Maya picked this ****giveaway*****

In the past I've talked about Maya's love for letters and how amazed I've been as she seems to be learning them through osmosis.  This is due partially to her natural interest in letters (she's always been interested in the writing on T-shirts, bags, etc) and partially to one really great video:

When I saw Maya starting to recognize letters, I asked for alphabet exposure ideas from one of my message boards, and several of the moms replied "Teaching letters?  All I did was put on Leapfrog Letter Factory and my kids magically learned them."   So I picked up the video, put it on, and a few short days later Maya was already copying the letter sounds (check her out in this video).

Amazing!  And since she's nonverbal, really amazing.

She can't say "A" (like the long A sound in plate), but she can say "ah"   . . . and quickly I could show her an A and say "What letter is that?" and she would say "Ah!".  I would never have thought to teach her to tell me the letters with their sounds, but it worked.  Suddenly she was able to tell us how much she was understanding.  (Similarly, she can say "ba" and "da" but not B or D.)  I couldn't believe how interested she was in the video, or how quickly she starting picking up the new information.  I'm a big fan. 

So when Maya grabbed the video off of the store shelf the other day (she recognized the box, sneaky girl) and I saw that it was on sale, I decided to get one for a giveaway :)

This video is my favorite.

You guys are going to love it!

(FYI: I am not affiliated with Leapfrog in any way.  I'm not receiving any sort of compensation from the Leapfrog folks.  Maya just loves this video, and I've been impressed with how much it has taught her, so I thought I'd pay it forward.)

Here's how to enter the giveaway:  Pay attention, because you can enter up to 5 times! 

 

1. Leave a comment on this post. Any comment will do . . "Hey, I want to win!" "Giveaways rule" "Maya is awesome", etc :)

 

2. Like our page on Facebook ("Uncommon Sense Blog") if you don't already. Then, leave a comment here that says "I'm a Facebook follower!" (If you're already a Facebook follower, you can leave this comment too, of course.)

 

3.  Follow us on Twitter!  (This is new! See the twitter feed on the top right corner of the blog?)  Our Twitter name is "UncommonBlogger". Then, leave a comment here that says "I'm following you on Twitter!" 

 

4. Share the link to the giveaway on Facebook. Then, leave a comment here that says "I shared the giveaway on FB!"

 

5. Retweet the link to the giveaway on Twitter (once you follow me on Twitter, you can just retweet my giveaway post).  Then, leave a comment here that says "I retweeted the giveaway!"

 

Remember to leave a separate comment for each entry!

 

Winner will be chosen the evening of Tuesday, August 30th.  The latest that an entry will be accepted is 5pm (EST) on Tues, 8/30, via random number generator.  The winner will be announced the same evening and have 2 days to contact me before I pick a different winner. 

Letter hunting . . .

This video kind of makes me think back to those grossly misrepresentative evaluation results that we got a few months ago. 

Um, 0.4th percentile for cognitive development? 

Ha. 

It's a shame that the person who did the evaluating wasn't smart enough to understand Maya . . .  because Maya was certainly smart enough to understand her.

Another little milestone

We took this video this morning, immediately after breakfast, hence the snazzy attire.




(That's how she signs "play".)

It figures that the first word she recognizes (besides her name) is play :)  Our girl is so smart!

Poultry in the alphabet hallway

Side note: I don't know why the last 4 pictures here are sideways.  I'll try reuploading them again later and hope that blogger is working better.  For now, turn your computer or your head 90 degrees to the left.  If you have a desktop, I suggest turning your head.

I've been in major DIY mode the past few days.  Maya & I took a trip to Lakeshore over the weekend, where I had to restrain myself from buying up every alphabet/sight words/colors/shapes/numbers product that they have.  I bought a bunch of stuff and walked around snapping cell phone photos of everything that made me think "I could make that at home.".

(Side philosophical note: I am not a huge proponent of forced education on little kids.  I think toddlers should get to play like toddlers.  But Maya loves letters . . . and she loves words.  Her favorite hobby this week is sitting on the floor and reading magazines, pointing and yelling at the pages that have ads with giant font letters.  So if she likes letters and words, then I'm going to surround her with them.   For as long as she is nonverbal, she will be underestimated by the masses, and I'm going to help her get as friggin' smart as she can, so that she will surprise and enlighten many people . . . teaching them not to judge a book by its cover, for sure.)

Anyway, I've been busy with my trusty laminator:

I totally love one project that I did today.  I bought alphabet cards, trimmed them so that I could squeeze in 2 per laminating pouch, cut them out, and lined the hallway with them (at Maya's eye level, not mine). (They have to be laminated because otherwise they would likely be crumpled/bent/torn up at some point)

laid out and ready to tape up

One side done

She was pretty excited to wake up from her nap and see a letter-filled hallway :)

As I walked past the kitchen, I noticed that it was looking very industrious today as well.  Those are some herbs from a weekend fair that I need to repot, a rice cooker that was making rice for tonight's dinner, and my crockpot, in which I'm attempting to make homemade yogurt.  If it works out, it will be a delicious money saver----but I'm not counting on anything until I taste the first batch.

And Maya had a typical 4-therapy Monday.  During the day's last session, I shot a little video.  Just typical therapy . . .

Oh yeah, except the ducklings were back.  And big enough now that they just waddled free.  Dave came home, got changed, peeked into the living room and said "There are ducks?  Wandering around our apartment?"  Seems about right, I think. 

Maya was delighted to see them again, especially was one frisky duckling started tickling her:

Hey!  That's my foot!

Oh, duckie, that is just too tickly!

Virginia got them to follow her into the hallway . . . 

. . . and when they decided to all lay down, we said "Maya, look, the ducks are tired.  They're resting."  . . . so she decided that it would be best to lay down and rest, too.

Goodnight, ducks.  I'm right here if you want to cuddle.

Now I know my ABC's* (obviously, Mom, I've known them for a while but you never asked)

My girl's a genius.

Yesterday I mentioned that she recognized some letters at the pool, so today I was going to make some letter flashcards.  I printed out letters in a giant font, cut them out, taped them to index cards (half an index card per letter) and put them through the laminator.  My plan was to cut them out while we ate breakfast, but Maya was being especially cranky, so I gave her a whole laminated sheet of letters to play with, and decided to ask her about them.




Ok, I had thought that she would know A and M, because we do a lot of "M is for Maya" and the letter A just shows up a lot (like in ABCs, on blocks, etc).  But J?  H?  What in the world?  She must have learned them from her letter video and the general talking about letters that we do every day----but I'm shocked! 

So I finished the letter cards this morning.  They look like this:

And then I hole-punched them and stuck them on a key ring for each transport and storage.  I'm not sure what I'm going to use them for, but hopefully having them handy will lead to simple reinforcing moments.  Now when I say "Blueberries start with B . . . b-b-blueberries" I can also flash the card to make that connection.

(If you're a parent or educator who has done other letter stuff, or you have ideas on how to use the cards, drop me a line please--- uncommonfeedback@gmail.com)

Nightswimming*

(Actually, day swimming.  But if I write Nightswimming then the REM song starts in my head and I love having that song playing in my head, so I'm keeping it.)

We've had two days of oppressive heat & humidity here . . . what better day to re-join the pool?  As a suburb girl, I'm a fan of the outdoor summer pool---but here in our neighborhood the indoor one turned out to be cheaper (and it has longer hours, and includes a gym membership----how is that even possible?) . . . regardless,  we'll be hanging out (indoor) poolside this summer.

Before we could leave for the pool I told Maya "We have to take Parker out to go potty" and I went to find my sunglasses . . . when I turned around, she was holding the leash!

Is this what you're looking for, Mom?

Parker!  Stay still!  Don't eat the leash!  We have to get this on so quick . . . mama said she's takin' me to the pool!

Who cares if the leash isn't on?!  Let's go!

Fun times were had by all at the pool.  I took some pictures on my phone to text to Dave (in a sharing-the-cuteness way, not a you're-at-work-and-we're-at-the-pool way):

This was "Maya, make a silly face!"

This was "Maya, smile!"  Maybe we need to work on making a smiling face.

The most amazing part of the pool visit was this sign:

 3 FEET DEEP

We were hanging out by the stairs and Maya was furiously pointing at it and making noises (the girl loves letters).  Just for kicks, I took her over and said Where's the E? and she pointed at one of the E's. 

Where's the D? Got it. 

Where's the P? Right again.

Where' the 3? Pointed at it, and then held up 3 fingers (like we taught her for her birthday).

Holy crap.

She's such a little sponge, just constantly soaking things up.  I haven't been doing any sort of focused letter stuff with her, other than watching Leapfrog Letter Factory once or twice a week and singing the song from it.  I haven't been showing her the letters (and certainly not the numbers).  But I will be now :)

 Daddy, when I'm done swimming I get to wear a pretty dress and pink sandals!!!

I tried to get a picture of her in the dress when we got home, but all I got were a bunch of shots that look like this:

She's too quick :)  (How great is that to say?!)  It's not quite running, but it's some sort of if-you-walk-any-faster-you'll-certainly-land-on-your-face pace, and I love it.  I love the fact that sometimes I have to do a few little joggy steps to get to her :)

And a quick post-hospital update . . .

True to form, Maya's still a little off from the anesthesia/hospital experience.  I feel like biologically it shouldn't last this long, but it seems to always take her a solid 2-3 days before she's totally back---she's taking longer naps, going to bed earlier, and trying to quit her therapy sessions midway through by employing the I-just-need-a-hug tactic on her therapists (with varying degrees of success).

As for me, I've spent the past two days exchanging dozens of emails with a good friend who happens to be a pediatric research audiologist in LA.  I made sure to get a tiny bit of data on Tuesday that I could feed to her, and based on that she created a graph to teach me the basics of hearing threshold data.  When I wondered about the reality of hearing aids, she sent me pictures of the pediatric aids from her center.  When I asked about the process of making Maya's hearing aids, she sent me a detailed play-by-play of how they create the new hearing aids where she works, what to expect at the appointments, and the brand and model number that her coworkers recommend based on Maya's case history.  When I started to struggle and question the validity of the findings (more on this some other time, but considering that we've already had one ABR that I don't trust, how can I be 100% certain of this one?) she consulted with some more people on her end and passed along the consensus of their thoughts.  Since Tuesday we've traded 22 emails, several of which included pdfs that she made to teach me about things. 

And she's another one of my internet friends. 

Another one that I've never met.  

We did have one telephone conversation a few weeks ago---helping me figure out if the sedated ABR was a good next step or more-than-what-was-necessary.  But other than that, she's a message board/Facebook/email friend.  Seriously, I'm so happy to live in this age of internet networking---where I can meet intelligent, wonderful women who have a great impact on my life.  

Thanks, Amy :)

The A says aaa!

I asked some wise been-there-done-that moms how their kids started to learn about letters.  Several recommended a DVD called "Leapfrog Letter Factory", which Maya quickly took to (given the choice to watch Elmo or "The letters" before bed, she's been chosing the letters).
 
They sing a cute song about the noises that the letters make, and Maya likes to sing along. . .

Don't get too excited about her tearing through the alphabet, her mouth isn't nearly ready to start making the C sound

Again, I'm not a big advocate of pushing educational stuff onto kids constantly (I'm a big believer in play), but if she's showing interest in letters, I'm going to ride this wave  :)

PS-If you just see a black box, click it and the video will start.

M is for Maya

How. freaking. cool. is. that. 

!?!?!?!

Her OT mentioned a weekish ago that maybe we should start exposing her to letters, since she can be pretty visually attentive (when she's in the mood).  So I started doodling M's here and there.  Yesterday, when the OT did an art project with her, they made a big M with markers and I hung it on the door. 

This morning during breakfast we were drawing on the high chair tray (with crayons--super fun and they wipe right up) and when I drew an M Maya turned in her chair to point at the M drawing on the door.  I thought to myself, "Does she really know M already?" and then I grabbed my phone (for video) and cut a few index cards and tried it out.  AMAZING :)

I feel the need to issue the disclaimer that I am not a general fan of pushing kids to learn letter recognition, etc before school starts----but I think if the child is interested, why not.  More importantly, for a nonverbal child, learning letters and words is huge.  It's just a happy glimpse into the future, a reassuring nugget tucked in my back pocket  . . . if spoken words take many years to come, it's ok, because recognizing words and tapping them out will be coming too, possibly sooner. 

Recognizing M is, for me, a gentle, reassuring reminder that she will understand (more) and be (more) understood with every passing day.