Every Letter Makes a Sound

Having a boy and girl close in age makes it a little hard to find things that interest both of them at the same time.  Callie won't watch tv, and C loves it.  C loves toys and will play independently with little supervision.  Callie really only likes baby dolls and must be with you at ALL times doing what you are doing, the laundry, the dishes, playing on the computer, putting on lip gloss...you know all of the normal two year old activities.  So, when we are trying to have some family time, we try to do things that interest both of them.  Callie knows almost all of her letters and lots of the letter sounds even without us really teaching her, C still thinks all letters are T, for Thomas.  So, I have tried to combine exciting sensory stimulating things for C while letting Callie have her every growing need to write on things 24/7.  Sometimes it goes well, and sometimes it doesn't. Callie is more of a traditional learner and needs little instruction, while you have to think outside the box(or table) for C and repeat the steps several times.  It seems that C likes to just do things for fun, while Callie is very intentional about her "play".  Knowing that this is very normal between boys and girls, I still thought that I should be paying more attention to his learning style.  Callie learns things in a constant fluid motion.  There doesn't seem to be a start and stop to it.  She just knows more than she did yesterday. C is a cluster learner.  It takes several weeks to teach him something new and you think he isn't interested or isn't getting it, and then all of a sudden he sings the whole song at once or plays the game correctly.  But, once he gets it, that is it.  Then he starts to store up the next cluster of info.  I have had to learn not to give up too easily thinking, oh he isn't getting it.  He has days in pre-school where he struggles, and I have noticed that he gets easily frustrated if he can't "do" something and just wants to quit(usually by throwing whatever it is that is making him frustrated).  So, one day when Callie was napping, we matched all the magnet letters to the names of his trains, he was so excited about this and did this for a long time.  He has had access to these magnets for months, but never really took an interest in them on the fridge.  But, when I brought them on the floor, sat with him and brought out the trains, I was finally speaking his language.  It just goes to show that it isn't that he isn't ready or interested in learning things, it is just that he doesn't want to learn the same way that most people want to teach little boys.  Also, I have to be intentional to do things with him when his know it all sister isn't around.  He gains more confidence and has enough time to think through things when she isn't over his shoulder shouting out the answer.  I am very thankful that they are not in the same grade.  His teacher and OT have commented about his short attention span, so I am trying to be creative in providing things that he can feel successful at and encourage him to keep trying.  And this isn't about him learning his letters.  He is only 3 and has plenty of time to learn them, but it is about teaching him to keep trying and building confidence.  Jenn Hill has been great with ideas, since she has tons of experience with wiggly little boys in her pre-k class.       

It was raining for several days, so we had to shake it up a bit.  C loved the shaving cream and painted himself with it, and Callie hid bears and made letters with her fingers and sticks.  I am pretty sure they loved the bath in the sink the most at the end. 

Hopefully they will meet each other in the middle a little and C will take things a little more seriously when it is needed, and Callie will learn when to let her hair down.  This year is going to be so interesting with them moving out of the baby toddler stage to the "big kid" stage.  I still can't believe a year ago, C could barely talk.  I already miss his baby words like golfing cart, and Tally(Callie).  He says almost everything clearly now, and it is a little sad how fast it went. Today, he told me that he planted a garden with Daddy, and we needed to water the flowers so they could grow. Callie still shows her age by her hopsicle(popsicle) and tocktopus(octopus) and wub(love) phrases. Oh, I hope she never says popsicle the right way.