pansies and daffodils

Yellow, blue, navy blue, deep red... pansies of these color can be found in our garden. Each day, Hugo wants to water them. He can virtually spend over 30 minutes walking from the back of the garden to the front with a big bottle that serves for him as a watering can.
Every time he says: Mommy, need more water! Mommy pour water or Mommy, water daffodils!
It really looks lovely... a little boy carrying a 2-litter bottle trying to water plants-it makes my heart sink.

I try to use this time also to show him various bugs and insects or little animals like ladybirds or snails, which he finds very fascinating. He even attempts to touch them or catch them depending what we can observe. Our daily trips outside are a perfect opportunity for use to explore the neighborhood and to learn of course. Our neighbors are very often surprise to see us walking hand in hand talking to each other. Obviously, I do more of the talking, but Hugo tries to contribute whatever he can;) naming objects and animals like bicycles, motorbikes, chimneys, cars, dogs or cats is something that he does with ease;)

Sunday stroll

Finally, spring has arrived and I do hope that it'll stay with us for some time. The right moment came to hide winter boots, coats and jackets deep in my wardrobe.
Time to wear nice, spring clothes and take Hugo for long strolls every day.
This is what we did today-we went out to enjoy the warm sun, birds singing and people cycling.
I discovered that our son is a great observer of the outside world; he notices noises and details that really surprise me, such as a barking dog, a man on a bike or our neighbor doing gardening. Whatever he can see and name, he always goes: Mommy, look, man on a bike! or Mommy, a motorbike! etc. He can perfectly transfer the words from his picture books which we look at before going to bed each day into the really world. Yet, today I was absolutely amazed when he said: Mommy, man chopping wood! Such was my surprise that I asked him to repeat it twice before I could believe what he was saying;) but as always I gave him a big hug and said: Yes, sonny, you're right! a man is chopping wood.
Strolls are a great inspiration for kids and parents, for us it's always an occasion to talk or name things, but the rule is you must speak with you child, ask proper questions and provoke the child to say something. Forget about a pacifier of course;) who would like to speak with full mouth;))?

1,2,3

For the last couple of days Hugo has been fascinated by counting. Each days he needs to spend at least 10-15 minutes analyzing pictures in his 1,2,3 book and count the objects presented in the pictures. The book is fantastically organized to support the process of learning numbers. Each page portrays a common object from kids' world like: boots, paint pots, boats, apples, a teddy bear etc. In the top right corner there is a number written and drawn. Therefore, it associates the concept with the word. Hugo adores pointing the object and saying: This is a teddy.  or one duck, two ducks, three ducks etc. In this way I know that he understands the concept, sees the difference between singular and plural and can even sometimes correctly form plural form.
What's more, he transfers this knowledge into other activities, for instance, getting dress or playing with building blocks when I hear him say: One sock, two socks, one foot, two feet.
I do believe that it will prove useful when he goes to school or kindergarten.

I'm back;)

I haven't been here for a few days, but I'm back now;) been a little busy cos of Easter preparations first and then celebrations.
It went past so quickly that though it's the first day after, I feel like it was almost an ordinary weekend.
This a little bit gloomy mood can be cos of the bad weather-the winter here seems to be endless and the weather forecast gives little hope for improvement in the next few days.

On a day like today I look at our son or his photo and then I feel much better and long for the warm days from last year when we went out together and enjoyed the first rays of sunshine. This spring we still need to wait for those moment, but I hope that not for long.

Hugo doesn't seem to care much about spring but I hope to teach him to ride a kids bike and I'm sure he'll love it. Take a look at our angel;)

one, two, three

Bath time is Hugo's favorite moment of the day, he feels in the bath like a little diver, loves splashing water and pouring from one bowl into another.
Last Sunday, he shocked us so much that we were looking at him with eyes wide open.
As usual, he took his plastic bowl and starting pouring one from the small one into a bigger one, but this time he also started counting from one to five. I'd heard him doing this before but in no order at all, it'd seemed that those were just words for him carrying not much sense, until last Sunday. He started with ONE and got to FIVE without any trouble, we looked at each other surprised but that was not the end. He carried on counting precisely pouring water and saying SIX, SEVEN (our eyes were getting bigger and bigger), EIGHT (we even opened our mouth in astonishment) NINE...
He looked at us proudly and both my husband and I were at a loss for words for a few seconds, then I managed to say: You're my little prodigy;)) and gave him a big hug and kiss. Daddy commented: You can count to nine in English but only to five in Polish?? Let's learn to count to nine also in Polish;)

I know now that all those situations when I was counting boxes, steps, socks, pegs etc. made Hugo remember numbers in the right order;)

Mommy, be good;)

Picture this:
whenever I leave home, I always tell my son that I'll be back and that he's staying with his daddy, granny or Magda, then I give him a kiss and tell him to be good. Nothing unusual or extraordinary someone will say, maybe not, but last Sunday before leaving for lectures at university I put on my boot and coat, kissed Hugo and said: Bye bye, sonny, I love you! but before I even finished the sentence, he looked at me with his big blue eyes and said with a smile: MOMMY, BE GOOD;))
My husband and I were so astonished and amused that we couldn't help laughing; Hugo made me smile all the way to Poznań and today he said the same to daddy when he was going out: Daddy, be good!

He really gives us so much joy;)

questions

Questions are the key to communication, without them it would be impossible to learn new things or extend our vocabulary. The same is true for children.
Yet, it's not only about asking questions it's about asking the right questions which stimulate a child to think or utter some words.
Let me give you an example: When I want Hugo to drink something I say: Would you like something to drink? then he usually answers: Yes. The next step is the choice of drink; I never ask him: What would you like to drink? because then he could start inventing things so I teach him to make choices and say: Would you like  tea or juice? (Giving a limited choice is still A CHOICE but it saves parents' trouble of satisfying the endless list of kids wishes;)) Now he can say the words tea or juice; yet, before I simply showed him tea and juice and asked: This or this? In this way, I managed to kill two birds with one stone because I taught him to make decisions related to his needs and stimulated him to speak. If I had simply asked him: Would you like tea? he wouldn't have had to think and he would only say Yes or No.

For us the tactic of asking open questions (those beginning with Who?, what?, why?, whose? etc.)  worked prefectly and proved very effective.
P.S. It also works well for all learners of English, it stimulates them to speak, my students always know that there is the magic follow-up question WHY?