And that says it all.

Now back to our previously scheduled life…

With me it’s hot cereal. Often I sit down on the step to our living room with a big bowl of Malt-o-Meal and two spoons, and we take turns feeding ourselves and each other while watching “Fruit: Close Up and Very Personal” (No, I didn’t make that name up. We have 4 of the VHS’s in that series, and she loves them.)

Another small victory: the other night we were having tater tots. I put two on her plate, just because I try to give her what we’re having whether she eats it or not. And she ate both of them without being asked to! That may not seem like much, but for us it’s a big step.

My daughter’s squishy ball went kaput. It’s late, I’m tired, so I decided to have a wee bit of fun at her baby doll’s expense.

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• Cutters smaller than 3″ x 3″ don’t work well (the bunny at right).


• Neither do cutters with lots of narrow areas (the bunny’s ears, and the collie’s legs above. The airplane was pain to do too.).


• Forms with large open areas work best (such as the heart and semi to the right)


• Also, forms with handles (such as the heart) are easiest. Otherwise use a pair of pliers to flip the cutters without burning yourself. You may also have to push the crumpet through with a spoon or something similar.


• An old soup can works just fine if all you want is a traditional round crumpet.

The solution to this problem goes back to early childhood brain development, when all those pathways in the brain are being formed. The more phonemes a child hears, i.e. the more foreign languages the child hears, the better she will be able to hear and speak those sounds in the future. That’s the idea behind Baby Einstein’s Language Nursery, where the baby can listen to poems and songs in Russian, Spanish, French, German, Hebrew, Japanese, etc. They aren’t expecting the child to learn those languages, merely to have the sounds burned into her aural and oral memory.

So, we’ve started giving the Punkin all sorts of language input. My mother speaks French to her, I can do a bit of German, my husband has a bit of both. But none of us speaks Spanish, which is one language that will be almost essential to have a knowledge of in the future. So I looked around on the Net, and found A la Vibora de la Mar, a Spanish language series for children.

When I bought the DVDs, I thought it was just another language program. It’s not. This is total immersion Spanish, designed for native speakers. Which is wonderful! The Punkin is hearing all those sounds needed to speak the language–properly–down the road, and hearing them in a fun and vibrant format. The songs are catchy. Very, very catchy.

We own three of the four titles–Do Re Mi Nino (music), Los Colores de Rufino (colors), and 123 Cuentame un Cuento (counting). The fourth, Aprendiendo Tempranito, came out this spring, and I only just now was able to find it here. We’ll be getting that ASAP.

The neat thing is, the Punkin is starting to repeat what she hears. Even my old, unstretchy brain cells are picking up words here and there. As there’s not a lick of English in the programs, I had to have a friend make me a transcript of what’s going on. So now I at least know gist of the stories and songs, and since I have the words written down, I can help the Punkin sing along a bit.

I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences with early language exposure.

The Punkin is a little sponge at this point. Sometimes I call her “Johnny Five”–need more input! She seems to be happiest when learning. She already knows her numbers 1-10, her alphabet, and can find the letters on a keyboard (and use a mouse, but let’s not go there). That’s just from watching Baby Einstein and playing with her computer.

I know that now is the time to burn language pathways in her brain, so we are trying to expose her to as much foreign speech as she wants. She can count to 5 in German and Spanish, and is starting to learn her colors in Spanish.

She also takes Creative Movement, which has done wonders for her gross motor skills. She can skip, gallop, hop on one foot, and do bits of ballet (she actually knows how to do a coupé, passé, and arabesque).

I’m thinking “formal” schooling would be more along the lines of time set aside specifically to read to her, or work on word recognition, or hone fine motor skills. Not until much later would this time involve actual “work.”

So, am I trying to be über-mom, and force my daughter to become an infant over-achiever? Or am I being wise and taking advantage of her desire to learn? Where’s the line? How much is too much?

I love my room. Wouldn’t you?

TTFN the Punkin