Sunday, August 29, 2010

Karl is finally starting to talk.

karl is finally starting to way some words other than mama. In the past week, I've gotten baby, truck, papa, peek a boo, juice, shoes and a few others. Yay! Way to go Karl!

"Peek a boo!" has got to be my favorite. It comes out "pee a boo" and he says it as he uncovers his eyes. I love that he can have so much fun with something as simple as covering and uncovering his eyes. Ahhh, pure baby fun.

I can't wait for the talking to progress. Being able to tell me what's up will help so much. I'm so tired of the grunting and pointing. Its like a game of charades every time he wants something.

Ella and Allison are getting into the groove at school. Allie is doing amazing, I got the report that she follows directions and is eager to raise her hand to answer questions. She loves to learn. Ella, on the other hand, is having trouble following direction. She is falling into the same pattern she had last year, talking out of turn and getting out of her seat. I don't know what to do about it other than talking to her about it everyday after school. She has the punishment of no cartoons if she ends up on a red light during class. She's also had to clean her room by herself. I just don't know what to do about it. Ugh.
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4 comments:

Molly said...

My former supervisor gave a great talk a few years ago about turnaround teaching, making negatives into positives, and she opened by saying, "When we have children, we get so excited when they learn how to walk and talk. Then we send them to school to get told to sit down and be quiet." She talked about meeting the kids at their level, and trying to get kids who seek attention to take leadership roles. The talk was good; the opening was better.

And first grade is that much more difficult than kindergarten because they're expected to sit for longer and concentrate more. I'm not sure when they start standardized testing in your district but I'm sure it's coming up in the next few years.

It's a maturity thing, and she'll get there.

As for Karl--good for him!

Kristin said...

Yay for Karl! And, Ella will get there. Could she be getting up and talking out of turn out of boredom?

jenn said...

Yay Karl! I also can not wait until Caiden is able to communicate with words! Lots of pointing, grunting, nodding head & screaming here these days! She does respond to questions pretty well- but it's a guessing game of what she wants.
The only thing she is ever super clear on is food, lol! 'neh-neh' means give me some food & she does the signs for more & all done now.
Ella is a smart smart cookie- I can see her being bored or needing more challenge. It's so easy to forget that she isn't already in 3rd or 4th grade- she seems more mature than maybe she is ready for in 1st grade! She'll get there- consistency is so important and you have that!

Nico said...

What does Ella say about why she does this? I've really liked the "positive discipline" series of books by Jane Nelsen, she has some really good suggestions for how to manage behaviours like this, I'd suggest checking out perhaps "positive discipline A to Z". If I remember correctly (my kids are too young for this kind of stuff) she suggests getting the kid involved in coming up with a plan for what do to about the behaviour, and consequences if that isn't followed. Definitely worth a read.