What Your Toddler Knows

I am amazed every day at what my toddler knows. Some recent examples:

Michele and I received an email today from my grandfather, who lives in Los Angeles, saying that he was going to be in town and asking if we'd have time for a visit. After my wife replied, she told Jonah that Great Grandpa Sherman was coming to visit. Jonah pointed to the fireplace, where we have a picture of me, Jonah, my dad, and my grandfather. Thinking Jonah was confusing my grandfather with his grandfather, since we just saw my dad last weekend, Michele brought him over to the picture. He immediately pointed to his great grandfather, Sherman. The incredibly cool thing about this is that he has probably seen his great grandpa five times in his whole life, with the last time back in May.

A couple of weeks ago I was singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" to Jonah. Not even thinking about it, I paused after the first "little" and looked at Jonah. He said, "sssss", which is how he says "star". Jonah had never before shown that he knew the words to this song or any other. My wife joined in and we sang the rest, pausing before the last word of each line. He got every word: "aah", "ha", "sss", "sssss", and "aah". Then we all repeated the song. Michele and I were stunned. He did the same thing a few days ago, so I'm convinced he knows the song.

June Lake: Jonah's First Boat Ride

My son, my wife, and I returned today from a three night trip to June Lake, CA. June Lake is a small recreational area east of Yosemite and about 20 minutes north of Mammoth. My dad and step-mom have a vacation home there and we visit occasionally.

On Saturday, Jonah rode in a boat for the first time. It was a small boat -- maybe 12 feet long, with an outboard motor -- and we went out so Jonah's grandpa could fish. Jonah bravely wielded the fishing net, touched a live fish, and fed cheerios to the ducks. He held on to mom or dad when the boat was in motion and walked around comfortably when we were anchored. What a fearless kid!

I was happy to see that my son enjoyed his boat ride, because I've always enjoyed being on or in the water. His grandpa plans to start teaching him to fish next year. Personally, I can't wait to start scuba diving with him.

Music for Your Children

Jonah loves listening to music, ranging from kid tunes to Bob Marley. One of the great music activities we found for him is Music Together class at Holbrook-Palmer park in Atherton.

I was skeptical at first. Just another music class, I thought. And then my wife loaded a Music Together CD half way through a six hour car trip. (Groan!) To my surprise, the music was not only relatively un-annoying, but catchy. The tunes started off simple and got more complex. I could hear how the music was structured to teach kids basic rhythms and scales as building blocks for more interesting tunes.

I later learned that each session of 12 classes has a different musical theme with a different corresponding CD. My wife, who goes to the classes with Jonah, likes that the music has a lot of international variety and that the teachers are very competent. Plus, the price of admission gets you a duplicate set of CDs -- so you can keep one at home and one in the car.

Jonah gives a big smile when he hears this music, so I recommend that you learn more about it yourself. Check out the Music Together web site or go to Music for Families, the organization that actually teaches the classes at many sites in the Bay Area (you can register for classes here, too). It's not cheap -- more than $200 for a session -- but I think it is worth it for the class time, the quality of the education, and the CDs that keep Jonah happy in the car. And Music Together classes are taught globally, so your kids can participate even if you live in Taiwan.

Sign Language

I mentioned signing in my last post, and I want to make a plug for it. We started teaching Jonah to sign when he was around six months old -- younger, actually, than the books recommend. We used Sign with your Baby by Joseph Garcia as a guide. It teaches based on American Sign Language and includes a useful DVD. I was skeptical that Jonah would pick it up, given how inconsistent we were in signing to him. But eventually, he started signing "milk" and then "more". (The picture here has him signing "cookie" at dessert time.) Now, he probably knows a dozen signs in addition to the words that he can verbalize.

Why bother? The main argument that I find persuasive is that toddlers get frustrated when they can't communicate. Signing gives them a vocabulary. I didn't really appreciate this when Jonah was six months old, but now I see how he will often say things with clear intention, but that my wife and I can only sometimes decipher. Signing allows him to communicate both things and concepts. I have to believe that this makes his life a little easier, and it definitely makes our lives richer as a family.

Some say that teaching your kid to sign helps him talk earlier. From what I've read, the data on this is inconclusive. In fact, there is some evidence that, because they don't need to talk, signing can slow down their verbal development. I'm not convinced either way, but I know that Jonah smiles when he signs and we understand what he is saying.

The Stanford Band

Today Jonah had his first encounter with a band -- well, at least some people consider it a band. At my 15th college reunion he saw the Stanford Band. Jonah rocked out. It may be that he was just trying to hold on while I danced, but I swear he was tapping along on my shoulder the whole time. Plus, he signed "more" afterwards.

Tonight at home he started saying "band band band". I dug out an old Stanford Band CD and right away Jonah found a Tupperware bowl, turned it upside down, and started beating it. Later, he really got into the beat with his music sticks.

It's great to see my son enjoy music so much. This music has some funky sentimental meaning for me, since I used to play it, but as a dad there is something very satisfying about seeing Jonah appreciate something that was such a big part of my life.

Welcome

I'm writing this blog to keep track of all of the incredible things that happen as my son, Jonah, grows. Jonah was born in May of 2005, so today he's about 16 1/2 months old.