Comments on: Learning about our baby: How he learns, develops, and what we can do to be better parents

By: Denise

Denise — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 22:48:34 +0000

Try playing a board game called Er-u-di-tion that incorporates both sight words and phonics.

This award winning game helps children learn to read, spell and understand the most common words in the English language while playing an entertaining board game.

Cards are categorized so children of all reading levels can play together!

By: CeliaB

CeliaB — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 13:31:28 +0000

Speaking of signing with baby… The Baby Signs program is research based and getting very big and well known. They have parent seminars where they teach you signs and tell you about the research etc. They also have baby and me classes where you go with your baby for 6 weeks and the instructor teaches you and your baby new signs every week. It is a fun activity to do with your baby and also for some people it is easier to learn signs in person than from a book or even a DVD.

By: HDL

HDL — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 14:19:25 +0000

Another interesting book you may want to add to your list is “The Optimistic Child” by Martin Seligman. I read this book in a college psychology course and thought some of the ideas could be very useful in practice. I plan to re-read this book before my baby is born because there is a history of chronic depression in my family and I want to make sure that she has the best chance of avoiding what can become a life-long battle to be happy. Anyway, thanks for the suggestions!

By: 15 Weeks Pregnant

15 Weeks Pregnant — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 14:50:54 +0000

Thanks Tarzan for the great list of resources, I’ll have them bookmarked.

By: Tarzan

Tarzan — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 04:21:13 +0000

LOL @Cindy – you are right! Bare with me over the next week or two guys… Jane and I are beat and I may be a little slow.

Sorry Tracey – I re-read your post. My no-sleep-induced mistake.

It’s 11:18 PM and Monkey has been wide awake for awhile. Jane is sleeping on the couch and I’ve been tending to the little guy. He’s never been this active this time of night! All I want to do is sleep like Jane…

… Well, she’s not going to be sleeping any longer because I was supposed to wake her up at 11 PM to pump.

Also, Jane’s mom left today. We’re officially on our own from here on out. Wish us well tonight – we’re both sleeping in the living room because we don’t have the energy to move things into our bed room. I don’t remember what time we planned for me to sleep. Well, I better jump off here before I misread more comments in my sleepy state. lol

By: Cindy

Cindy — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 02:41:28 +0000

Tarzen– I think you need some sleep! Tracey was talking about sign language not singing. Although I am sure Monkey would appreciate the singing lessons too.

By: devaskyla

devaskyla — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 02:32:21 +0000

@EllaJane, Actually, the research shows exactly the opposite. Babies who use signs understand the importance of language & tend to speak earlier. Even if it did slightly delay speech, it would be worth it imo, because it gives babies a way to be understood *so* much earlier than if you wait until they can talk. If you teach them signs like “hurt” & ones for emotions, it makes parenting so much easier.

@Tarzan Babies seem to inspire all kinds of funny little songs. I always like changing “Baby Beluga” to “Baby (name)” & singing the rest the same. It amuses me. I make up lots too, but almost never remember them.

I think those “your baby can read” are just more of the same as Baby Einstein, etc. I’d rather have my baby play now & learn to read later, unless they make it clear they want to read now. Also, it doesn’t really teach *reading*, it teaches them to memorize sight words. For most kids, that won’t do anything to help them to read later, since most kids learn to read best through phonics or a combination of sight & phonics. Here’s a review I found that explains the problems really well http://trevorcairney.blogspot.com/2008/07/your-baby-can-learn-to-read.html

By: Tarzan

Tarzan — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 02:29:52 +0000

Tracey T … OK, that’s it! Jane and I are going to take singing lessons. And believe us, we need them. You guys can hear us singing a song we recorded several months ago while Jane was pregnant:
http://www.hisboyscanswim.com/861/the-nine-months-of-pregnancy-song-believe-it-or-not-we-actually-created-this

That’s great that you were attending UC Davis when a lot of the researching was going on and you were able to see everything unfold right in front of you – literally!

I also appreciate you clearing up the question above about signs delaying language development. It’s something that I’d like Jane, Monkey, and I to learn.

I’ve already been testing something on my own… and you guys are going to this this is crazy…

Years ago I started to make a weird noise with my mouth every time I gave our dog a treat. After awhile, whenever he heard the sound, he’d come running up to me – ready for a treat. And here we are years later, I can make the sound anywhere in the house and he’ll run to the pantry waiting for it.

So, I’ve taken that and decided to try it on Monkey. When I’m holding Monkey and it’s time for Jane to breastfeed him, I’ll make sucking-like kiss noises quickly to let him know he’s about to eat – which I started doing when he was getting fussy and Jane was getting settled. I still do it and it seems to calm him down a little as I hand him over to Jane, and he doesn’t get as fussy, but who knows. I still have a lot of reading and learning to do to see if there is anything to that or I’m just crazy. ha ha!

By: Tracey T

Tracey T — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 01:53:36 +0000

Signing with your baby is awesome! Research has shown that it increases IQ, infant-parent bonding, parental satisfaction, and decreased frustration for both parents and infants/toddlers (ie less temper tantrums stemming from lack of understanding). I was attending UC Davis when much of this research was taking place there by Professors Linda Acredelo and Susan Goodwin authors of Baby Signs: How to Talk with Your Baby Before Your Baby Can Talk and I participated in the child development “lab” where baby signs where being used. It’s fun and helps you see how much is going on in their minds that would otherwise be overlooked and not appreciated. We started gesturing at 6 months with our own babies (you can start even earlier) and they would start using them around 8-9 months.

There was a question from someone about whether using signs delays language development. The simple answer is no. With baby signs you are using language and the gesture at the same time Once a child can say the word, they will stop using the gesture over time because you can shout a word from another room, but you can’t shout a gesture and be heard somewhere else. Using signs helps bridge the developmental gap between cognitively NOT being able to speak but otherwise able to communicate using gestures.

Parenthood is fun! I think understanding child development helps you to appreciate these “little” minds so much more Good work, Tarzan!

By: Tarzan

Tarzan — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 01:18:35 +0000

@TechyDad … That is interesting! Maybe it was your “techy/programming” mind that really took off thanks for video games. I’m completely on the other side of the left brain – 100% right brained here!

It’ll be so interesting to see Monkey take on some of my characteristics like you see in NHL. I can understand the really fun and a little scary part! One thing always rings in my ears – and always will, is something my grandmother used to tell me when I was bring a brat, “just wait until you have kids – I hope he’s like you so you can see first-hand what it’s like for us!” or something like that… I heard variations of that countless times growing up!