The first time we bought a book for Aditi, i had picked it up in the book-store, ruffled thru the pages admiringly and declared to Santosh this is just the book i would buy for Aditi when she grows up a bit. She was one at that time and i wanted to wait for 6 more months. Santosh said no need to wait and bought the book immediately.
whenever one of us had the time or felt like it, we would sit with Aditi and point out different thngs like banana, train, grapes, bread, apple etc. from the book. Aditi would point out randomly and we would supply the words. she was immensely pleased. we would be busy reading our own books and aditi would sometimes sit by herself flipping the pages of her book back and forth.
then our samaan arrived and aditi was very happy to see nidhika's books. since the one thng i can't bear to give away is books, we still have books from nidhi's toddler days. now aditi had a lot many books to browse thru. she would tear up the ones she found boring. i would be cooking in the kitchen and she would be sitting somewhere i could see her, with a book in her hand. i would continue to cook with a smile on my face(unless she was trying to tear it).
in between all this, although we didn't notice it, she was learning a lot.
one day i was in the kitchen and santosh and aditi were sitting with a book of animals. a little while later santosh called out to me and pointing to a pic asked aditi what is this? 'wux' came the reply and my mouth literally fell open. indeed, it was a fox. i was so astonished that i asked her agan what is this? 'wox' she replied again. :-)) needless to say we clapped and danced and carried her arnd and aditi felt very pleased with herself. the best thing was when the first time she said 'wux' and saw my reaction she gave a big laugh and fell on her father's shoulders in such a cute fashion, i felt as if she's saying 'what's the big deal? u find this amusing?' :-)
the 'wux' became such a hit that aditi would point out to all the animals in the book and say 'wux'. i didn't mind. after all her nidhika, at age one.5, had looked at a real elephant and clapped her hands in glee and said 'bow-bow'.
i had taught aditi to show us the 'light' in each room and she would drag us to bulbs and lamp-shades. Now, i showed her the clock and she learned to identify the clocks in the drawing hall and bedroom. she also started looking at Lord Ayyappa's pic when i asked her to show 'saami-umaachi'.
Santosh and Aditi spend some time daily going thru one or two books. he succeeded in teachng her to say 'duck'. for sometime duck replaced wux and everything in the book became duck. this was a pattern - aditi would learn a new word and use that word everywhere. one thing was clear she was learning fast, touch-wood. when playing, when nidhika squealed with laughter and excitement aditi would imitate her squeals in pitch and tone.
she even learned fake laughter so that she could jon in when santosh, nidhi and i shared a joke. when i am trying to get her to sleep, if i ask her sternly to go to sleep, she would close her eyes in a fake manner, baring all her teeth in her attempt to squeeze her eyes shut. it's totally hilarious.
And, today morning, i showed her the same pic-book of animals which she had been going thru with her father. when we reached the bear, aditi started showing her tongue. it took a moment for it to click and i looked closely at the pic of the bear. lo, what do i find, the bear has a little pink tongue protruding from its mouth. wow, so that's what aditi's trying to show me.
now i have serious doubts. someone pls tell me just who is teaching whom.
whenever one of us had the time or felt like it, we would sit with Aditi and point out different thngs like banana, train, grapes, bread, apple etc. from the book. Aditi would point out randomly and we would supply the words. she was immensely pleased. we would be busy reading our own books and aditi would sometimes sit by herself flipping the pages of her book back and forth.
then our samaan arrived and aditi was very happy to see nidhika's books. since the one thng i can't bear to give away is books, we still have books from nidhi's toddler days. now aditi had a lot many books to browse thru. she would tear up the ones she found boring. i would be cooking in the kitchen and she would be sitting somewhere i could see her, with a book in her hand. i would continue to cook with a smile on my face(unless she was trying to tear it).
in between all this, although we didn't notice it, she was learning a lot.
one day i was in the kitchen and santosh and aditi were sitting with a book of animals. a little while later santosh called out to me and pointing to a pic asked aditi what is this? 'wux' came the reply and my mouth literally fell open. indeed, it was a fox. i was so astonished that i asked her agan what is this? 'wox' she replied again. :-)) needless to say we clapped and danced and carried her arnd and aditi felt very pleased with herself. the best thing was when the first time she said 'wux' and saw my reaction she gave a big laugh and fell on her father's shoulders in such a cute fashion, i felt as if she's saying 'what's the big deal? u find this amusing?' :-)
the 'wux' became such a hit that aditi would point out to all the animals in the book and say 'wux'. i didn't mind. after all her nidhika, at age one.5, had looked at a real elephant and clapped her hands in glee and said 'bow-bow'.
i had taught aditi to show us the 'light' in each room and she would drag us to bulbs and lamp-shades. Now, i showed her the clock and she learned to identify the clocks in the drawing hall and bedroom. she also started looking at Lord Ayyappa's pic when i asked her to show 'saami-umaachi'.
Santosh and Aditi spend some time daily going thru one or two books. he succeeded in teachng her to say 'duck'. for sometime duck replaced wux and everything in the book became duck. this was a pattern - aditi would learn a new word and use that word everywhere. one thing was clear she was learning fast, touch-wood. when playing, when nidhika squealed with laughter and excitement aditi would imitate her squeals in pitch and tone.
she even learned fake laughter so that she could jon in when santosh, nidhi and i shared a joke. when i am trying to get her to sleep, if i ask her sternly to go to sleep, she would close her eyes in a fake manner, baring all her teeth in her attempt to squeeze her eyes shut. it's totally hilarious.
And, today morning, i showed her the same pic-book of animals which she had been going thru with her father. when we reached the bear, aditi started showing her tongue. it took a moment for it to click and i looked closely at the pic of the bear. lo, what do i find, the bear has a little pink tongue protruding from its mouth. wow, so that's what aditi's trying to show me.
now i have serious doubts. someone pls tell me just who is teaching whom.
