March 18th - It is always a good time to read and learn.

I am deeply effected at the power of books for learning to speak. There is really no better way to produce recurrence and recursion for Calen then reading to him his favorite books. He loves the Dr Seuss books like There is a wocket in my Pocket and the Foot Book. There are also some really cute books by Sandra Boynton like Doggies.

I try to keep it interactive as possible. Every picture is a chance for Calen to tell me what he sees or to find something that he knows.

I also never ever reduce the word to a more simple form. I stay very specific instead. In other words, I say butterfly, dragonfly, caterpillar, firefly etc instead of just "bug". I do that even if it is a very hard word to say. Even if he can't quite pronounce it, he learns to hear it and starts the process of practicing till he gets it.