About me and my blog

martes, 9 de octubre de 2012

Discovering politeness, music, and friendship

Phew, I have been absent for too long and I promise I haven't had a second to post, so busy I was preparing classes, environments, activities, both for my students and for my girl. I am terribly sorry for the loss it represents to skip two or three Wednesdays without updating M's progress. I am also sorry this will be a post written in haste, nearing midnight, and stealing some time from a precious rest. Well, I can't say I am sleeping wonderfully this days, but I do try to rest as much as I can during the night, since naps can't happen these days.
We have been doing several practical life activities around here. M is interested in squeezing oranges, spreading tomato on a loaf of bread, pouring liquids with her pitcher, transferring, and tonging. Although the tongs are a bit too big and she ends up transferring with her hands. 
Not too long ago she started saying "salut" (=bless you) after someone had sneezed. Then, it was "thank you" and "gràcies", which she uses mainly when she is the one giving something, not taking. We have also heard her wishing "bon profit" during lunchtimes. All in all it is delightful to see how modeling behavior is about enough. I really can't figure myself pushing her to say thanks to someone, in a similar way I can't push her to kiss someone. 
Music is becoming one of her favorite activities and apart from playing the piano with the daddy nearly every day, she often goes to her kitchen cabinet, grabs a couple of spoons and comes back to the living room, where she uses her round wooden block box as a drum. Not seldom she exclaims "Marina making noise", although I am encouraging her to call it music or rhythms.

Some days ago a great friend of ours gave us some money to spend on M's materials and we got a set of musical bells from Imaginarium, which M loves and uses daily. There are also some songs she prefers and asks us to sing. Lately she has even started singing a bit.
In the field of language, the novelty is the use of prepositions and conjunctions. She started first with the latter and sometimes seems to take delight in listing "the cat sleeping AND the dogs sleeping AND...". Her use of prepositions is clearly distinct in the Catalan language, where instead of a possessive 's (i.e. mama's hat) possession is articulated thought a preposition.

Finally, after many months of regularly sharing some time with two other girls (my friends' daughters) her same age, friendship seems to be appearing. She talks about them and wants to see them. Some interaction has also made appearance and I am glad that after some weeks when conflict seemed to be the only interaction, they are now showing signs of fondness.




4 comentarios:

  1. Hola Laura, soy Reli, la hermana de Tzvika. He mirado tu blog hoy y me impresiona mucho tu escuela en casa! Es magnífica! Quiero robarte unas ideas!!!
    Tienes algún plan más especificado? de dónde coges las ideas? Tienes alguna recomendación? Tal vez podemos quedar y hablarlo un día. Yo todavía trabajo por las mañanas pero si no nos podemos ver en persona, tal vez en algún chat o por telefono y si no, por mail.
    Bueno, estarems en contacto y te iré siguiendo mientras tanto para coger ideas ! (además, me parece muy bueno ya que me canso tanto saliendo cada tarde al parque porque me toca correr detrás de él y eso me mata... así que perfecto!)

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    1. Hola Reli. Gracias por tus comentarios! La verdad es que antes de empezar septiembre creé un plan muy específico de lo que haríamos hasta diciembre (navidad y nacimiento del peque). Las dos primeras semanas lo seguimos a rajatabla pero ahora vamos sobre la marcha. Estos "plannings" lo que tienen de bueno es que te apuntas las ideas juntas, y de malo que si quieres seguir el interés del niño o niña, tienes que improvisar sobre la marcha. Por eso lo que nos sirve a nosotras no serviría en absoluto a otros niños de la misma edad. Yo siempre intento "follow the child". Observa a Noam y haz con él las actividades que te parece que le pueden interesar más. Para mí potenciar la concentración es interesante e importante. Si están concentrados en lo que hacen porque les interesa y motiva no hacen cosas de las que algunos adultos se quejan, como romper o tirar cosas.
      En fin, espero que te vaya bien. Y te animo a ser una seguidora más de mi blog...

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  2. It sounds like you have been busy! Will you be able to take a bit of maternity leave from your work with your students? Those bells look wonderful - I have seen them before and wondered how nice they actually are, so I'm glad to hear you like them. As usual, much seems to be happening with M! I'm amazed that she's already singing. Annabelle has only just started to really sing herself in the past month or so. It's such a joy to hear!

    I hope you're feeling well!

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    1. I have been busy indeed!!! And when I am not, I am just tired. I still don't know what will happen once I have the baby.. There are some activities, such as leading book clubs, that I will have to keep up. Fortunately, club meetings take place only once a month, but I lead several of them...
      The bells are a hit around here! And, well, music in general. Marina likes sitting at the piano, as well.
      I am feeling generally all right, many thanks!!

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