(no subject)

[kcobweb]

Nearly every morning, when we're first waking up, she says "Maybe it's ___day." Sometimes she fills in the day before, sometimes she takes a wild guess. Occasionally she's right. Sometimes I will say "No, it's Thursday today. Yesterday was Wednesday." (This often leads to the statement "Thursday is a kind of Wednesday." "___ is a kind of ___" is a common construction for her, as she is clearly trying to classify..... well, everything.) And then she'll restate that "maybe it's Thursday" at random intervals through the day. Once we've told her the day, she remembers it all day. The other night, right before bed, galagan told her that tomorrow would be Tuesday (or whatever), and the next morning was one of the days she got it right. It's funny that she's so into the days of the week, because she seems totally unaware that Tuesday = story hour at the library or that Wednesday = playgroup. She just likes knowing what day it is.

She's got a phenomenal memory. She can have a book read to her just a few times, and then recite it completely, often word for word. Keep in mind that she still doesn't *know* half those words - I think - so some of that has got to be parroting phonetically. I remember having an amazing memory for just *everything* when I was little; my mom says that she used to think her memory was nearly photographic. Elena is definitely the same.

She often requests music to be played - and now requests specific song titles. The current CD of choice has a song she likes to start with on Track #18. So she'll ask by title, or say "number 18." She often tells me now that 18 is her favorite number.

She can recognize a small handful of written words - Elena, cat, dog, stop..... The other day we wrote "Mommy" and "Daddy" down and told her what they said. When I showed her those words tonight, she remembered both of them. That's so cool to me. I'm pretty sure she's "recognizing" those words, rather than "reading" them - she doesn't quite grasp phonics yet. But it's a first step.

This week, she has started nearly every drawing with a large lopsided circle. Then she scribbles wildly over the rest of the page.

She's definitely using helping verbs, though not correctly. She's using "am" a lot, but often sticks it into a future tense situation in place of "will be", and things like that.

Tonight I asked her to help close the doors in her room, preparatory to the bedtime process, and she corrected me - "Door" - because only one was open.

Yeah, there are still tantrums and difficulties. (Tonight at dinner, she would get this mischievous look on her face, and then stand up on her chair. I'd tell her to sit down and then she would. Or the constant struggle of jumping on the bed or on the couch.)

Comments

[trope.livejournal.com]

FWIW, I never phonicked. I was a whole-word kid, and I had all the basics down by the time I hit kindergarten. When there was a word I didn't know, I would run to an adult to say it for me so I'd recognize it, and when the teachers started wanting me to sound things out, I just stopped asking them and went to my mother or some other grownup instead.

Yipes, she's getting so big! I remember when she wasn't born yet... doesn't seem like that long ago to me, although I know if you say that to *me* in three years I'll laugh wildly.

[kcobweb.livejournal.com]

I was a very early reader (probably close to E's age, actually) - and was never taught phonics per se. But at some point, even without being told, I think you figure out that M has an MMMMM sound, and so forth. And I really don't see Elena making that connection yet. (Though of course, we don't push her much, either. It's always possible that she understands more than I realize.)

I always blame Sesame Street for my early reading. I seem to recall they used to do more phonics kind of stuff then, and I don't see any of that now. (Like the 2-headed monster sounding out the two halves of the word, then pushing them together, etc.)

It both seems like so long ago and no time at all..... My screensaver is pictures from my files, and just an hour ago it flashed one up from the day she was born..... it's impossible. That can't be her. :)

[kouredios.livejournal.com]

I did the whole word thing too, and Cassie's been recognizing words for a while now. She's also just getting interested in the names of days, thought she doesn't ahve a great sense of time yet. Everything in the future is "tomorrow" and everything in the past is "last night."

I'm relaly enjoying this age. :D

[allthatjazmyne.livejournal.com]

I was a phonics kid. I had a set of phonics playing cards. I remember liking them because I liked the illustrations, but the actual content of the cards must have stuck, too.

[squirrelhaven.livejournal.com]

My parents always told me that I essentially taught myself how to read when I was 2, by a process that sounds exactly like what Elena's doing. Have something read to you enough that you memorize it, and then you start picking out the words on the page as you go, and you just kind of absorb the phonics as you go along without ever being explicitly taught. I know nobody ever sat down to teach me phonics (I guess there was no need), and I remember seeing other kids working on phonics lessons in early grades of elementary school and thinking it was weird that they had to do that, and that they found it hard. Not that I had the language for this at the time, but I couldn't understand why they didn't just intuit what letters sounded like and how they fit into words.

At any rate, it sounds like you've got an awfully bright little critter over there. Nice work. ;-)