A Playtastic Day

We had a wonderful day on Thursday, playing at the new Playtastic soft play centre in Sinfin (http://www.playtasticplay.co.uk/index.html). We'd been there 2 weeks before, having Iona's photo taken for the local Lots for Tots magazine (http://lots-for-tots.net/) competition, and she really enjoyed it then, but being dolled up wasn't really dressed for climbing. We had to return this week to collect the CD of photos we'd ordered, so I made sure Iona was dressed in trousers this time, and that I had socks on. We arrived at half past 11, had lunch in the cafe there, and didn't leave till about 3:30. I really like this soft play area, although it's pretty expensive, as it has plenty in it for the younger children, even having a little area for babies, which Iona still enjoys. Almost as good, the cafe has women's magazines on the counter, so you can have a little read with your lunch. Lunch, incidentally, is good, too, with crisp, non-greasy chips, ample veggie choices, and lovely, child-friendly crockery and cutlery, although, once again, it's not incredibly cheap.

With a bit of help Iona got into the toddlers' ball pool, then a little girl of about 4 joined her in there. Iona was a bit uncertain of her at first, but quickly accepted her, and I was so proud that she played so well with her. Prompted by me at first, she passed balls to her, and copied the little girl crawling around in the balls. On a couple of occasions I was a bit concerned that her little friend was starting to get a bit rough, and was tempted to intervene to remind her that Iona was only little, but I restrained myself and found that Iona was able to push past her quite well, with no worries on her part. This is really the first time that Iona has properly "played" with another child, really taking notice of her, and not just as another plaything.

On the uses of reading

Despite my intentions to teach Iona reading by the "look-say" method, rather than phonics (as English is such a non-phonetic language), she has been determined to use phonics - she keeps pointing out individual letters and asking "Tha?". She has been very interested in the BBC logo for a while, and a week ago she spotted the ITV logo and asked about it. On being told it said "ITV" she happily kept repeating "I, T". Yesterday we had an ITV station on, and Iona looked at the little logo in the corner and said "I, T", without any prompting.

As Iona seems so interested in letter sounds, I have begun to help her make her own A, B, C book, using a presentation folder, paper, and cut-out photos. The advantage (besides cost) is that we can concentrate on words that have a meaning for her, so under "B" we have Boots and Backpack, and "D" contains Dora and Diego. 2 days ago we added the Asda logo, as we go shopping there quite a lot, and yesterday when we went shopping she was very interested in the logo. When we read the book she says her version of "Asda" when she sees the logo, so she is definitely beginning recognising written logos, a first step in reading.

In's and out's of HE

For ages now I've been reading that Iona should be taking things out of containers and putting them back in - well the taking things out has been going brilliantly, but unfortunately not so the putting them in! Well, today we went to the Stay and Play session at the local children's centre and Iona decided to spend most of the time in the outside play area. They'd set up a sink full of water, with squashy fish and boats floating in it, and Iona was one of the children fascinated by this. Unsurprisingly, she started by taking the fish and boats out, and splashing in the water so much that she might as well have jumped in, her clothes were so wet! Then I watched, open-mouthed, as she put some of them back in the water - I was ecstatic! So much so, that I didn't have the heart to stop her splashing. She repeated it several times, so I began to believe that it might not be a fluke. However, I was a bit cynical about her repeating this behaviour at home.

Later, at home, the living room was a total tip where she'd been practising the "taking out" behaviour, so I started putting her building bricks away in their bag and asked her to help me. Incredibly, she put several bricks into the bag, before she got bored and started throwing them around the room. I even managed to persuade her back onto task again several times, before she started trying to empty the bag again. Okay, it wasn't just the bricks she was trying to put in the bag, but other toys too, but it's definitely a major advance in Iona's ability.

It seems to have been a day of advances, as she was asking during the evening about the ITV4 logo on the TV, and she was so taken with it that she spent the rest of the programme asking about it, then repeating "IT, IT, IT". She also got the idea that mice say "eek", which she also repeated copiously, and was very amused by the piano playing on "Show Me, Show Me".

"We are Climbing up the Golden Stair"

Well, Iona finally made it up the stairs today. She was playing out in the hall, so I thought I'd better check on her, only to find she was on the second step up. We'd got out of the habit of closing the downstairs stair gate, as she'd shown no interest in the stairs up to now, so I hurried over and followed close behind her. In no time she'd crawled up all 13 steps, and was very proud of herself. Now to teach her to come down just as safely!

The beginnings of reading?

I'm hopeful that my attempts to teach Iona to read are beginning to pay off. Although she usually still tends to say "Mamma" when she sees all 3 cards, she is usually quicker to realise what "daddy" says. When I lay 2 cards out and ask her to find a particular card she is now usually able to do so, and on 1 occasion last week as soon as she saw the "head" flashcard she put her hands to her head!

How to Teach Kids to Swim

From looking at the Brill Kids website (http://www.brillbaby.com/teach-baby/baby-swimming.php) I discovered that YouTube had some really good videos on teaching your baby to swim. One in particular proved very useful, as I had been wondering how to move Iona on from being comfortable being submerged to swimming on her own.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ds7nLmhQSSg

When we went swimming today I decided to risk trying to persuade her to float a bit towards the side bar. She was a bit clingy generally, so not too keen, but I was thrilled that, with a hint of support underneath, she managed to "swim" virtually on her own a short distance to the side. Now I have an aim for the next few sessions (not sure how many it will take): to decrease the amount of support until Iona is able to float / swim to the side from a couple of her lengths away.

More on reading

I've tried to show Iona the "Mummy", "Daddy" and "head" flashcards at least once a day since my last post. She now says "Mama" as soon as she sees them. Unfortunately, that's true whichever one I show her! However, when I show her "Daddy" and correct her that it's not "Mummy", then prompt her with "Da..." she excitedly says "Dada", so I feel that's some progress, especially at only 13 months old.

On reading

A month or two ago I came across a website which had downloadable signs to put up around the house (URL to follow), to help babies / children to learn to read. I'd planned to do this for Iona, but not got around to it, so I printed them out and put them up. Unfortunately, several got torn down fairly quickly, but in the last week or so she's been pointing at some and asking "Tha?", so I've been telling her. She's also pointing similarly to page numbers and things like the "DK" logo on books. As she seems really interested, I decided that she's now ready to begin to learn to read, especially as her talking is coming on in leaps and bounds. This may seem ridiculously early, but my Mum taught me when I was 4, using Glen Doman's "Teach Your Baby to Read Kit", which I've inherited. According to this, and the site Brill Baby / Brill Kids (http://www.brillbaby.com/teach-baby/reading.php), now is quite a reasonable age to begin showing her flashcards, without any pressure.

Consequently, I got the kit out of the spare room, and found the large, red "mummy" flashcard, which is the one you're supposed to begin with. I showed it to Iona a few times yesterday and the day before and told her what it said. She was very interested, and pointed to individual letters, asking about them. Although I don't want to use phonics, as English isn't very phonetic, I felt I should answer her questions and tell her the letter sounds that she was asking about, while trying to maintain emphasis on the word as a whole. I also broke the kit's rules and showed her "head", as she's been extremely keen on that word for the last 2 or 3 days, and "daddy", which is one of her favourite words. We'll have to see whether that confuses her.

Today I got the "mummy" flashcard out and before I even had a chance to ask what it said she said "mmm"! Mind you, she did the same with the "daddy" and "head" cards.

Water baby part 2

Iona and I went swimming again today and had a great time - she hung on to the bar at the side on her own quite a lot today, and wasn't at all bothered by doing so. She's really come on in her confidence these past few weeks. I think I even saw a bit of a smile of anticipation when I started singing "Ring a Ring a Roses" with her, and she seemed to hold her breath just before we ducked down. Also, I encouraged her to float on her back (she's never that keen on that), and managed to take my hands away from under her for a split second. So that's officially her first time floating in the pool on her own!

It's been a couple of days of physical progress for Iona - yesterday she was standing up holding on to me and a couple of times I managed to let go of her for a very short split second before she wobbled and landed on her bottom!

Park Life

David wanted to go out for a trip today to celebrate our 4th wedding anniversary trip, as it was supposed to be nice weather. Although we fancied the beach, it's such a long way from where we are that we thought a fairly local, but large, park might be nice instead. I'd only been once before, and David not at all, but there seemed to be a lot there so we could make a day of it.


As seems to be usual with a little one (well, that's my excuse!), we didn't get away 'til nearly 11, but it was only a 10-minute drive. We got out all our picnic and baby stuff, paid £2.10 to park all day, and walked across to the play area. It was absolutely packed with screaming kids, and David, in particular, wasn't keen to stay there, but there was so much that Iona could play on if we were prepared to wait for our turn. First we had a go on the see-saw, with Mummy on one end and Daddy holding Iona on the other. Then, after a little wait, Daddy pushed Iona on the swing. I've been to the park with her a few times, but this was Daddy's first time to do so, and I think he enjoyed it. We also gave Iona a couple of goes on the smallest slide, as she can just about go down on her own now.




I'd brought a lunch, which we ate in a shelter by the duck pond, then Iona was very keen to have a go on the panda ride. She'd never tried one before, as I wanted David to see her first time, and all of them around here seem to cost a pound. They also say the minimum age is 3, but nearly 2 years seems a very long time to wait for her to have a go, and this one was only 20p, so I persuaded David to let me try her on it, with me holding her tight. Once she got used to it she really enjoyed it, humming "brrmm" as she rode, and even starting to sing.

Afterwards it was back into her pushchair then we walked through a much quieter part of the park, towards the craft village. There was a lovely view as we crossed a bridge over a little brook:

A little beyond it there was a lovely open space with benches where people were sitting and feeding the ducks and geese, so we joined them. Iona enjoyed watching the birds. although I think she misheard me saying "goose" and insisted on calling them "mmm" (i.e. "moo")! The craft village was lovely, with a honey shop, a gift shop, and some other shops that we didn't go in, such as "Paint a Pot". We passed through, then went to the tea room at the Orangery and bought some ice creams. We sat in a shaded spot by a lawn and enjoyed some lovely soft ice cream, David and I in cones and Iona in a bowl.


Iona then had the chance to crawl around on the lawn, although she preferred to sit, smile at the lady behind us and look cute!

Iona and I have been looking at, and talking about, trees lately, and she's even begun to call them "tr", so this was an ideal opportunity to reinforce it. She pointed at one while we were sat on the lawn, so I reminded her it was a "tree".



By now Iona was beginning to get tired, so we headed back to the play area, where we went past the donkeys and had a look at them. Iona has lately begun to click her tongue in a horse's hooves sort of way when she sees pictures of horses and donkeys, so I thought she'd like them, and she did. When I pointed out what they were she joined in clicking her tongue with me.






















I changed her into a swim nappy and tried to get her into the, by now incredibly full and noisy, paddling pool, but as soon as she felt the cold water she screamed and insisted on getting out. She wouldn't even sit on the side with me, but flung her arms around me and wasn't happy 'til she was up in my arms and going back to Daddy at the bench. We were all feeling the heat now, so decided to give up and go home after a coffee. However, there was the world's longest queue at the kiosk, so I suggested we go and have a look at the farm and cafe we'd seen on the way.


Iona was pretty sleepy, but perked up at the cafe, when I gave her her milk. We then walked 'round the farm, which only cost £1 each. It was quite small, though, and smelled really acrid. The animals were lovely, and Iona loved them all, especially the cows (she's always saying "mmm" for "moo" when she sees a toy or picture of a cow). We also saw some gorgeous piglets, one of whom was very lively and mischevious - it jumped up at the sty wall when I held Iona up to it to look over, and almost got her. I don't think it would have bitten her, as it kept sniffing and nuzzling at me, but it certainly surprised us all! We also saw a wonderful, huge Shire horse and her young foal. She was very friendly and happy for me to fuss both the foal and her, but David was quite nervous of me touching such a large creature who towered about a foot and a half over me!


By half past 3 our parking on the road was up, and we were ready for home. We were exhausted, but Iona enjoyed a great day out (as did we), and hopefully learned a bit more about the natural world in particular, as well as improving her physical abilities.