Update

Oops! A much needed update. So much has been going on. Major upheaval. We were out of the house for 3 weeks! The boys are adjusting to the new baby. We've had to do a lot of behavioral modification. lol

After a major break, we are slowly easing back into things. A little bit at a time. TJ has been doing puzzles periodically. I am so impressed with how quickly he is able to put together puzzles now. I think it is going to be time for him to advance to more difficult puzzles. With more pieces. As I am still not ready for a formal schedule, I took another teachable moment when TJ did a Melissa & Doug Solar System puzzle. We counted the planets. TJ recognized the sun, the moon and the "planet Earth" as he calls it. There are 8 planets in the puzzle. Let me tell you, it's going to take some getting used - not having Pluto around anymore. Anyway, I introduced the words revolve, rotate, star (although I've mentioned this one before), meteor, and orbit. I told TJ about how the sun is very, very hot and how people cannot live on Mercury and Venus due to the heat. I also told TJ that the sun is a ball of fire. It must have sunk in with TJ b/c while in the car, whenever LJ said that he saw the sun, TJ kept repeating that the sun is a ball of fire. I also borrowed a couple of books on the solar system and planets from the library. I can't wait to see what kind of facts TJ is drawn to.

I've come to the realization that LJ does not really know his colors. I am a bit upset about it b/c I thought he did. At least know some of them, but apparently, he's been a pretty good guesser or saying the right color at the right time. But I resolve to work on it with him. I try to point out colors more and identify objects by their color more. Like when he gets dressed in the morning, reminding LJ and having LJ state the color of the clothing. And reinforcing it in one language mostly, as not to confuse him too much. I think it's been working. Today when playing with TJ with the bouncy balls, he correctly identified the color of a ball he was playing with. Woohoo.

But then b/c I must add confusion to everything, I really want to reinforce our second language, Chinese. I've ordered some Chinese VCDs online. I'm so excited that I found some!!! I tried looking at a couple of stores in Chinatown as suggested by another mom on the Asian American board on BBC, but to no avail. There was limited selection and they were not really that cheap. There might have been other stores that would have what I was looking for, but it was not really doable with two kids and a stroller. Anyway, I am terribly excited to have the VCDs. I got Monsters Inc, Toy Story, Cars, The Incredibles and Baby Einstein Language Nursery. The boys have already watched Monsters Inc. I think they got a kick out of it. I know I did. I think we'll have to watch a bunch more times before it sinks in. I have to admit I am a bit disappointed with the Baby Einstein. I didn't see the whole thing, but what I did, it's exactly like the original version. What?!??! I just paid for another Baby Einstein, what I had already?!?? I don't know what I was thinking. Baby Einstein Language Nursery already has foreign languages. I couldn't have really thought that all of it would be translated into Chinese, could I? :(

This past weekend, we took two field trips. One to see the Staten Island Yankees. That was fun. It is a very nice ballpark. Not a bad seat in the house. :) I mentioned to Daddy that baseball games would be a wonderful tool to teach with. Let's see what he does with it. We also went to Pt Pleasant. We got to go to Jenkinson's Aquarium. The boys love the place! I think they could spend hours there. This time around, Daddy had to be the guide as I had to tend to the little man.

Well, finally today, I got around to doing a bit of followup for our trip to the aquarium. I had TJ write about our trip to the aquarium. With a little bit of prompting, TJ was reminded that we went to the aquarium. I gave him a sheet of construction paper and he wrote down where we went - I reminded him of my little story of how the letter Q is very shy and never goes anywhere without the letter u - and drew a picture. He wanted to continue, so I gave him another sheet of construction paper. I asked TJ what he saw. He said he saw a shark. He wrote that down and drew a picture. I have to admit, I was very impressed. His writing is more advanced than some of the boys and girls I had in my class in the beginning of the year. His picture was also very well drawn. On this sheet, I pointed out that sh makes the sh sound and how at the end of a sentence, there should be a period. I think TJ was really enjoying himself and still wanted to continue some more. He wanted to write that he saw a stingray. He really loves those stingrays! =) Again, impressive writing and drawing. I reminded him about the period. At which point, he looked back at the first sheet and TJ says that he forgot the period there! Oh, how could I forget. The sentence on the first sheet was "We went to the aquarium." When we got to the word 'the,' I was wondering how TJ was going to handle it. It's a word that he is beginning to recognize and read more regularly. He did know that the word began with the letter 't.' I prompted TJ by saying asking him how to spell 'the' again and telling him that he knows how to read the word the, so he should know how to write the word 'the.' At that point, I see his eyes look toward a book that is resting across the table. Even the book is upside down to him, I think he recognizes the word 'the' b/c afterwards, TJ writes the word 'the' correctly on his paper. TJ was done after this. I think b/c LJ was awake from his nap and TJ's concentration was broken. It was a nice spell - ha ha - while we had it. ZJ was even having a little bit of learning time with Baby Einstein. :)

TJ was so proud to show his work to Daddy. And he should be!