Bi-lingual Tool Time...

Here is a video that Alexander & I shot today during our snow-day. Alexander has shown us that he's learning to be bi-lingual without us even knowing it...his tool box says "muy rapido" which is very fast in Spanish. We don't know when he started to speak in Spanish but we find it quite amusing & cute...

Words...

Another video of Alexander & his words...

More Words...

Some new words late this week:

• Matt - This is for Uncle Matt
• Dark - Somehow he learned when it's dark and the right word to go with it. When I brought him into our room this morning, he said "ooh dark"
• Coat - As he's putting on his coat he says "uuoat" and does the motion of a zipper going up & down

New Words...

Some new words the past few days:

• Mickey - As in Mickey Mouse
• Work - His Handy Manny tools say "Let's get to work" and now he repeats work
• Buddy - Daddy & I call Alexander Buddy from time to time and he's started to say that while we were driving in the car yesterday & today
• Debbie - I picked him up yesterday at school and as we were leaving he waved bye, blew kisses and said "Debbie" (his teacher's name is Debbie) - although Mrs. Debbie didn't seem nearly as excited about it as I did but that's a whole different topic

New Words...

New words this week:

• Boo - He got this one from his Elmo book when they talk about a little white ghost who creeps up and says ... "boo". He says the boo part when we read.
• Psst - Another one from his Elmo books...he says the 'psst' part and knows exactly when it's coming and will get all excited that it's his turn
• Bus - This is mainly said in the car when he wants us to sing "Wheels on the bus"...and when he says it, he touches his hands together almost like he's saying "more" in sign language
• Toor - This is his version of the word 'store'. Every time we drive by Stop & Shop, CVS, or the Mall he will keep repeating 'toor'
• Ouch/Grouch - From his Elmo book (wow, these couple of books produced a lot of words for him), Oscar the Grouch is talking and they are lines in the book that Alexander likes to say
• Nanas - Word for Banana

He did get his progress report from Ms. Mary-Jo and while he did get As (Age-Appropriate) in almost all of his categories, he did get a D in "Words". Okay, okay it wasn't a D it was a SD for Still-Developing. He doesn't necessarily have the full vocab for his age or for the kids in his class, but because he understands what is told or asked of him and he is adding a lot of new words lately, I am far from concerned. He's always been a bit behind the curve with timelines but he's still the most perfect child in the world.

New Words...

New words this week:

• Noodle - there is a character on Elmo's World called Mr. Noodle and he's started saying his name right before he's about to come on
• Minnie - Minnie Mouse, we have a Mickey Mouse Memory game and one night we were playing name the characters on the box and he said Minnie and kept saying it. Now we "look" for Minnie and he says "Minnie, where are you" but it sounds like "Minnie, ah oh"
• Poof - For Mumford the Magician... in his new Elmo book Mumford has a page that has his famous line "A la Peanut Butter Sandwiches" and I wave his arm and now he says "Poof" after the arm waving
• Milk - Wednesday morning, we went to the fridge to fill his cup. He helped open the fridge, pointed to the milk and said "milk" and now continues to say it
• Ernie - plain & simple
• Bert - said it yesterday, but it's not a constant word yet
• Bed - Friday night during snuggle time, I asked him if he was ready to go in his crib and he picked his head up, pointed at his crib and said "bed"
• Giraffe - He was with Daddy when he said this
• Burp - He was with Daddy so I don't have details...

Weekly Glance...

Weekly Glance (Monday, December 29th, 2008 - Sunday, January 4th, 2009)

• Slept well this week, actually woke up later than usual - all week was later than 6am, one morning it was even 7a!
• Had a good but short week at school
• Spent Monday in the Toddler room for the whole day to help with the Transition
• Elmo's World DVDs rule our house and he wants to watch them constantly
• He also must have his white tiger & Elmo sit with him on his Elmo couch while he watches Elmo
• New Words this week: Michael, Cook, Egg, Money, Bob, Toot, Boat, Boom, Go Now (Separate post for more explanation)
• Snow storm on Weds (New Years Eve), so went home early before naptime with Mommy and pretty much napped most of the afternoon after a fairly long, slow ride home
• Last day in Ms Mary-Jo's room...he gave her a hug & a kiss as we left
• New Years Eve - although it was very lowkey and Alexander slept through it unlike last year, but Mommy almost did too
• Helped Mommy & Daddy put away the Christmas decorations and then proceeded to want to throw everything on the floor after we packed it away
• Loved helping Daddy throw the tree out the door
• Got his 4th haircut on Friday after going out to lunch with Mommy & Daddy
• Discovered dipping french fries in ketchup while out to lunch - LOVED IT!
• Celebrated the "C" Family Christmas on Saturday - saw Grandpa, Grandma, Steve, Carolyn, the boys, Matt & Michael ... loved playing with the boys and has a odd fascination with their cat as long as she's sitting
• Ate a lot of fruit over Steve & Carolyn's - berries, clementines (even peeled it himself after he took a bite of it) & bananas
• Went over Uncle Matt's with Daddy on Sunday to spend more time with Grandpa & Grandma as well as play with cousin Michael

Words...

A bit of some behind the scenes look at the new Words this week: Michael, Cook, Egg, Money, Bob, Toot, Boat, Boom, Go Now

• Michael: this is for cousin Michael, he calls his name when he's looking for him
• Cook: he will go to the fridge, ask you to open the door and point to the eggs and say "COOK" and he means it
• Egg: he will watch you 'cook' the eggs and say 'egg Dadah'
• Money: he says this all the time and at first I thought he meant Marvin K Mooney as we read that book every night but now he says it during all sorts of situations, so we're still figuring this one out
• Bob: as in Bob, the Builder. We have a Bob the Builder DVD that he asks us to put on. "BOB" as he hands you the DVD but once the actual episode starts he wants you to put on Elmo or Thomas
• Toot: as in Thomas the Train. He says this as Thomas the Train DVD is on
• Boat: is for boat and he says it at the correct times
• Boom: is in the Marvin K Mooney book and he gets a kick out of it when I say "get yourself a Ga-zoom and go with a ..." and I point to him and he says "BOOM"
• Go Now: another Marvin K Mooney reference that he likes to yell with me

Words, Words, Words...

This past week, Alexander has really been working on his vocab. He's also doing a lot more with 'conversing' with us. If only we knew what he was saying...

His (new) words that he's been saying with more frequency are: Go, Deer, Moon and something that sounds like "I magic".

He got 'go' from his Thomas The Train book and Daddy. Deer are for the lighted deer that are on our front lawn, and he loves looking for the moon. It's one of the ways we can get his coat on leaving school by asking if he wants to go look for the moon.

He would say the "I magic" phrase maybe once or twice a day but since the day after Thanksgiving he says it all day. And he's pointing and making hand gestures as he says it, again if we only knew what he was saying. Lately our response is "Oh really?" and he'll keep right on talking with us.

Once we figure it out, you'll all be in the loop...

New Words...

Alexander had a few new words this week: purple, heart, ball & knee

Words...

Here is just a quick list of words that Alexander either says all the time or has said occassionally

• dada
• mama
• up
• apple
• turtle
• JoJo (His teacher's name is MaryJo)
• Aiden (aah-den)
• Hi
• Moo
• Quack Quack
• woof woof
• Yah
• Bye

New Words...

I believe I mentioned that Alexander has started saying 'Up' but I can't remember if I mentioned 'apple'. So both are now becoming more frequent in his vocabulary.
He actually says 'up' all the time now and most times actually gets it correct in context. It's so cute seeing him learn new things and then use it correctly.

We also have "conversations" on our way to school. I ask him about his friends at school and if he's excited to go and play with them. I ask him about Aidan, Ginny & Nina and yesterday he said "Ai-dan" and "Inny" and then gave me a big smile so he's starting to grasp concepts/names/people.