This morning

This morning, like most mornings, while Neela took her morning nap, Stevie and I did some sort of "structured learning". I got my degree in Early Childhood and Special Education (one class away from my Master's degree, which by the way one day I have to finish), so I love to teach my children, it is one of my favorite things to do with them, is discover their learning style and teach to it. I must admit that Stevie Joy is a very fast learner, stubborn, but as long as she is interested in what you are teaching her she can catch on so quick! I follow the Children's Learning Activities, blog, so usually I do a lot from there, and then see little crafts here and there that I think would be fun to do with her. She knows all her colors (struggled with green for a while though, most of her numbers (can't say 7 for some reason? but can find it if you ask her "where's seven"), and just about all of her alphabet letters. It's so cute, because when she sees the letter "S" she says, "S...for Stevie"!! You can't tell that I am a proud Mommy can you? She is so much fun. I really need to find a time in the day to have a structured learning time where it is just Neela and I, but I haven't been good about that. I know it's not a good excuse, but I guess I think that Neela is going to learn everything so fast because she is always with big sister who is teaching her everything (they are 15 months apart). Neela can now say, "Mama, Dada, up, bye bye, Jay Jay, and ball". I only really have Stevie to compare her to, but I think she is doing pretty well in the oral area. She is also pointing very well, which is an excellent instrument to teaching words. Her attention span is no where near what Stevie's was at that age. Stevie already had her favorite books that she would sit still for and "read" with Mommy and Daddy over and over again. Neela, on the other hand, you can barely get through the story one time, before she is saying, "up up" and arching her back to get up. So some structured time in a high chair, or learning area, I think would really help her focusing skills.
This morning Stevie and I worked with stickers and counting (one to one correspondence). She is getting the hang of it. When I asked her how many cookies she wanted this afternoon, she replied, "3 cookies" and held up three fingers, when I giggled and only gave her one cookie, she raised her brow and said, "No, no one cookie??" I was so happy with her I did end up giving her 3 cookies, but they are just those little sugar free wafer cookies, so I think she is fine ;)