School Begins Today!

Clay and I just dropped Taylor off for her first one hour of school at Khabele. Just over two weeks ago, she met two of her Montessori guides for the first time, Madicyn and Paula. We greeted them at our front door and welcomed in their Zen energy with enthusiasm. T took to them right away and asked after them for days after they'd left. One week later, we went for a private visit to Taylor's classroom, Chickadee Casita. She was engaged immediately—especially with the one soft doll in the room and the aquarium of fish. Such is the female nature, I suppose. The question of nature/nurture has been answered for me. 

Last Friday, we followed up our classroom visit with a second date at the school in the company of a few other Chickadee students. Saturday was a potluck with all YCC (Young Children's Community) children and families invited. Then today, this very Friday morning, August 23rd, just 30 minutes ago, Clay and I left Taylor in the capable hands of her guides for her first hour at the school without us. Clay is working from home this morning and we're here in the strange and welcome quiet of our house. We're so excited for Taylor to have these mornings to learn, grow and socialize. She smiles and body wriggles when she says "We're going Khabele!!" How lucky we are to have this school so close by, and the opportunity to have her attend. We'll see you soon, Taylor!

 

I Need to Read!

At nearly 21 months, Taylor's room is full of books. I would estimate she "reads" for six hours a day. She wakes up asking for "Books?" and regularly calls out "I need to read!" to which I reply, "I know you do!" She will ask for individual books by name, or run searching for them. She will pick up a book, state the title, author and illustrator, then proceed to paraphrase what's on each spread, turning through each page and noting when she's missed a page or if a page is torn or missing altogether (as is the case with our first copy of Clara and the Bookwagon, a current favorite.) She often gets the text right. (Right now, she's really good at Sendak's Chicken Soup with Rice. Time to buy more rhyming books!) And she reads quickly, as if she's trying to speed through a volume to get to the next one. When she finishes one book, she will either reread it, often stating more or different parts of the text that she didn't state the first time around, or she'll put it aside and quickly pick up another book, then another, and another. These spurts of reading for and to herself usually happen first thing in the morning and then again in the late afternoon. In between, she wants to be read to. And she wants to lie down and comb my hair with her fingers and toes while she's doing it.

The house is quiet most of the day so that we can hear ourselves think and read. We still don't watch any television with her, and Taylor often seems to resent it when we do turn it on in her presence. I'm doing what I can to foster other kinds of activities, but my efforts are focused on supporting her current sensitivity to language. We found out last week that a spot opened up at Khabele, and T will start there next month. I hope this will give her what I imagine to be some much needed balance in the form of socialization and stimulation in other arenas. But I can already tell—we're going to need some tall bookshelves.

Sentences and Conversations

At 18 months of age, Taylor’s current favorite books are picture dictionaries, and she continually surprises me with her vocabulary. (I couldn't begin to count how many words she has.) But a few weeks ago, she started saying her first sentences. They began with “I need that,” followed closely by “I need shoes/blanket/juice.” Then came, “I can’t see it!” when referring to birds in a tree, lawnmowers, etc., that aren’t within view. The sentences of the past week include “That’s a-mommy! That’s a-daddy!” and the possessive “That’s a-mommy coffee!” and so on. I’m especially fond of “I like it!” (particularly when applied to food I’ve made for her). She uses please and thank you in context, and will answer with a very clear yes or no when pressed.

Language development is so cool, and I’m excited that we’re beginning our two-way verbal communications. Looking forward to years of great conversations with our daughter.

The New Year: 2013

On the first day of the new year, I sat Taylor down on the potty in the morning, she opened the alphabet book she was holding and pointed to the first letter and said "Aaaaaaaaayyeeeee". It's startling the amount of change from our October trip to California, where she first began walking in earnest, and now. While she may fall or trip, her gait is steady. Taylor is now handing us books in the morning, and pointing to the dogs, frogs, rabbits and such that are in each of the pictures while attempting to say them. She's doing this in particular with a book 'Each Peach Pear Plumb', which was a gift from Elisabeth Von Halem - a close friend of Christia's [and by the transitive relationship property, mine too!]. A few nights ago, Taylor was up in the middle of the night as she is regularly now due to teething, and she said 'teeth' to Christia, indicating the pain she was in at the time. Hard as it is to hear that, it's wonderful to have her able to say what it is she wants and needs [even if all she says 'juice' 5000 times in one day]. Looking forward to more of that. ;]

What Taylor Knows

Bellybutton. Head. Eyes. Feet. Toes. Shoes. More. Juice. Milk. Kitchen. Hungry. Eat. Toast. Table. Water. Broom. Bottle. Duck. Bath. Outside. Bird. Ball. Book. Cat. Dog. John Henry. Mommy. Daddy. Mia. Uncle John. Potty. Diaper. No. 

I know with certainty that Taylor understands these words, and that she understands so much more than she can say. Her most frequently used words these days are "more," "shoes," and "juice" (in addition to "mama" and "dada"). She just loves shoes, and proudly shows them off to whoever might admire them. She signs and asks for "more", "bath" and "all done!". The sign for "milk" was in regular use before she stopped nursing at just over 13 months. She talks regularly, in what seem to be full sentences. We can't wait until we can fully understand what she has to say.

The Atlantic, The Pacific and the Rocky Mountains

On September first, the day before she turned 10 months old, Taylor took her first steps. Over the ensuing weeks, in between cruising and crawling, she continued to practice walking and would occasionally surprise us with 10 or 15 steps at a time. It wasn't until our trip to California in mid October that she got serious: that's when walking really started to happen.

We flew into San Francisco and spent four days with Elisabeth, James and Frank the dog, then drove down Highway 1 along the Pacific to Los Angeles to meet up with John. I think it was likely interest in Frank that spurred on Taylor's locomotion. Frank, and the boardwalk among the redwood trees in Muir Woods; the sand on Dillon Beach along the Point Reyes National Seashore, Santa Cruz and Carmel-by-the-Sea; the fraternal twins at Uncle John's party and John's godson Spencer, who did a fine job of looking after Taylor throughout the afternoon. It was a full week, and one worth walking through.

Taylor has now seen the Atlantic, the Pacific and the Rocky Mountains—all before her first birthday. A pretty good way to start life, I think.  

Cookie Monsters, Swear Jars and Crossfit

Taylor mimics me [and cookie monster] at the dinner table saying 'NOM NOM NOM' as she eats her cheerios. It never fails to elicit a laugh out of me. It's priceless. The first rays of consciousness reflecting off, and emanating from, the mirror pool that that is my daughter. It reminds me - I've gotta get a swear jar. Years of being in the young male dominated game industry have turned me into a abject potty mouth. If I keep this up the only job she'll be suited for is a shrimp boat captain. That's no fucking good....oh dammit.

I meant to post about this as well about 4 months in - about how I put Taylor to sleep, slowly stepping away from the crib - my knees and ankles crack like rolling thunder. It's almost enough to wake her up. I turned 40 the January after her birth and the joints are feeling it. It's a dramatic contrast to a newborn that can fold herself like a piece of origami. I'm currently enrolled in crossfit twice a week to roll back the clock...and to keep up with a baby girl missing an 'off' switch.