Learning Journal 2

This week mikey has started talking a little more. He can say "up", "erdeh" (bird) "eeef" (leaf) "eeenah" (nee-naw/emergency service vehicle with lights flashing) but doesn't say them all the time. I've heard him say each one at least twice though. He has also learned the colour "bwoo" (blue) and can sometimes point out things that are blue such as his toy doggie that is named blue and the blue pages in his book of colours.

A few days ago we were outside playing when he discovered that if he stands under the big shelter we have in the playground then his voice and footsteps echo. We played under there for a good 30 minutes making different noises and laughing at the echoes. When he first heard that his footsteps echoed he said "Oooooh!" and then laughed when that echoed too.


We've been going on more walks, now that he doesn't need to go in his stroller so much. We walk around the back of the housing area and through the allotments. He loves doing this as we inevitably see lots of people walking their dogs and lots of bicycles. Earlier in the week we spent time crunching the first fallen leaves of autumn, I showed him how to step on them and he started doing one of his little dances in a small pile of leaves. He also spent time looking at the leaves on the hedge that separate the footpath from the tennis courts and trying to peer through the gaps to see what the noises were.

Towards the end of the walk, we go across a bridge over a train track. He always asks if we can wait to see a train, luckily we tend to go walking right around the time when a train normally comes past. He gets really excited, watches the train approach and go under the bridge before running to the other side to watch it emerge. Then we walk further to the footbridge over the main road and watch the cars. He says "Brum Brum!" and runs back and forth to each side of the bridge to watch the cars go past.

A few days ago on the way home, we walked past a dog that was on a leash tied to a tree. Mikey said "aww doggie!" and asked it for a kiss (which involves him pointing at his mouth and saying "ahhh!"). Obviously he didn't get to give the doggie a kiss, which he was quite upset about.

When we got home we ate a couple of wild blackberries we had picked on our way, and I put a "gift" Mikey had given me from the walk into some water.

The little darling picked it and carried it all the way home!

We picked some of the last plums of the season with the neighbours kids from the tree near our apartment. A lady walking past told us not to pick them and that they were poisonous. Last time I checked, plums were not poisonous and nobody fell ill from the baking that my neighbour did with them earlier in the month. I just nodded and smiled at her, it's certainly not the first time someone has said something like that to me in regards to wild fruit I'm picking. It really surprises me that so many people are unable to recognize wild fruit, or cannot tell the difference between plants that are safe to eat and those that are not, unless they come prepackaged from the grocery store. Mikey knows not to eat anything straight from the tree/plant. We take them home and wash them, but once he is old enough to not try and eat everything then I'll teach him what he can and cannot eat.

Skills:

• Language (Social, speech and language development)
  
• Cause and Effect (Cognitive Development)
  
• Colours (Cognitive and language development)
  
• Sounds and sound recognition (Cognitive Development)
  
• Nature (Cognitive, fine motor and Emotional Development)
  

 I've not been doing a whole lot myself, aside from the usual housework. My books haven't arrived yet, so I've just been re-reading For Whom the Bell Tolls. I did decide to take the plunge and actually learn how to bake. or at least try. I am so terrible at baking, I even manage to ruin those "just add water" pre packaged deals. I think it's just too exact for me, I never was any good at science. So later today I'm going to be attempting something. We'll see how that goes, perhaps I wont end up destroying everything.