shift pattern!). Today we braved the cold and ice to walk to the library to meet Bookstart Bear http://www.bookstart.org.uk/. The pram was slipping all over the ice and Jamie got a bit upset as his fingers were so cold (he kept taking his gloves off) but it was worth it. Two girls read a couple of stories, sang songs and made a stocking - which was very messy!! And we all got to meet Bookstart Bear; who seemed to scare most of the children. We met some other children and hope to see Ben and his mum again next week at Storytime. Oh and we came away with a bag of goodies including 2 really good books. Also in the goodie bag was a number chart which we have put on Jamie's wall to hopefully help with his learning.

The snow has meant that a lot of things had to be cancelled last week - including the Lincoln Christmas Market. We also missed the Santa Special railway which we had all been looking forward to. We were supposed to meet cousin Noah and they were all going to come back here for a bit of a buffet tea, so we were all disappointed that the points were frozen (among other things!). Dramabugs was also cancelled and we missed the last swimming lesson of the term. And my interview was actually moved from the Thursday to this Monday. But it was still very cold...but I did get some Christmas shopping done while I was out. I also bought Jamie a 2.5 tog sleeping bag from Mothercare and this has solved the problem of Jamie waking about 3am due to kicking his covers off and then getting cold. Well worth the money! Fingers crossed the temperature is slowly rising as we are hoping to take part in the Santa Run on Sunday!

20 months and too much TV

I've said it before; 'Where has all the time gone?'

www.Gurgle.com has this to say about Month 19: It probably doesn’t seem that long ago that you were feeding your baby with pureed carrot, but these days he’s making a mess and desperate to feed himself! He is now able to use his hands to complete fairly complicated tasks and is probably ready to try a spoon and fork. Make sure you sit as a family during mealtimes so he knows what spoons and forks are used for, cover the floor with something food-proof and definitely don’t serve peas! Your toddler should get the hang of cutlery in time and will probably mean normality returns to your mealtimes again. Mealtimes are very messy with Jamie as he does love to feed himself, but a lot of the time he prefers to use his hands and when he has had enough he usually tips the bowl over himself; that’s unless he has already tipped everything out already onto his tray! Saying that we have been out a number of times and he always behaves when we go out. At Nanna’s 90^th he did spend some time under the table but he actually ate what we did while sat at the table instead of a high chair. He has learnt to ‘help himself’ from the fridge in a morning when he wants a yogurt or fruit snack and he does eat most things we give him.

This month your toddler seems to have the energy of a bull (albeit in a china shop) as he tears around, aching to be let outof the house so he can run free in the park. However, the weather generally dictates your toddlers day-to-day activities and when it rains, you are stuck inside. Instead of putting on the television, try putting on some music and dancing with your toddler. Choose songs that direct your child to do something (head, shoulders, knees and toes), or that speed up each verse so your toddler has to speed up his actions. Alternatively you can try a copycat game, where he has to copy your dance moves. (It’s a good workout for you too). Jamie certainly loves dancing and turns the stereo on whenever he wants – which is often just as we are trying to get him into bed. Of course the weather has been terrible over the last week – mi8nus 12 on Monday so we have not gone out as much as we usually do. This has placed a bit of a strain on what we do but I have tried to keep away from the TV – although Jamie does love it!

Here is what Gurgle.com has to say about Television Viewing

Although it is well documented that too much TV is bad for any child, don’t beat yourself up about your toddler’s TV watching if it is a short burst once a day and does not become a habit. Try to engage your toddler in conversation about the programme he was watching, so he thinks about what he has seen. Try not to make watching television an activity in itself. Topics and activities from programmes can be used as “springboards” for other activities – if your child has shown an interest in something she has watched, try and extend that activity or topic into something that you can do together. Children are often thrilled if they can manage to make something they’ve seen made on television, and it doesn’t have to be perfect. Other than that make it clear to your toddler that he can only watch one television programme a day. Don't use television as a fall back
It’s important not to fall back on television when you’re too tired to do anything active or creative with him, or as a “babysitter” for him when you have other things to be getting on with such as work or household chores. Try where you can to watch programmes together, and take the time to explain things to him as you watch. This helps make watching television less passive and more of an interactive experience for your child.

How much television should my child be allowed to watch?
Experts generally tend to agree that television is not suitable at all for small babies. Up to the age of two, it’s recommended that you limit your child’s television watching to short periods at a time – 10-15 minute chunks are ideal. Between the ages of 2 and 3 the general recommendation is for no more than 1 hour a day.

What should I let my child watch?
Many parents set limits on television, either by restricting the choice of programmes to one or two “approved” programmes a day, or setting a limit on the amount of time their children spend watching television, or limiting viewing to a certain time of day. The key is really to make sure that they are watching programming which is good quality. This could be by promoting some kind of constructive activity – getting them up and about dancing or showing them how to make something simple – or through an educational focus, such as by exposing them to a different culture, or getting them involved in a story which helps develop their imagination and their concentration skills. Try to watch programmes yourself for the first time to check if you think they are suitable. Some programming, even if ostensibly aimed at children, is poor quality and contains unsuitable subject matter for young children, and commercial channels often carry advertisements for unhealthy food or products which you may not want to expose your children to. If you decide your child is allowed to watch a programme, turn the programme off when it has finished, rather than letting your child watch the television mindlessly for hours.

Television pace
There has been extensive research into the pace of what children see on television and how they absorb it. Slower-paced television is much better for children especially if it is in the evening and they need winding down for bed. Fast action, changing colours and loud music etc will make your child zone out rather than engage with what he is watching.

Watch television with your child
A recent study found that children whose parents watched television with them and engaged them in conversation about what they watched scored significantly higher in tests than those children who watched television mindlessly on their own. Of course there will be times when you are exhausted or need to put the shopping away when you are grateful for the television, but if you can make it more of a social, family event rather than a solitary activity, your child will benefit.