Hi Manda! I had fun watching ALL your videos and I actually subscribed to your YouTube channel to keep me up to date with your family's journey with Soft Mozart!!! Your videos are inspiring! In just a short amount of time, you all learned how to play piano so well. Awesome!

By the way, what a fun and awesome family you have! The videos of your son doing some goofy stuff just makes  my day!!! 

Hi aangeles. Do you have some record of Batibot episodes?

Thanks! 

[Here are some videos of her learning the alphabet]

Hi Kaysha. These worked for my baby:

* LeapFrog Letter Factory DVD. My baby finds this DVD entertaining. She learned each letter and the sound each letter makes pretty quickly. This did wonders with the word 'milk' for me and my baby. Sometimes she pronounce milk as "nilk". This is  our usual conversation:
My baby: "nilk!" (asking for milk)
Me: "Milk, "M as in?"
My baby: "Mmmmm...milk!"

* Leapfrog Fridge Magnetic Alphabet Set (uppercase) &  Leapfrog Fridge Words Magnetic Word Builder (lowercase). My baby loves saying each letter and sounding it out. She can also spell a few words like cat, dog, etc. with the word builder.

* I also showed these videos from youtube when my baby just started learning her letters:
     -The Big and Small Letters Song
      <a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/_WRATosTseM&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/_WRATosTseM&rel=1</a>
     -The ABC Song
      <a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/75p-N9YKqNo&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/75p-N9YKqNo&rel=1</a>

      (Just like reading words, I point out to each letter as the video say each letter)

    -Phonics Song
     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BELlZKpi1Zs

* The Brillkids Little Reader has an Alphabet Song too!   
 Try looking for it under the Categories TAB of Advanced play/edit TAB. My baby absolutely loves it!

* The alphabet puzzle on the Tozzle IPad app works for her too.

* I also use starfall.com and readingbear.org to introduce her to reading phonetically.

* Using ABC flashcards will help too.

Here are some videos of her learning the alphabet:
In this video, she wasn't able to sound out the R yet correctly but a month after this video was taken she can sound it out correctly 

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/-ZmzJclycPk&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/-ZmzJclycPk&rel=1</a>


Here's a video of her playing the alphabet puzzle (lowercase & Uppercase letters) :

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/4ONOZo7ZJNw&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/4ONOZo7ZJNw&rel=1</a>

By the way, I like your blog and your baby is so adorable!

@ Mandabplus3:

Wow! Congrats! That's wonderful! Your son is doing an awesome and impressive job! How old is he by the way?

I youtubed Soft Mozart last month and saw some videos of adult-beginners playing it. I was thinking of teaching piano to myself first and then teach my child little by little until she gets the hang out of it. I'm a techie kind of person and love to play with just about any software that interests me. Hopefully, Soft Mozart software will work for me and my baby.

It's also fun to see my child climbing the piano bench by herself at my mom-in-law's house and "playing" the piano. My mom-in-law will surely be happy if my child learns how to play piano since she was a pianist before but can't teach now because of her MS.

By the way, Thank you so much for your encouraging words!

@ Andrea :
Ok. 

Soft Mozart sounds like an amazing program!  I already voted!   
I am planning to buy this on my baby's second birthday.

Hi Nams!

My baby also started out with YBCR. When she mastered all the words in the DVDs, I looked for more ways online to expand my child's vocabulary and on how to teach my child how to read couplets and sentences and it was great that I stumbled upon this great forum! With the response I got from TeachingMyToddlers, NadiaD, Mandabplus3 and Krista G, my questions are all answered! Thanks to them! I decided to purchase Little Reader mid of February of this year.

Since my baby is already familiar with most of the words in Lessons 1-25  (where most of the words are also in YBCR) I decided to create a New Folder (under Categories TAB of Advance Play/Edit TAB) for my baby's weekly lesson and introduce new words to her (every week) from Little Reader. I decided to feed her more new words and didn't even bother to ask her what those words are. I also showed her SIMPLE SENTENCES (under Categories TAB of Advance Play/Edit TAB) on the second week of using LR as well as 3-5 couplets.  I noticed that my baby also didn't say a word after 3 weeks of use of LR (which I also didn't bother to ask my DD to say each word ) but she's attentively watching and listening to the Lessons. I just then started to point out each word with my finger and say each word (after each word is played). I think this works for my baby because after about a week of me pointing and saying the words, when I asked her what that certain word is.... Alas! I didn't know that she already can say those new words/couplets! =) Maybe you could also try pointing to the words with your fingers and saying out the words after each word is played. You could also adjust the Auto Fwd delay if you find it too fast or choose to disable it and just press Enter key after each word. Some children also just show or say those new words whenever they are ready. Just make learning fun and enjoyable to both of you. Your child might say those new words whenever you least expect them to. Btw, I also played the courses arranged by Brillkids....
for my child to refresh the old words she already learned. I think Word Flash is good in stimulating the right brain of the child.

I also would like to give huge thanks to Brillkids and to all the very supportive parents in this forum. After more than a month of using LR, my DD can read couplets and is now getting better in reading sentences. I also would  like to share the video of my baby reading couplets and sentences. This video was taken after 2 months and 2 weeks from the date that I purchased LR.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/x6I0-54CWSA&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/x6I0-54CWSA&rel=1</a>

Happy Mother's Day Keri and MandaB!!!
Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there!!!

@knstrick
The Ipad stand we are using is available at BestBuy.
http://reviews.bestbuy.com/3545/1248271/rocketfish-stand-for-apple-ipad-reviews/reviews.htm

My child uses these apps:

Presidents VS. Aliens
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/presidents-vs.-aliens/id427418941?mt=8

Canada Puzzle Map
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/canada-puzzle-map/id493515735?mt=8

USA Map Puzzle
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/advanced-puzzle-map-of-usa/id438087944?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D2

Tozzle (My daughter loves puzzles and this app is her all time favorite!)
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tozzle-toddlers-favorite-puzzle/id306169895?mt=8


I will also add iWriteWords and FirstWords. My daugher loves them too!

FirstWords:Deluxe
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/firstwords-deluxe/id337462979?mt=8

iWriteWords
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/iwritewords-handwriting-game/id307025309?mt=8

Btw, thank you for the compliment on my daughter =)


@Mandabplus3
I will check the Stack the Countries app in a bit. My daughter and I loves to play geography apps.

Here are the list of early learning toys that my one year old doesn't get tired of playing with and I hope this helps you and other parents as well:
-Leapfrog Fridge Words Magnetic Word Builder (Lower case letters) & LeapFrog Fridge Phonics Magnetic Letter Set (Uppercase letters) (These toys have ABC song that my child loves to sing with while dancing. She loves to say each letter out loud and the sound that it makes. She's starting to spell a few words as well.)
-Melissa and Doug chunky puzzles- alphabet, numbers, shapes, clock puzzle and more
-books (Yup! She too considers them as toys and she loves to read them to her stuffed animals    )
-Ipad (She learned a lot from using the Ipad like geography and the US presidents to name a few. There are a lot of Educational IPad apps out there and the possibilities are endless! She's allowed to play with the IPad only in moderation though )

Here are some of her videos while playing educational game apps. She enjoys playing while learning. :

Identifying Presidents:
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/yd3WMFEwEnA&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/yd3WMFEwEnA&rel=1</a>

Canada map puzzle:
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/c_pkBAmppsM&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/c_pkBAmppsM&rel=1</a>

USA map puzzle:
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/XmSS9xLyDtY&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/XmSS9xLyDtY&rel=1</a>

Alphabet puzzle:
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/4ONOZo7ZJNw&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/4ONOZo7ZJNw&rel=1</a>

Hi everyone! Which do you prefer for your child, private or public school(here in the US)?

Thank you so much. Purchased little reader a week ago and my little one loves it so much 

Thank you so much Manda
Wohoooo. I'm so excited 

[coupon code]

Hi everyone! What are the contents of the TweedleWink DVDs like? Do they explain or give information on each image shown in the DVD?
Also, Is there an available coupon code for this? Thank you so much.  

[Teaching My Toddler]

@Teaching My Toddler & Mandabplus3
Thank you so much for the helpful tips! I think I am going to try Little Reader. Btw, I have a few questions about LR
* Can I add more words and pictures there? For example, I want to teach her the 50 States of the USA. Can I add text and pictures in LR?
*Does LR come with sentences/stories?
*Are the downloadable files free?

Thank you so much.

@Nadia
Thank  you so much. I've read your blog and got a lot of helpful ideas!!! I am going to buy Preschool Prep Company readers for my child and I think I will try Little Reader this week. Your child is doing great in reading! Congratulations! I can't wait for my 1 yr old to read sentences. =)

Thanks.


@Krista G.
Thank you so much for the helpful tips! I visited the link you gave me and I am planning to buy sight words flashcards for my child.