Yay for Reading

I wanted to journal this week to remember that Joel read his first sentences (with help) this past Wednesday. He was able to sound out most of Zac the Rat (a brand new story to us).  

"Zac is a rat. Zac sat on a can. The ants ran to the jam. Zac had a pan. Zac had a fan. The ants ran and ran. Zac had a nap."

It was a fairly long process, but he did it! I was very excited to see that he could sound out /Z/ /a/ /c/ and /a/ /n/ /t/ /s/. (I want him using phonics more than sight words.) Maybe he was using picture clues to figure out some of the words? He still needs help going from individual (choppy) sounds to smooth blending. Once I help drag out the sounds together, he can blend pretty well. His little accent gets in the way at times, though. Sometimes the words don't sound exactly the same phonetically as when he says them. 

I am not a pro, so I'm a little (ok ... a lot) confused as to where to go from here. I guess we'll keep finding books with short a words/families and then move to the other vowels? This is when I wish I had some background in elementary ed. I'm finding that there is SO much to teaching a kid to read!!

So far, he's just been going at his own pace. When he seems interested in something, we go with it. He went in this progression: capital letters, lower case letters, letter sounds, first letter of words, trying to spell short words phonetically, blending by ear (I drag out c-aaaaa-t and he interprets), reading short a words. He also has picked up on a few sight words like the, a, and I, but is sounding out words like in, is, and but. I don't know if this is the order that most kids read it, but it has been the flow of how Joel has picked up on things.

Since his big accomplishment, he has really been excited about reading (although it has to be his idea). During nap, he's been pretending to read to himself in the dark aka retelling stories by pictures. He's also been trying to spell words with letter magnets and puzzle pieces. He told his Ma last night that he couldn't spell off because he only had one f. He could spell of though. Crazy! He must get this from his daddy.

Baby's awake. Enough details for now!

What's in a Name?

I've always enjoyed hearing stories about the person a child was named after, what a name means, or why a child was given a certain name. While Judah is rising in popularity, it is still pretty uncommon, so I figured I might share why we picked it as our boy name. In no particular order, here are some of the reasons.

• We both really liked it! It was easily agreed upon.

• An Old Testament name paired well with the names Adam, Hannah, and Joel.

• It fit our two-one-two syllable pattern (Adam Lee Simpson, Hannah Jo Simpson, Caleb Joel Simpson, and Judah Lee Simpson).

• Having two boys with J names sounds cute ("Joel and Judah").

• It's unique.

• We liked the meaning - "praise the Lord", Genesis 29 shares a beautiful story of how Judah's mother (Leah) came to eventually find her self-worth in God (not in her beauty or her role as a mother, wife, etc.) Verse 35 states, "She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, 'This time I will praise the Lord.' So she named him Judah." Not that we didn't praise God for our firstborn, but Judah's crazy birth story brought about a different type of praise. Sweet Judah gives us more and more reasons to praise each day, and I'm sure this will continue as he grows!

The Pumpkin Patch

Joel, Carol, and I recently enjoyed some time at Gaver Farm. There was so much to do. I was very impressed by the layout and things that were offered. I think Carol and I had just as much fun as Joel.

There were lots of different types of animals to see. We checked out goats, ducks, rabbits, chickens, donkeys, pigs, sheep, alpaca, peacocks, and turkeys. Each of the exhibits had a cute name (like "Turkey Trot" or "Peacock Palace") and listed some information about what to call each animal (for example, kid vs. billy goat vs. nanny goat). Joel wasn't very interested in feeding the animals, but he liked watching his Grammy do it. He also liked seeing eggs in the chicken coop and the suckling piglets. His favorite animal, by far, was the Tom turkey!

 

 

Joel also spent a lot of time playing with the rubber ducks at the water tower and the water pumps. He went down all of the slides several times, and he took a cow train ride. At the end, we went in the barn and picked out some pumpkins (sleepy kids = no tractor ride to the pumpkin patch ... they didn't miss it). He liked seeing all the different sizes and colors of the pumpkins. He picked two tiny white ones - one for him and one for his brother. It was such a fun time, and I hope we get to do it again in the future!

The craft that took forever ...

I think our craft for Grammy turned out well, but boy did it take a long time. Pasting all those tiny squares (I should've cut larger ones) took a lot of endurance on Joel's (and mom's) part.  He was a liiiiiittle (ok ... a lot) distracted by rolling the glue up and down and up and down and up and down. Tonight, Joel just asked if we could make some "torn" for Ma. I had originally told him we were going to make them both the same craft. I might have to rethink that!

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Most Recent Crafts

Recently, Joel and I have been making some crafts to help him remember the Bible stories he's been reading. Sometimes we've made them alone. Sometimes we've invited other toddlers to join us. While he doesn't always have the attention span to finish in one sitting and he sometimes eats more cereal than he does glue down, I think he's really enjoying it.

Daniel and the Lion's Den

God's Promise after the Flood

Coat of Many Colors

Zaccheus

Summer Before Baby!

I just noticed my last post says that Joel was one and a half. He is now two and a half! Oops! Here is a quick update of some things we enjoyed this past summer as the birth of baby number two approached.

Instrument Petting Zoo at the Library

Swimming at the Frog Pond

Bouncy House at a Local Festival

We also enjoyed lots of visits to the park, the children's museum, dollar movies, time with friends and family, and playing in the new van.

One and a Half Years Old!

Wow! I have not posted in a while ... probably because work and school and (mostly) Joel have been keeping me on my toes. I decided to write a quick update, since I plan on looking back at this later. At his eighteen month appointment, Joel weighed not quite twenty-seven and a half pounds. He was thirty-three and a half inches tall. He had twelve teeth (incisors and molars), but has since started getting his cuspids.

The doctor asked how many words he could say, and I really didn't know ("15-20??"), so Adam and I decided to make a list and count. I will list them below, because I hope to look back and remember the cute ways he said certain things. (As first time parents, we don't really know if animal sounds are supposed to count.)

Aside from all the boring stuff above that only I would care about, our little guy seems to be a typical little boy. He likes to run, climb, splash, tickle/tackle, push, pull, dance, sing, eat, giggle, hug, kiss, do puzzles, throw balls, play with cars, read books, check the mail, look in the mirror, and watch Disney Junior (yes ... I know ... "no screen time before age two"). He is also a hand full, like most kids his age. He throws mini temper tantrums (not terrible yet), protests, and pushes the limit. We are so thankful, though, and are excited to see his personality develop over the next few years! We're in love!

Word List

1. please

2. cheese

3. eat

4. ice (He loves ice!)

5. dip

6. chip

7. car

8. truck

9. ball

10. keys

11. shoes

12. uh oh

13. yes/yeah

14. no

15. this

16. outside (difficult to understand)

17. wa (for water)

18. cup

19. mama (doesn't say this frequently ... maybe because I'm usually around)

20. dada 

21. hey/hi/(infrequently) hello

22. juice

23. baby

24. yellow (only three times ... and it's been a while)

25. duck

26. yuck

27. whoa/wow

28. mmmmm (moo)

29. ruff ruff/ bow wow wow

30. (oo oo) ah ah (monkey)

31. stuttered baa sound (without the b)

32. stuttered neigh sound (without the n)

33. elephant noise (buzzes/vibrates lips ... mimicking the high pitched, closed mouth noise we make)

34. meow

35. rawr (bear or lion)

36. quack

37. two

38. three

39. six

40. several letters (at random when "singing" the alphabet)

41. star and are (from "Twinkle, Twinkle" ... only says during song)

42. me (on says during songs) 

43. Idunno ("I don't know")

44. choo choo

45. his name (Joel)

46. hurrah (only during "The Ants Go Marching")

46. E-I-E-I-O